Boys & Girls Club to offer active shooter training
Pittsfield — The Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires and the ALICE Training Institute will offer ALICE – Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate – instructor training at the Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires Monday, Sept. 18, and Tuesday Sept. 19. The two-day instructor course is designed to teach proactive survival strategies for violent intruder or active shooter incidents. The goal of the ALICE program is to provide individuals with survival-enhancing options for critical moments in the gap between when a violent situation begins and when law enforcement arrives on the scene. ALICE is in line with recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The registration fee for the training is $595 and online registration is available. For more information, contact Peter Fish at pfish@bgcberkshires.org.
–E.E.
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“Awakening Wild’ nature immersion program
New Lebanon, N.Y. — Flying Deer Nature Center will offer “Awakening Wild,” a nine-month nature immersion program offering adults a chance to reconnect with themselves and nature in a safe and supportive environment, one weekend per month from September to June on the grounds of the center. Each weekend will focus on wilderness living skills, hands-on work creating useful survival crafts, preparation of wild foods and constructing sleeping shelters. The program will begin Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, and continue through Sunday, June 3, skipping the month of January.
Wilderness living skills comprise the primary curriculum of “Awakening Wild” and participants will explore modern and primitive fire-making methods, construct single and multi-person primitive shelters and harvest and prepare wild edibles. Participants will also learn how to turn deerskin into buckskin, whittling and knife sharpening, knot-tying, tarp-setting, cooking over fires and other camping skills.
Tuition is $2,250 and payment plans and tuition assistance are available. For more information or to register, contact Flying Deer Nature Center’s executive director Michelle Apland at (518) 794-6687.
–E.E.
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Dorset Theatre Festival’s Women Artists Writing group to offer presentation
Dorset, Vt. — Dorset Theatre Festival’s Women Artists Writing group will hold its second annual retreat Saturday, Aug. 26, through Monday, Aug. 28, and a free public presentation will be held at DTF Monday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 pm. The presentation will feature 10 WAW retreat writers who will present 10-minute selections of their developing works.
The WAW group was founded in 2016 by Heidi Armbruster and Mary Bacon out of a mutual desire to create support and space for their writing. The group is a diverse mixture of mid-career actors and theatre artists who are expanding their artistry through writing. The group’s purpose is to meet the whole female theatre artist where she is at as a writer: The group provides resources and support to each female theater artist as she either discovers her own voice or works toward completing a writing project. The presentation will feature the works of Armbruster, Bacon, Alexandra Beech, Michelle Beck, Carolyn Baeumler Bost, Maggie Diaz Bofill, Mathilde Dratwa, Donna Eis, Laura Gomez and Elizabeth M. Kelly.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact DTF at (802) 867-2223.
–E.E.
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Antique furniture use, care talk at Ventfort Hall
Lenox — On Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 4 p.m., Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum will present master furniture restorer Frank MacGruer in a talk titled “Antique Furniture. Use, Care & Restoration, Surface, Substance & Science.” The talk will be followed by a Victorian tea.
MacGruer’s talk will cover the basic principles of taking care of antique furniture with information based on his years of experience and study of the construction of antique pieces and their finishes. He will provide photographs for discussing repair work in progress and illustrations of before and after restoration work. He will have on hand examples of finish problems and solutions, maintenance products, and tools of the trade. He will also answer audience members’ questions.
After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio arts in 1972, MacGruer apprenticed with master restorer Edward Berks in New York City before opening his own furniture restoration business, now in Lee.
Tickets are $26 in advance and $32 on the day of the event. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. For information or reservations, contact Ventfort Hall at (413) 637-3206 or info@gildedage.org.
–E.E.
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Great Barrington Historical Society to present ‘Growing Up in the 50’s’
Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Historical Society will present the program “Growing Up in the 50’s” Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Claire Teague Senior Center. The program will feature GBHS director Robert Krol in a nostalgic and humorous look back at the 1950s and is designed to encourage audience sharing and to challenge Baby Boomers’ memories. Krol will highlight the ‘50s era using his own experiences growing up. The program is free and open to the public and precedes an upcoming GBHS exhibit on the ‘50s scheduled for display in September and October at GBHS’ Truman Wheeler Farmstead museum. For more information, contact GBHS at (413) 591-8702 or info@gbhistory.org.
–E.E.
