Around the Towns

Comcast changing BCTV, FACT channel numbers

BRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Community Television (BCTV), the community media station for Brattleboro and southern Windham County, has been assigned new numbers on the Comcast lineup. Effective Oct. 27, the new channels will be 1078 and 1079.

For northern Windham County, Falls Area Community Television's (FACT-TV) new numbers will be 1082 and 1083.

Two years ago, BCTV's and FACTV's channel numbers were changed from their historic positions on 8 and 10, after a negotiation with Comcast that resulted in Vermont's PEG stations being added to the Interactive Program Guide.

Comcast recently sent a letter to all its customers explaining how the entire Comcast channel lineup will change, due to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) reassignment of Windham County from the Boston-Manchester, N.H., television market to the Burlington-Plattsburg, N.Y., market, based on viewership data from Nielsen Media Research.

For questions about finding BCTV on the new lineup, email [email protected] or call 802-257-0888. Find BCTV's programs and services at brattleborotv.org.

RFPL hosts panel discussion on farmworkers in Vermont

BELLOWS FALLS - On Thurday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m., a panel discussion about The Most Costly Journey will be held at the Rockingham Free Public Library. This book tells the stories of 16 migrant workers in their own words. Illustrated by New England cartoonists, each short chapter describes life as an immigrant farmworker.

Julia Doucet, a nurse who serves the healthcare needs of migrant workers will be on the panel, along with Andy Kolovos, the archivist at the Vermont Folklife Center who guided the interview process from which this book evolved. Those who can't attend the program in person may go to this Zoom link: bit.ly/684-journey.

Feel free to pick up a free copy of The Most Costly Journey at the RFPL or the Flat Iron Cooperative on the Square in Bellows Falls. The distribution of 75 copies and the panel discussion are sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council. For more information about the book distribution or panel discussion, email [email protected], call 802-463-4270, or stop by the library at 65 Westminster Street.

Church offers end-of-life planning workshop

WEST BRATTLEBORO - What do you want to happen to you after you die? To help answer that question, All Souls Church is offering an end-of-life planning workshop with the Rev. Telos Whitfield and members of the church's Caring Circle on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 10 a.m. until noon.

The program will offer resources, readings, music, and reflection on planning a memorial service. The workshop will be an opportunity for participants to share ideas together as they contemplate ways to honor loved ones and be remembered.

In addition, the workshop will focus on options available for taking care of one's body after death. There will be short videos, handouts, and lists of books available on different burial options, including green burials, cremation, traditional burials, and composting.

Further, the workshop will have information on current costs of the options available as well as the cremation and burial laws in Vermont.

For information contact Telos at [email protected] or 802-376-4977. All Souls Church is located at 20 South Street.

Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir returns to St. Michael's Episcopal Church

BRATTLEBORO - Having hosted the Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir in concert pre-pandemic, St. Michael's Episcopal again welcomes the group to perform on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 5 p.m., at its church on the corner of Putney Road and Bradley Avenue.

Organized by students in 1991, Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir offers sounds of traditional gospel, urban gospel, contemporary, Christian music, European harmonies, Caribbean, and Afrocentric rhythms. The choir has performed in Burlington; Albany, N.Y.; New York City; Boston; Washington; Little Rock, Ark.; Chicago; Montreal; Toronto; Tokyo; Trinidad and Tobago; and St. Maarten. The choir has also appeared on several television programs.

The event is free and open to the public, though free-will donations are accepted on behalf of St. Michael's Building Hope project and the Gospel Choir's foundation. Masking is encouraged.

United Church hosts installation ceremony

BELLOWS FALLS - Members and friends of the United Church of Bellows Falls, UCC, are set to install the Rev. Matthew Nelson-Rogalski as their settled pastor and teacher.

The ceremony will take place at the church, 8 School Street, as part of a special worship service on Sunday, Oct. 9, beginning at 3 p.m. Nelson-Rogalski has served the church since June 2021. There will be a reception in Fellowship Hall following the installation.

Historians present talk on 'New England's Great River'

VERNON - The Vernon Historians will host a presentation on the Connecticut River by author, photographer, and historian Adair Mulligan on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m.

Originating from ponds near the Canadian border, the Connecticut River travels over 400 miles through four states on its way to Long Island Sound.

The program will include an “armchair tour” of this great river in Vermont and New Hampshire, exploring its history and natural beauty through the seasons and among the communities along its banks.

Mulligan currently is the executive director of the Hanover Conservancy and served for 20 years as conservation director of the Connecticut River Joint Commissions. The public is invited to come and learn more about this special river and how we might affect its future.

The program takes place at the Governor Hunt House & Community Center, 322 Governor Hunt Road, and immediately follows the 6:30 p.m. annual meeting of the Vernon Historians membership. It is free, open to the public, and accessible to those with disabilities. Refreshments will be served, and there is limited parking or drop-off at the Governor Hunt House for those with mobility issues. Plentiful additional parking is available in the Vernon School parking lot across the street.

Senior lunch served

DUMMERSTON - Evening Star Grange and Senior Solutions will present their first October meal at the Grange Hall in Dummerston Center on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with both in-house and takeout meals available. Takeout meals will be available for pick-up between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The in-house meal will be served at noon.

The menu features shepherd's pie or vegetarian shepherd's pie, broccoli au gratin, ambrosia salad, and funfetti cake for dessert.

Reservations can be made by Oct. 13 by calling 802-254-1138. Leave name, telephone number, the number of meals desired, whether it is for eating in or picking up, and whether a vegetarian or gluten-free meal is needed.

Reservations are appreciated so that they know how much food to fix. A donation of $3 for those 60 and older and $4 for the younger folks is suggested.

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