dazzle pg 1 12-8-22
- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Dazzle
caption, page 1:
A young dancer from the Inspired Arts Company in Dudley has her "dazzling" smile ready for the parade. Organizer and MC Gary Osbrey said the 21st annual Northeastern Connecticut Holiday Dazzle Light Parade went off beautifully. He said: "This was the strongest rain-delayed parade ever. This is the fourth time we have had to use the rain date and we lost eight floats due to the date change and we gained eight floats who signed up because of the date change. The weather was perfect and the crowd was possibly the biggest ever with an estimate of 20,000 spectators." More photos on page 4 and even more photos Wednesday night on our FB page (Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger). Linda Lemmon photo.
captions, page 4
clockwise from top right:
3 Generations: From left: Kathleen Chase and the Sposatos: Angelo, Kathleen, Tony and Luka.
The Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse
Co-Grand Marshal: The Putnam Rotary Club which will be celebrating its 100th birthday in 2023.
Co-Grand Marshal: Rawson Materials which is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
The Putnam Middle School Band
Spectators Aleyah Klimascewski, left, and Ashlynn Evans.
Macy Dyer - aka Cindy Loo Who
local pg 1 12-8-22
- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Local sports
pioneer leaves
a legacy in
peaceful place
POMFRET — Inspiring young athletes for decades, Pam Childs left a lasting mark on high school girls’ basketball in northeastern Connecticut. She coached her Putnam teams to 411 wins and eight Quinebaug Valley Conference titles from 1969 to 1999.
At her 2001 induction into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the three words that many used to describe her were: “Legend. Pioneer. Institution.”
In retirement, Childs continued to inspire, enthusiastically encouraging others to enjoy the beauty of the Quiet Corner. She led the Wednesday Noon Walks at the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Center at Pomfret for over 10 years. The longtime Audubon volunteer died July 27, 2021, but her impact and legacy continue.
“She was welcoming and attentive to the needs of those she led, making sure they were comfortable with the pace and trail terrain,” said Sarah Heminway, director of the CT Audubon Northeast Region. “She was also famous for the stacks of walking sticks she made for the Center nature store.”
“Pam was a dear friend to Connecticut Audubon,” she added. “Her legacy is to encourage all of us to ‘go for a walk’ and appreciate the beauty around us. Her fellow walkers and friends placed a granite bench in her memory on the west side of the Day Brook trail of the Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret. We encourage everyone to go for a walk, enjoy Pam’s bench and consider all that she contributed to our region.”
.
new pg 1 12-8-22
- Details
- Category: Current Issue
New start for
Academy
girls’ ice
hockey
program
A new opportunity. The chance to play Connecticut opponents. The chance to make a state tournament. And a whole lot of new teammates.
It’s certainly a new season for the Woodstock Academy girls’ ice hockey team.
One may argue it’s a new beginning for the program.
A lot of things have changed since the Centaurs finished 4-8-2 last year as a member of the Central Massachusetts League.
That association has come to an end. Second-year head coach Eric Roy began the process shortly after last season came to an end.
He first contacted the Connecticut High School Girls Hockey Association to see if there was the chance to become a part of the in-state group.
There was and Woodstock Academy decided to make the jump.
“It’s a good thing in terms of exposure for the school and it helps give the girls a chance to make a postseason tournament, get All-State honors and things like that so that the girls’ names get out there as well,” Roy said. “I think in terms of competition and getting the girls a shot at the postseason, it will be better than the Central Mass League. The games will be harder, competition stiffer, but it will be good to get the girls playing that level of hockey.”
To make that happen, however, things had to change.
The Centaurs had a host of middle school players on the team for the past several years.
The CHSGHA does not allow middle school players to participate in games.
“It’s always been the dilemma here; how do we fill the team if we can’t fill it internally ourselves? For years, we’ve opened it to the local middle schools, it was awesome, and worked well. The Central Mass League allowed it so that was a baby-step forward,” said Woodstock Academy athletic director Sean Saucier.
The much bigger step was made last spring when the Woodstock Academy Board of Trustees and Administration allowed the program to go the cooperative route.
Instead of being just Woodstock Academy players, about a third the current 18-player roster comes from schools such as E. Lyme, Wheeler, Fitch, Norwich Tech and Ledyard.
“We have a coach who is on board who has coached in Connecticut previously and that helps because Eric has some background knowledge and knew the steps necessary to become a co-op. He certainly chipped in and did his due diligence to us being a co-op member. Most of the 22 teams are co-ops, only five are self-sustaining teams,” Saucier said.
Roy started looking around for players from ECC schools but then spoke to the Eastern Connecticut Eagles. That boys’ program consists of the majority of the ECC as well as some other schools from the Connecticut shoreline.
“The marriage happened because they had some girls playing for them and they were asking the Eagles to start a girls’ program. I called their coach and said I had a program, I just need help and there was the marriage. It may have saved us because we would not have had enough bodies on our own,” Roy said. “We lost our middle school connection, so this connection helped give us a team and it helped give those (Eastern Connecticut Eagles) girls a home.”
It may seem like a long way to travel to play a sport from as far away as E. Lyme to the Jahn Ice Rink at Pomfret School.
There is just about 50 miles and 50 minutes between the two.
“I’m not surprised because as a parent, I do it,” Saucier said. “Last spring, I traveled down to that portion of the state for basketball for my daughter (Kaylee). It’s actually relatively normal these days for a parent to travel like that for a sport.”
Plus, the girls’ hockey team practices in the evening three days a week which makes it more convenient for the families involved.
The number of schools could also increase.
“There doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of schools that can join a co-op, that’s helpful,” Saucier said. “My vision is to be the Eastern Connecticut Eagles on the girls’ side and I talked to some of the parents we had at the first practice (early last week) and they seemed to buy into that.”
It has also made it a little easier to find games. To be a member of the CHSGHA, teams must play at least 14 games against member schools.
The Centaurs are scheduled to play 16 against Connecticut schools this season. Even though Woodstock is not a member of a conference and is independent, the closest conference to the school, the Central Connecticut Conference, agreed to schedule the Centaurs as a whole.
“The commissioner of the CCC is the one who does the conference schedule and he had all their teams play us. It was relatively easy to get games,” Roy said.
It just may take longer to get there. The in-state league will result in more travel. East Catholic in Manchester is the closest opponent.
“The travel is increased but that’s hockey,” Saucier said. “Hopefully, once word gets out across the Eastern part of the state that we have a co-op, word of mouth will, hopefully, draw more people.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.
because pg 2 12-8-22
- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Many of you already know that I enjoy knitting. As much as I enjoy it, I will admit, however, that I am not very good at it. What I am good at is knitting in a straight line and so I make A LOT of scarves. And because I make mostly scarves, I often try to vary their type and length. Sometimes I make a chunky infinity scarf or a narrow and longer scarf. Sometimes I buy a special yarn or several colors within the same type of yarn and knit a color block type of scarf. Recently, I combined two different colors of yarn and knit them (at the same time) together. This resulted in a very pretty scarf and an easy technique that I will repeat. But as much as I have mastered knitting a simple scarf, I am still never quite sure what the right length of the scarf should be and, therefore, when I should cast-off? No matter how many scarves I have knit (think at least 75), I am still always apprehensive about casting-off. At this point in my scarf knitting career, I should feel not only confident in my abilities to make a scarf with an appropriate length, but also accomplished in finishing a scarf. Ironically, I feel neither confident nor accomplished about the whole casting-off process. Recently, I realized why this is so…
Casting-off, to me, feels final as if there is never an opportunity to go back to fix the length of the scarf. As a result, while I am still knitting the scarf, I start to anticipate that I will need to cast-off ‘soon-ish’ and so I start wrapping the scarf around my own neck to get a feel for if it will be the right length. Then I think about who I am making the scarf for. Are they taller? Shorter? I consider the type of scarf I am knitting, and do I want it to drape around the neck once? Twice? Or maybe even three times? Without a doubt, my casting-off hesitation and lack of confidence in estimating scarf length has resulted in nearly every scarf I make being too long. One time, in my attempt to make a cool color-block scarf for my very tall husband, I think I overshot the length by about 4 feet! I am still living that one down…
The other reason why I am always so hesitant to cast-off is because I really only enjoy knitting scarves. Scarves, or at least the scarves I knit, are simple to make and require relatively little of my attention. I can (and often do) knit while I am watching TV or having a conversation. Knitting keeps my hands occupied and my creative side satisfied. And when I cast-off, it means that the scarf which I really did not need to make in the first place, is done. This makes me somewhat sad because I will then have to decide WHO I can make another scarf for the next time I have a yearning to pick up my needles and knit again…
Hobby! Hobby!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!