Congratulations

Congratulations to the new board of the Wallingford Historical Society, elected at its annual meeting.

President – Joyce Barbieri

Vice President – Lowell Klock

Secretary – Elaine Warzocha

Treasurer – Arlene Santor

 

 

President’s Message

 Hard to believe that summer is almost over.  Soon the leaves will start to turn their beautiful fall color.  It is time to start planning for our Annual Meeting, which will take place this year in September.  Mark your calendars for September 27^th, 7:00PM at the Wallingford Town Hall.  

As in years past we are looking for a few new Board members and also a President, as my term is now over.   

 

            At the Annual Meeting we are planning to show a DVD taped at a previous meeting in the 80’s.  The topic is the settlement of West Hill Road. Not only is the information interesting but looking at the audience from back then may prove a bit of history in itself.   Refreshments will be served. 

 

            Don’t forget about the celebration of the 250 year anniversary of the signing of our Town’s Charter.   This will take place at Elfin Lake Boy’s Camp from 2:00 – 7:00 PM on Sunday, August 28^th.   Look in the local newspapers for more detailed information.  Come out and be a part of this historical event.

 

            In closing I just want to say that I have enjoyed serving as President of the Wallingford Historical Society.  The experience of working with others who feel the importance of preserving our town’s history has been a privilege.  I hope some of you will consider taking an active role in this organization sometime in the future.

 

 

Christine Bannerman

President’s Message

Plans are underway for the 250 year celebration of the Charter for Wallingford.  We have had one meeting so far.  The various community groups sent representatives with suggestions as to how they could contribute to the cause.  I believe we will try and meet briefly each month, the third Tuesday evening at 6:30 in the Town Hall.  If you would like to be a part of this effort and don’t belong to a specific community group fear not!  All help is welcome and we have several areas that are in need of extra hands.  Contact Joyce Barbieri at the Town Hall or any person you know who belongs to one of the Town groups, churches, library or business.   This celebration will be a two day affair.  On Saturday August 27^th, we will do our annual town wide garage sale with a few added attractions.  On Sunday August 28^th at 2:00 PM, people will gather at Elfin Lake’s Boys Camp area for food, games, music, exhibits, and a ceremony that will celebrate us as the town of Wallingford.  We hope to see as many folks there as possible.  . Good news for the Historical Society, we have a new treasurer.  Her name is Arlene Sntor.  She is a welcome addition to our group.  We thank Sandy Tyminski for all she has done over the past years and for sticking with us till we could find a replacement.  We still are in need of more board members and will be seeking new officers in the fall.  If you have an interest in your town’s history, some time to spare and enjoy working with others we can use you.  Contact me or any other board member if this sounds like something you could be a part of.   Enjoy the weather, Christine Bannerman, President WHS

President’s Message

It seems like fall tip-toed in when no one was looking.  We went to bed one night and the trees were still green and woke up in the morning to gold and yellow leaves.   Where does the time go?

 

The Historical Society had its Annual Meeting directly after the Art and Collections show.  I have to say not very many people stayed, however those who did heard our accomplishments of the past year.   We had five wonderful programs, developed an investment policy and worked on our collection.  It seems in these hard time people are less concerned with civic organizations such as ours, consequently we could not fill our slate of officers for the following year.   We have no treasurer, and need at least two new board members.  If anyone is interested please let me know.  Lowell Klock has handed the responsibility for the Perspective over to Tammy Heffernan.  Lowell has done a splendid job for the Historical Society and we thank her.  Tammy has also started a web page for us.  Check it out.

 

The Historical Society always has a wish list and one thing on that list that would be of great use to us is a slide projector.  We have so many slides in our collection and in order to ever view them or use them in a program we need a projector.  I realize this is old technology but the cost of putting them on DVD doesn’t make sense.   If anyone knows where we could acquire one please let Joyce know.

 

In the coming months we will be putting together our program schedule for next year.  We have some ideas but can always use more.  The Historical Society has access to an all year round facility and it would be nice to have more programs but that takes people and ideas.  If you have suggestions for changes of time, dates or any other program concerns please let me know.

 

Enjoy the beautiful autumn weather and stay well.

 

Christine Bannerman, President

 

 

 

Yellow Cat Tea Room

Bob Sargent, a former Wallingford High School teacher emailed us these pictures of the Yellow Cat Tea Room  in Wallingford.

According to Sargent, the Yellow Cat Tea Room was run by Ruth Kirk (nee Alexander) in and about 1920. If anyone wants to add anything to it, I am sure we would all be interested in learning more about it.

Summer in Vermont

Summer in Vermont—it doesn’t get much better than that, always something for everyone.   Today nature has provided us with beautiful blue skies, light breeze, and low humidity… but if this isn’t your cup of tea it will be hot and humid on the 4^th of July.

The Wallingford Historical Society welcomes all the summer residents and out of town visitors.  Stop by the Town Hall during the week and head upstairs to view our exhibit.  Save the last Tuesday of the month for our programs. On July 27th, it will be Adam Boyce presenting “SPRIGHTLY STEPS: Vermont’s Contra and Square Dancing Traditions”.   An ideal family program, it will be at 7:00PM in the Town Hall.  There will be a general meeting following this program.  All are welcome to give input into how we can improve the Historical Society.

August is our annual Art and Collectable show at Elfin Lake.  Diane Cooney will be looking for participants in this program as well as some help setting up.  If you or anyone you know does any sort of artistic work or has an interesting collection of items, please contact Diane at 446-2514.  The show will open at 5:00PM.  Bring a picnic dinner and spend an evening with friends and family admiring the talent of Wallingford people.  Directly after the show, 7:30PM, we will hold our annual meeting.  All are welcome.

It is with great celebration of life that we remember Thelma Carlton Perry who passed away on June 24^th at the age of 100.  We can be assured that Thelma will be greatly missed.  She did countless wonderful things for so many people of this town.  It would be a real tribute to her if we could compile some of your remembrances and dedicate a future issue of the Wallingford Perspectives to her.   Send or email me your stories…brookvale@vermontel.net…. 2586 West Hill Rd..

I hope you enjoy this issue of the Perspectives as much as I enjoyed doing the April Poetry Program.  Hopefully it will become an annual affair.  Next time we can include student poems about Vermont/Wallingford along with more poems written by town people.  Watch for updates on this program.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

President’s Message

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Welcome to spring!  Where does the time go, seems like I just wrote a President’s letter for spring.

Even though we have been in 2010 for a few months now, longer days and sunshine make us think of new beginnings.   It feels like a new year is upon us.  We get eager to get things cleaned up and organized.  The Wallingford Historical Society in some way is starting its new year now.  We kind of drift through the winter but it’s time to get into high gear.  Our first program will be in April this year.  Poetry of Wallingford and Vermont will be the topic.  April is National Poetry Month.  Come join us, bring a poem about Wallingford or Vermont to share (you can read or someone else will) and enjoy our coffee house refreshments.   The program will be on the last Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm in the Town Hall.
We are always looking for help of one kind or another but so far response has been slow.   We really could use help with program planning, organization of the storage room, cataloging of items and light cleaning of the exhibit space.  We also will be having elections in August and new enthusiasm is always welcome.  I know people are very busy just trying to make a living these days but if you need or want a break from everyday things we would welcome you to join us.  If I can answer any questions for you about the Wallingford Historical Society or you have suggestions to pass on please call me at 446-3560.
Our May program will be very interesting to those of you who love to read historical biographies but don’t always have lots of time to do it.  Robert Buckeye, former Middlebury College archivist has written a series of historical biographies about little known, but important Vermonters.  These biographies are only about 12 pages long.  ”These people should be better known” he says and Mr. Buckeye sets out to do just that.  So join us in May for this unique program

Thank you for your continued support!
Christine Bannerman, President