Another Success Story!!

The Merrimack Valley club hosted another wildley successful Antiques Appraisal night last Wednesday. Stuart Whitehurst of the popular "Antiques Roadshow" put on another fabulous performance keeping us entertained and educated for the entire evening. Many interesting articles were evaluated with one painting believed to have a value of up to $50,000. What a surprise this was for the owner.

We plan to have another show in the Spring. As usual, this event was a sell out. Keep an eye out for the next one. This is a big hit!!

A Little Reading

I had the eye-opening pleasure of attending the Rotary International Conference in Copenhagen and Malmo in June 2006. If you haven't attended an RI Conference, put in on your life list. Seeing the breadth of our interests and projects is breath-taking and mind-boggling. But I began to wonder: what makes a project work?

At a workshop at the conference, I heard a great deal of discussion about the successes and failures of projects, and about the desire not to have to reinvent the wheel when implementing them. Resources for avoiding reinvention are available, of course - the RI website reports success stories, for one.

But for broader background, I'd like to recommend some books - The End of Poverty, by Jeffrey Sachs, and The White Man's Burden, Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, by William Easterly. These two books will give you some some very different views, but both are great food for thought. I'd like to know of other titles any of you out there would like to recommend, and this is my modest contribution to what might be a useful book list.

Now we just need some time to read!

WHAT'S THAT LAMP WORTH? MAYBE THIS NIGHT WILL BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY!

Imagine finding out that you have an item that is worth $30,000 - $50,000. That is what happened at the last Antiques Appraisal Night hosted by the Merrimack Valley Rotary Club. Who knows what treasures will be discovered at the next Antiques Appraisal night to be held on October 17 from 7-9 PM at the Tewksbury Hospital Old Chapel, on East Street in Tewksbury.
The event features Skinner’s appraiser Stuart Whitehurst of the famed Antiques Roadshow and is being held to raise much needed funds for equine therapy programs at T.H.E. FARM in Tewksbury.
T.H.E. FARM is a non-profit organization that provides therapeutic equestrian programs for the clients of the Tewksbury Hospital, as well as public riding programs and special events to individuals of all abilities. T.H.E. FARM is dedicated to providing a safe environment where therapeutic and equine education comes first.
“Certainly that valuable item was the extreme of the items that were brought to the last event, said Merrimack Valley Rotary President Ken Masson. “But there were other surprises such as paintings that were found in the trash that turned up worth several hundreds of dollars.”
Residents who have such items stored away in their closet, attics, and basements are urged to purchase a ticket to the show and find out just how much of a treasure they have. Appraisals are $20 and general admission is $10. For more information contact Ken Masson at
978-446-9366 or by writing to MVRotary@gmail.com.