The 36th annual Mathews Market Days Festival will take place in Historic Downtown Mathews on September 10th and 11^th, 2010.  The festival is a family fun-oriented festivity. No Alcohol is served. Hours are  Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. A Street Dance will be held on Saturday from 8:00 p.m. – 11: 00 p.m. 

Visitors can wander among some 90 booths displaying local arts and crafts, tempting food items and many locally made products. Highlighting the local talent will be 25 artists from the Mathews Art Group. The 2010 Market Day Posters will be on sale. Several organizations will be on hand to offer financial planning, environmental awareness information, security, health tips and much more. 

The Youth Corner includes rides, youth art, a pet parade, clowns, a puppet show, cotton candy, ice cream and other fun and games.  On Friday show time karaoke will be featured on the main stage from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. On Saturday spelling bees will be taking place in the Old Courthouse Building from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Musical entertainment begins on Friday, and youth rides will be open all evening.  Musical entertainment begins on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and continues with the street dance, ending at 11:00 p.m. Additionally, on Saturday inside entertainment will be featured at the Westville Church from 11:00 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: six groups will perform.

The next meeting of SANG (Senior Advocate Network Group) will take place Wednesday, June 9 at Commonwealth Assisted Living in Kilmarnock (460 S. Main St.)  Due to limited seating, we are sending out this reminder early and ask that you RSVP by Friday, June 4.

Networking is from 8:30 - 9:00 AM and the meeting will begin promptly at 9:00 AM.  In case you have not attended a previous SANG meeting, this is a great way to find out about local senior health care services and also one of the best ways to meet potential referral sources.  Don't forget to bring your cards and brochures!  The cost is $10.00, cash or check only, and includes breakfast.

This month our speaker will be Kathy Vesley-Massey, Chief Operating Officer of Bay Aging.  Her presentation is titled, “The Graying of our Region During a Red Line Economy: Who Will Survive?”

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Christchurch School continues to make important progress in developing its new Great Journeys curriculum, an all-school initiative that is making Christchurch a leading independent school. This initiative is based on substantial research about how people learn and what skills students will need for success now and in the future. Academically, Great Journeys is about connecting the subject areas together around themes (such as the needs of community vs. the needs of the individual), places (the Chesapeake Bay watershed, for instance), and issues (environmental issues, economic crisis, as examples). Creating interesting, engaging, and academically rigorous lessons using these ideas makes the learning experience from one class to the next “hang together” and leads to deeper learning across the subjects. College and universities are endorsing this approach wholeheartedly.

The Christchurch faculty is deeply engaged in professional development about ways of teaching and learning as the school continues it development of the Great Journeys initiative. History Department Chair and Associate Academic Dean Donny Pyles is leading the faculty through a series of workshops that provide multiple approaches to teaching. All of the teaching models require planning by the teacher and carry the expectation that the lesson will constitute what is called authentic intellectual work, or AIW. AIW has these features: it requires critical thinking, it leads to substantive conversation about the topic, and it has value to the student beyond the classroom.

On Monday, February 1 at 6:00 PM, Operation Inasmuch representatives will meet for supper and training at the Tappahannock Academy on Hospital Road in Tappahannock. This includes church contacts, team leaders, and pastors of participating Essex Churches Together churches.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 24 - 8AM to 5PM - Operation Inasmuch Mission Day in Essex County!

The Planning Team for Operation Inasmuch has been hard at work since July, 2009 preparing for the next Mission Day to be held April 24, 2010.

Pictured here are members of the Planning Team present on January 21: Carmen Sandlin (Upper Essex Baptist), Dick Flaherty (St. Timothy Catholic), Mike and Joe Hartenbach (Trinity Methodist), John Hardy and Kathy Hughes and Alice Roye (Tappahannock Presbyterian), Rev. Candine Johnson (St. Margaret's); Victoria Donahue (Beale Memorial Baptist), Ann Bayton ( Good Hope Baptist), Hannah Healy (community liaison), Rev. Ken Wilbur (Rappahannock Christian, Dunnsville), Leigh Angel (St. John's Episcopal), Dawn Douglas (The Hanger).

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Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury (RWC) near Irvington has announced its program for the 2010 Viewpoints series. RWC, which is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2010, has scheduled the first of four presentations for Monday, February 1. “A Virginia Singer/Songwriter” will feature a discussion by Richmond-based musician Robbin Thompson.

Born in Boston, Thompson was raised in Melbourne, Florida where he began his career as a performer. He moved to Richmond in 1968 to attend Virginia Commonwealth University and formed his own band, Mercy Flight. The following year his group opened for Bruce Springsteen’s Steel Mill Band. Springsteen eventually asked Thompson to join Steel Mill.



In the 1970’s Thompson struck out on his own. Over the years he has recorded ten solo albums and nearly as many in collaboration with other well-known artists and groups. His albums have featured guest appearances by recording stars Melissa Manchester, Steve Cropper, and Bruce Hornsby. Several of his singles have achieved regional and even national acclaim.

In addition to performing live and recording his albums, Thompson has been active as a songwriter. He has composed on his own and collaborated with notable artists such as Butch Taylor and Carter Beauford of the Dave Mathews Band and Timothy Schmit of the Eagles. His work has been on the soundtracks of several movies.

Thompson’s albums have sold well, and he’s received dozens of complimentary reviews over the years. Jana Pochop, writer for on-line music journal indie-pop.com, describes him as having a “warm yet tough-as-nails voice.” Richmond radio host Adam Stubbs believes Thompson’s lyrics strike familiar chords in listeners while often containing some rather clever twists.

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