Here are brief thoughts on some of the events taking place around Franklin County and the North Quabbin area.
May Day is not an official holiday, but don’t tell that to the children who attend Buckland-Shelburne Regional School.
On Wednesday, the first day of the month, students along with their teachers visited homes and businesses in Shelburne Falls village to hand out wrapped bouquets. Perhaps you saw the photos of first-graders in Virginia Gary’s class and fourth-graders in Lauren Paquin’s celebrating this old rite of spring.
It was a lucky day for recipients and a sweet experience about giving for the school’s children.
The Wendell Oral History Project brought seniors and teenagers together. The seniors talked about themselves and their memories. The teens listened and last week they shared what they heard at the Wendell Free Library in this program sponsored by the Wendell Cultural Council.
For instance, Matthew Regnier talked about what he learned about Anne Diemand Bucci, who’s worked at the Diemand Farm, plus served her community as a Wendell volunteer firefighter — earning the rank of lieutenant — and an organizer of Old Home Days and holiday parties.
“She put a lot into the town,” Regnier said.
The older residents included those who moved to town in the early ‘70s to “homestead,” a musician, a nurse who helped organize the Council on Aging, and those who served their town in many capacities.
Jonathan von Ranson, one of those interviewed, said, “This project really impressed me as a way to connect generations.”
We say it’s one worth pursuing in other communities.
Students at Bernardston Elementary School got a chance to try self-publishing when they created chapbooks of their original poetry and illustrations.
The school’s fifth- and sixth-graders worked with Greenfield resident Alice Thomas, a speech-language pathologist, writer and artist, on the project financed by a grant from the state Cultural Council.
Thomas gave the young poets writing templates and worked with them to come up with ideas for a poem and how to illustrate their books’ covers.
The subject matter ranged from one poet’s first home run to another’s pet rock.
The books will remain in the school library’s collection.
We are a big fan of enriching experiences like this one where someone from the community offers their experiences in a teaching situation. Who knows what inspiration creating a small chapbook might have on a youngster later in life?
Speaking of poetry, for 28 years the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library has been holding the Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest. This year’s contest drew about 200 entries from adult and teens.
Last Tuesday, the award-winners read their poems — on love, loss and life — at a ceremony held at the Stoneleigh-Burnam School.
The grand prize winner was Bob Barba of Ashfield, whose poem “Sundering” was inspired by his chore of splitting firewood. It was his first time entering the contest.
The winning poems are available in the Recorder’s weekend edition.
Congratulations to the winners and to the Friends for keeping this tradition going.
You can count on the PTO to raise money for those programs the schools can’t afford. That’s true of the Erving Elementary School’s PTO, which uses the money it gets from its annual calendar fundraiser to help fund field trips, especially the traditional trip by six-graders to New York City. Last year the PTO raised $5,000.
One also has to commend the 67 donors — local families and businesses — that are contributing prizes. Tickets are available from students, at the French King Bowling Alley or the Erving Public Library.
We are grateful for groups like the PTO that volunteer their time and energy to help their schools in this way.