President Roger Webb called the meeting of the
Amherst Club to order at noon on Tuesday, March 10th, 2015, and welcomed us all.
Therese Brady Donohue reported that the Silent
Auction donations are coming in well, but some more are needed. She has 86 items at present, and hopes for
another ten or so. She asked if the members would like a Money Tree as a
lottery item, and the members voted yes. The Tree will be loaded with $200
worth of Massachusetts state lottery tickets. Raffle tickets for the whole tree
will be sold during the Cabaret.
Barbara Freed reported that planning for the Cabaret
is going very well. About 150 tickets have been sold, and 20 more given away,
so we have a pleasantly full house. She urged the members to dress up for this
event!
Guest: Rachel Hare Mustin
introduced her guest Vicki Dickerson.
Announcements:
The Friends of the Jones Library invite us all to
join author Heidi Durrow from 5:30-6:30 on Wednesday, March 11th in
the Munson Library in South Amherst for a reception, followed by a talk and
signing of her award–winning book, The
Girl Who Fell from the Sky, at 7 p.m.
The MA Department of Mental Health and the Amherst
League of Woman Voters are sponsoring an informational session on mental health
issues on Wednesday, March 11 from 7-9 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist
Society of Amherst Social Hall. All are invited, and light refreshments will be
served.
Ruth Miller announced that The Harp Irish pub in
North Amherst is having an exciting free event on Thursday, March 12th.
Several renowned musicians from Ireland and elsewhere will be gathering there
that evening to rehearse for their upcoming concert. This is an opportunity to
enjoy their traditional music without charge. However, it fills up early – be
there by 5 p.m.!
On March 14 , the Massachusetts
Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies holds the annual Dakin
Pancake Breakfast 8 am- Noon An all you can eat breakfast of our famous
fluffy pancakes, crispy bacon and sausage cooked in our own kitchen by
volunteer chefs featuring syrup from our maple trees. Suggested donation: $5
kids, $10 adult. Reading room.
On Friday, March 27th,
The Amherst Senior Center is running a bus trip to hear the Boston Symphony
Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Boston. The bus will pick up in Amherst at 8 a.m.,
in Northampton at 8:45 a.m. and from Holyoke at 9:15 a.m. $120 (motor coach,
concert) The concert featuring
Mahler and Gandolfi will be conducted by the new BSO Conductor Andris Nelsons
with Olivier Latry on the organ. For more information call Nancy Pagano at 413- 259-3114.
Ellen Kosmer announced that the Fiddlers Green
Contra Dancers will be performing on Saturday, March 28th at the
Munson Memorial Library in South Amherst at 7:30. The group has provided some
tickets for Club members to attend, because the event is supported by the
Amherst Arts Council. Contact Ellen if you are interested for this or future
dates.
Raffle: Linda
Honan won the wine. No one claimed the $10.
Speaker: Claude Tellier introduced our speaker, Darrel Ramsey-Musolf ,
Assistant
Professor of Regional Planning at UMass.
A Californian with a BA in Dance and a PhD from the University of
Wisconsin Madison, Darrel spoke about his dissertation, an examination of
California's Housing Element Law. He brought along three students who talked
about their local studies. Two of them were conducting a study of low-income
housing and mixed-use urban design requested by the city of Chicopee, and the
third studied potential urban improvements to the town of Winchendon in
northern Worcester County.
Your scribe,
Linda
Honan
