Thursday, November 13th, the Westwood Land Trust (WLT) is sponsoring the second annual Capturing Nature in Westwood Art Exhibit to raise awareness and appreciation for Westwood’s beautiful natural environment. "Artists help us to see what’s around us, and the exhibit is a wonderful way for Westwood residents to view nature through artists' eyes," explains Westwood Land Trust President Nancy Dempze. The public is invited to attend a reception to view the exhibit at the Westwood High School theater lobby from 6:30 to 9:00 pm.

Westwood Public Schools art students from a wide variety of grade levels have diligently worked on event submissions as part of their fall art curriculum. Sheehan third graders studied the artist Marc Chagall who believed that "Great art picks up where nature ends." These students combined poetry and artwork based on Chagall's work. At the high school, studio art students "looked closely" at aspects of nature that aren't normally considered beautiful, insects for example, and portrayed their beauty through brilliant pastels. In ceramics, students learned how to make coil pots and produced various vessels decorated with leaves.

Submissions from Westwood residents will also be displayed; over 40 entries were exhibited last year. This year, the work of guest artist Crystal Woodward will also be on display. Ms. Woodward is a professional artist, teacher and land conservationist. She was raised in Belmont, MA, and now lives in France. She is currently in the Boston area teaching the course "Landscape, Art and Visual Language" at The Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Ms. Woodward will be at the exhibit to meet with viewers and answer questions about her artwork and conservation activities.

Founded in 1999, the Westwood Land Trust is a charitable organization dedicated to preserving open space, forests, and habitat in Westwood. WLT works cooperatively with landowners who wish to retain their property in its undeveloped state by raising funds to buy development rights from landowners and by receiving and enforcing conservation restrictions on Westwood properties. WLT currently holds conservation restrictions that protect 158 acres of land in Westwood.

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The Westwood Newcomers Club was founded in 1994 to provide an opportunity for new residents of Westwood to get to know each other through informal social events sponsored by the club. We are now in our fourteenth year of existence and although our mission is still to help new residents of Westwood connect, we have become so much more! Many of the club’s members have been residents of Westwood for many years and still enjoy participating in our events and meeting new people. We have become a diverse group with a tremendous amount of information and knowledge to share.

The club plans and runs as many as four events each month. These events include family outings such as the fall hayride and pumpkin picking, hiking, holiday parties, spring egg hunts, ice skating and barn baby animals. There are also women’s events such as cooking classes, pottery painting, yoga, and centerpiece arranging. Couples’ events consist of monthly informal socials and our popular wine tasting event. We also organize ongoing book clubs and playgroups. Events are typically hosted by members, however, occasionally we do hold events at other venues.

Membership is open to all residents of Westwood. The club runs from September through June. Annual dues are $35 per family and are applied to the costs of the events we hold. Members receive a bi-annual newsletter and email updates.

The Newcomers Club is run by member volunteers and we are always looking for anyone interested in joining the team. The team meets about 1-2 times a year for planning purposes.

Please visit our website at http://www.westwoodnewcomersclub.com

On Wednesday mornings, around 830am or so, the neighborhood streets around the Downey and Hanlon Elementary Schools are filled with children and parents walking to school. Both schools are working with MassRIDES Safe Routes to School Program:

The Massachusetts Safe Routes to School program offers schools technical assistance designing, implementing, marketing, and evaluating initiatives tailored to each school's needs and priorities. Participating schools receive free promotional materials to implement Safe Routes to School, plus no-cost educational materials targeted to students, parents, and community leaders. Training prepares school stakeholders to identify school access challenges and design solutions. School partners qualify for infrastructure improvements to enhance safety along school routes. 

Safe Routes to Schools is part of a growing movement to increase the physical activity of our children, help them achieve greater independence, and help them to arrive at school alert and ready to learn. The comprehensive Tool Kit Manual developed by MassRIDES and WalkBoston describes the program in detail and presents a cookbook for establishing such a program at a school.

The Westwood Community Chest (WCC) is a not-for-profit, community-based organization which helps Westwood residents in financial need. WCC helps by directly paying for essential expenses such as utilities, shelter, medical costs, and food. WCC also funds Camperships, which provide funding for summer camp for Westwood children whose families could not otherwise afford camp. Applications for assistance are available at the WCC website, www.wcc.cfsites.org, at the police station, the public libraries, Senior Center, Town Hall, and Youth and Family Services. The application process is strictly confidential.

On Wednesday, October 29th, Representative Paul McMurtry will host a forum for all interested citizens to discuss Ballot Question 1, the income tax repeal and how it relates to our community. The forum is open to all residents of the 11th Norfolk District and will take place at the Dedham Middle School at 7 p.m.

House Majority Leader John Rogers, Westwood Town Administrator Michael Jaillet, and Dedham Town Administrator William Keegan will join the discussion, as well as Dedham Police Chief Weir and Westwood Fire Chief Scobel and other members of Local Government.

"In these trying economic times, I am obligated as State Representative to make sure that we all truly understand the potential impact of question 1" said Representative McMurtry "I invite concerned and interested residents to join me for an informational evening."

If you have any further questions please e-mail Bobby Rinn at Robert.Rinn@hou.state.ma.us who will coordinate meeting details.

The First Parish Church is presenting Buster Keaton's "The Cameraman," with Robert Humphreville improvising accompaniment on the piano. $5 admission AND free popcorn!

Sunday, October 26 at 6:30pm
First Parish of Westwood
340 Clapboardtree Street

I know of a few other web sites in town and would like to compile a page here on WestwoodBlog to link to all of them. Please comment on this topic with links to any sites you know of that serve the community. If you have a long list, let me know about it via the contact form, but don't try to put all those links in a single comment--the site will think it is spam. Just comment one at a time with a description of what the site is about, etc.

Here are some web sites I know about, in no particular order. I don't need links to Dunkin Donuts or online menu sites--I'm looking for real websites created by local organizations that would be of interest to people in town:

• Westwood Basketball Association
• Westwood Little League
• Westwood Young Womens Club
• Keep Our Town Clean - annual town cleanup volunteer organization
• Westwood Environmental Action Committee - new organization in town promoting conservation and sustainability
• First Parish of Westwood
• St John's Episcopal Church
• Temple Beth David
• First Baptist Church of Westwood
• Historical Society of Westwood
• Official Town Website
• Bubbling Brook - ice cream and more...for over 57 years
• Chiara Bistro - fine dining
• Westwood Special Education Parent Advisory Council
• Westwood-Walpole League of Women Voters
• Marci and Me - Educational Playgroups by Marci Williams
• Turbine, Inc. - local software company creating social gaming communities

Send me your links and I'll compile them into something like "Yahoo! Westwood"...

A Night of Giving Back - The Westwood Young Women's Club Fall Auction Gala

The Westwood Young Women's Club annual auction night is the Club's biggest fundraising event of the year. This night, more than any other, determines the level of assistance the WYWC can provide to the worthy organizations and charities it serves. Last year's auction raised over $22,000. The money was used to support community organizations including the Early Childhood Council, SEPAC, the Westwood Council on Aging, the Westwood Community Chest and many others.

The 2008 Auction Gala will be held on Friday, October 24 at the Four Points Sheraton in Norwood, starting at 7 p.m. The invitation and response card can be found on the WYWC website, http://www.wywc.org , along with a sampling of the fantastic items up for bid including: dinner at the famed No. 9 Park; a night out with limousine service to Boston Symphony Hall; a football signed by the entire 2007/2008 Patriots team; an autographed Kevin Youkilis jersey; Patriots tickets in a deluxe suite with parking; Red Sox tickets; a set of soothing massages at the Abbott Center and many, many more exciting items.

A silent auction will be ongoing throughout the evening with items generously donated by Westwood businesses including Chiara, McCue Personal Training, Vellos and Cold Stone Creamery. This event is made possible by support from generous corporate sponsors including: Cabot, Cabot and Forbes, Holden, Dunn, Lawler Funeral Home, and Coldwell Banker.

If you are not able to attend the event but are interested in making a monetary donation to support the Club and those it serves, you may do so by sending in a copy of the Gala response card and your donation to P.O. Box 421, Westwood, MA 02090. Checks should be made out to "WYWC." Businesses interested in donating an item, service or placing an advertisement in the auction booklet are encouraged to email the Club at: wywc2008@gmail.com.

In addition, over the next several weeks WYWC members will be selling split-the-pot raffle tickets to benefit the Westwood Senior Tax Relief Fund run by the Council on Aging. The raffle winner will be announced during the auction event but is not required to be present to claim the prize.

Saturday morning, the Westwood Fire Department hosted an open house at the main station on High Street. Kids and adults from all over town came to check out the fire trucks, meet the firefighters and watch exciting demos like this:

Each week, I receive notification of all the town meetings and a newsletter from the Hanlon school. In this week's Hanlon newsletter Principal Beth Herlihy talks about how MCAS results are used by the school:

We view the information as important for self evaluation. The data helps us answer these questions: What can we do to improve student learning? How do we balance the support we offer students as they try new skills with the need for their independent work in testing situations and later learning? How do we maintain the richness of our curriculum as we assure that our students know and are able to show what they know on a standardized assessment? These are questions we all ask, all the time. 

The complete directory of Westwood email lists can be used to subscribe for notifications and newsletters related to many town events. Visit the link above to browse the available lists and view the archives of newsletters and communications previously distributed to residents. In the archives, you will need to view the email message first, then click on the link inside the message to the PDF file version of the actual newsletter.