Gorham Congregational Church adds guitars, drums and trumpets at worship this Sunday

GORHAM— The sounds of guitars, drums, trumpets and gospel singing will be heard this Sunday as the Gorham Congregational Church worships with contemporary folk music at the 9 a.m. service. The public is invited to share in this ecumenical service led by a musical ensemble made up of friends and members of the church including Marie Berringer, Eva Jane Demers, Tim Sappington, Gail Scott, Mary Kay Wakeman, Jude Owen, Betty and Rev. Kent Schneider.
The service will feature familiar folk hymns such as "They'll Know We AreChristians" and "Holy, Holy". Songs from the West Indies and Brazilian folk tunes will be included.
People are invited to bring canned goods to be given to the Ecumenical Food Bank in Berlin. This is part of the church's outreach ministry to gather food for the food bank on the last Sunday of each month and to distribute it through the Berlin outlet.
The Gorham Congregational Church is located at 143 Main Street across from the Royalty Inn. For more information call the church office at 466-2136.

Coos County Family Health Services to host “Building a Healthy Community” fair

BERRLIN— The staff of Coos County Family Health Services (CCFHS) would like you to join them in celebrating Community Health Center Week by attending their Building a Healthy Community Fair that will take place on August 12, at our 133 Pleasant Street, Berlin location from 4-7 p.m. The event is being co-sponsored by the United Way of Northern NH and Shaw’s Supermarket.
The focus of the fair is to inform the public of the various community programs that are available to assist people in this difficult economic time. Our communities have been hard hit with the closing of Berlin’s paper mill, causing major changes in employment and impacting the insurance status of many local people.
The fair will provide information on CCFHS’s Financial Assistance Program (sliding fee scale, pharmacy program), the New Hampshire Healthy Kids Program (low cost health coverage for uninsured kids and teens), Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Program, CCFHS Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, and CCFHS’s RESPONSE to Sexual and Domestic Violence Program. CCFHS will also be hosting representatives from the North Country Health Consortium, United Way SERVE Program, NH Legal Assistance Attorney, Brenda Hallisey (Legal Law Collaborative), The Family Resource Center at Gorham’s Programs, AV Home Care Services, and ServiceLink. United Way will make available free discount prescription cards. Nurses will also be on hand providing free blood pressure checks.
Plan to join the CCFHS staff and go see what local resources are available to you in your community. Plan to sign-up for the many valuable door prizes donated by Shaw’s Supermarket, Northland Restaurant and Dairy Bar, Dave Mountain Art Studio, Inner Glimpse and United Way’s SERVE New England Food Program. While browsing, enjoy popcorn courtesy of Woodlands Credit Union.
For more information contact Bridget Laflamme, CCFHS Health Educator at 752-3669 ext. 4016.

Can’t stand cantaloupe?

MILAN — Can’t stand cantaloupe? Over abundance of acorn squash? Think okra is icky? Then the Milan Old Home Day Vegetable Derby is for you.
We all remember the good old Pinewood Derbies of our youth, this is the same idea only the vehicles must be made entirely of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Only the vehicle’s axles may be made from any other medium. Wood or metal shish kabob skewers are allowed. Races will be run as elimination rounds on a 16-foot ramp with gravity being the only form of propulsion allowed. Sorry folks, no pushing or motors. Prizes and medals will be awarded to the top 3 finishers as well as a prize for best vehicle design, so be creative! This will be an all ages event so scoop up Grandma and the kids on the way down to join in the fun.
The festivities start at 2 p.m. so please show up at least 30 minutes before to register your hot rod. For examples of this awesomeness in action go to www.youtube.com and search for veggie derby 2006 or veggie derby 2007.

New Hampshire storyteller advises all to 'Live Free and Eat Pie'

Join Rebecca Rule for a book launch/boat launch at Heritage Park

BERLIN — New Hampshire Storyteller Rebecca Rule will celebrate the release of her new book, "Live Free and Eat Pie: A Storyteller's Guide to New Hampshire" at the Northern Forest Heritage Park, 961 Main St., Berlin, at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 27. This is a free event.
Rule will read from her new "guide," in which she tells how to talk-and understand-New Hampshire-ese, details the state's rich history, provides her take on great local activities and places to visit, explains how to dress like a native and much more.
The event will also feature homemade pies to eat and - if enough pies are donated -- will include a pie auction to help raise funds for the Heritage Park. The book will be available for purchase and signing. After the reading and signing, participants are invited to add a boat launch to their day's itinerary, as the Heritage Park's Heritage Boat Tour takes a special run on the Androscoggin, with Becky on board. Cost of the boat tour is $15.
The popular Rule has written several other books set in New Hampshire, including "The Best Revenge", a collection of short stories that was named one of the five Essential New Hampshire Books by New Hampshire Magazine, and "Could Have Been Worse: True Stories, Embellishments and Outright Lies".
However, she is probably best known for her live storytelling events and community outreach programs, many sponsored by the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Humanities Council. In the Berlin/Gorham area, Rule is also known and loved for her work on "Telling Our Stories," a 40-day-and-40-night residency in which she talked with dozens of area residents about their lives and created "Crosscut," a reading performed by Theatre North at St. Kieran Center for the Arts last fall.
The July 27, program is part of a three-day North Country launch presented in partnership by the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, the Heritage Park, Wonderland Book Store, and Islandport Press, an independent Maine-based publisher and distributor of quality books about Northern New England. Becky will also read Friday afternoon in Littleton and Saturday evening in Colebrook. For more information about Sunday's program, please call 323-7302, 466-2123 or 752-7202, or visit the Arts Alliance website at www.aannh.org. For details about other North Country programs, call 323-7302.

Fall flower bulb sale going on now

LANCASTER— The color brochures for the Fall Flowering Bulb Sale have arrived. Once again the Coos County Conservation District is offering a beautiful selection of bulbs for your garden or naturalized areas. We are offering many varieties of Tulip Allium, Hyacinths, Crocus, Daffodils, Narcissi, Chionodoxa (Giant Pinks) Foxtail Lilly, Iris, Camassia and Fritillaria.
If you are interested in receiving this new and very exciting beautiful color brochure please call (603) 788-4651, ext 102 or e-mail diane.bennett@nh.nacdnet.net. When leaving a phone or e-mail message you must state your name and mailing address. The deadline for ordering bulbs is August 22.

Berlin, Coos Historical Society holding yard, barn sale

BERLIN — The Berlin and Coos County Historical Society will hold its next yard sale Saturday, July 26. This yard sale will take place rain or shine from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the historic Brown Company bams on the East Milan Road in Berlin, across from the prison entrance.
Many new items have been donated; so many that a yard sale had to be scheduled earlier than we had anticipated. The historical society is overwhelmed by the generosity of the community. It is through these yard sales that the museum is able to pay for heating oil to stay open year round.
Monetary donations are always accepted also, for either the Moffett House Museum or the preservation of the bams.


.

Community Briefs