Old Ways Days continues today

Old Ways Days continues at Old Ways Traditions today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will be held at 418 Shaker Road. There will be the full range of Tools for Kids - saws, shaving horses, planes, bit braces, etc. Blacksmiths will be there to help everyone try their hand at creating things the old-fashioned way. There'll be local music, basket makers and more. This year, they'll be more old machinery and a second steam engine! Brand new this year - a bean winnower! Bring your beans to winnow. Come find out what a 'crab' is. Hint: This one helped move the USS Ticonderoga, which weighs more than 9,000 tons! Kids and adults can move each other with a crab. Come try it! For information, call 783-4403, email efurnitr@comcast.net or visit oldwaystraditions.net.

• The 'Founding Fathers' exhibition will continue Saturdays during the month of October from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Elkins Memorial Building. The show will close at the end of October. Admission is free.

• Mark Stevens and four fifth grade students will present their documentary film about the Worsted Church in a program entitled 'Legends, Mysteries and Memories of the Canterbury Worsted Church' Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the library.

• Plans for Halloween in Canterbury are underway. Volunteers are needed to pass out candy at the stops around town, help with set-up, help with clean-up, judge the contests, pick up pumpkins, refill candy stops and more. Call Kiersty Scarponi at 783-9127 or Laura Crockford at 540-9877 if you are available to assist.

• Would you like to learn to square dance? Join the Concord Coach Square Dance Club Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at the West Congregational Church in Concord. The first two lessons are free and are $5 after that. If you already know how to square dance, join the club Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Club members are ages 9-94 years old. For more information, call Ron Turcotte at 620-3717 or Alice Veenstra at 783-4536.

• In May, a Transition Canterbury group began meeting. The group is part of the Transition Town Movement, a non political grassroots initiative that began in 2007 and has grown into a worldwide movement of hundreds of communities collaborating and innovating to use their local assets to build community resilience in the face of such challenges as loss of cheap energy, climate change and the economic crossroad prevailing. The mission of Transition Canterbury is to strengthen the Canterbury community.

Two projects have begun: a monthly film series and Canterbury Freecycle. The film series is the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Parish Hall. Refreshments and a short discussion will follow each film. A Farm for the Future will be shown Tuesday at 7 p.m. Wildlife filmmaker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. Refreshments from local gardens and farms will be provided.

A freecycle service for the Canterbury community has also begun. For those not familiar with freecycle, it can be thought of as an online version of the Dump's Treasure House. To learn more and to sign up, visit freecycle.transitioncanterbury.org.

If you are interested in joining the committee, or your organization would like know more about how to collaborate to ensure a healthy, thriving Canterbury, call Stephen Buchanan-Parker (783-9662), Sarah Dunham (783-9649) David Noel (565-2011) Beth McGuinn (783-4656) or Ruth Heath (783-4401). To join the email list, send an email to info@transitioncanterbury.org. Visit transitioncanterbury.org for more information.

• Apple Hill Farm in Concord is helping Canterbury students raise money to fund their trip to the environmental camp, Nature's Classroom. Last spring, fifth grade teacher Andrea Cameron took fourth graders to the farm where they were given access to a plot of land to plant pumpkins. Now as fifth graders, they have returned for the harvest. They will now take their large crop of pumpkins to local farmers markets where they hope to sell enough to offset the cost of their trip. There will also be plenty of pumpkins for sale at the school.

• Shaker Regional School District will host a Childfind Clinic Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Belmont Elementary School. This clinic is a screening for preschool age children who may have a disability related to speech, vision, hearing, coordination or learning. All children who are under the age of 6 and who are residents of the town of Belmont or Canterbury are eligible. To schedule an appointment, call 267-9222. You can find the referral form at the district website at sau80.org under Student Services.

Ginny Wright

731-2448

wriginny@gmail.com