Sandhills BPW

Sandhills BPW will meet Thursday, March 22, at the Elks Club at 5:30 p.m. for a social hour, followed by dinner at 6 p.m.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Anna Fakadej, of Carolina Eye. Fakadej will discuss skin health and lifestyle. Those interested in attending the meeting may call Sandra Olbon at 693-1809.

Friends-Bryant House

The Friends of the Bryant House met Feb. 20. Ray Owen was the guest speaker. He reported on his fundraising efforts for the Bryant House restoration. He has donations of $3,500, with another $200 pledge.

Moore County Historical Association has accepted a proposal from Carl Kessler for the restoration of the Bryant House and the McLendon cabin. Kessler felt the Bryant House was in the most need of restoration, due to water leaks around the windows and roof. Therefore, the Bryant House will be the first priority for restoration.

The Friends met again Sunday, Feb. 25, to plan Clenny Creek Day at the Bryant House. After much planning, all adjourned to begin seeking several items to be raffled and other assignments. The next meeting about Clenny Creek Day will be Saturday, March 17, at 9:30 a.m., at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church.

The regular business meeting will be March 20, at 6 p.m. at Carolina Equestrian Village club house.

Computer Club

The Computer Club of the Sandhills will meet Monday, March 12, at 4 p.m. in the lower level meeting room of the Whispering Pines Village Hall. The guest speaker will be Alison Earl, an instructor at Sandhills Community College, who will present the program "Excel Powerful Tool YOU Can Use."

Excel is a Microsoft program that can be used to create spreadsheets and analyze data to make informed decisions. While Excel is extremely powerful, it has many functions that an individual can put to everyday use, from simple lists to databases with formulas and more. Earl will discuss and demonstrate some useful functions of Excel. The main focus of the presentation will be using Excel 2003, but will include some of the new features of Excel 2007 and its benefits.

Earl retired in 1995 following a 26-year career with N.Y. Telephone/AT&T/NYNEX (now Verizon). Later that year she, her husband, Warren, and their daughter, Rebecca (now a Teaching Fellow sophomore at UNC Greensboro) moved to the Sandhills. In early 1996, Earl accepted a computer instructor position in the Continuing Education department of Sandhills Community College. She has taught various courses including "Computing for Beginners," "Windows," "Word," "Excel," and "PhotoShop Elements."

Sandhills CWC

"Room for Change" is the March theme for the Sandhills CWC monthly luncheon at noon on Thursday, March 15, at National Golf Club.

Does a room in your home need a new look but your budget is limited? Caroline Packard and Mary Lynn Golden from Room for Change will share tips and ideas for rearranging and decorating your home using your own furnishings.

Carol Thomas, a local favorite, will share her vocal talents and entertain the group with some of her special songs.

Guest speaker Ginny Hallager is from Springfield, Va. Hallagher's childhood revolved around music, theater and being the limelight.

"Come hear her inspirational story, 'From Make-Believe to Reality,'" says a spokesman.

Sandhills women and their guests are welcome to attend the luncheon held at the National Golf Club in Pinehurst from noon to 1:30 p.m. Call Joan at 673-5146 or Anne at 215-0074 to make reservations.

"Be sure to let us know if you will be taking advantage of our free nursery," says a spokesman.

The cost of the luncheon is $13, all inclusive. A courtesy call is requested no later than Tuesday, March 13.

Linden Garden Club

The Linden Garden Club of Pinewild held its meeting on Thursday, Feb. 15, at the Pinewild Country Club.

Jane Waldemar, vice president, introduced the program for the day.

Jeff Etheridge and Tammy Bowers of Etheridge Landscaping and Design gave a talk on designing and updating landscape designs. He brought a large sampling of a variety of bushes and shrubs that do well in our growing area and made suggestions of what to plant for a "deer-resistant" garden.

An extensive question-and-answer period followed his presentation, where he fielded questions ranging from what to plant and how to plant it to pruning and feeding existing plantings.

Etheridge Landscaping's donated door prizes were won by Paige Underwood and Susan Strine.

President Janet Waters opened the meeting with the introduction of Pinewild guests: Nancy Keel, Jenny Donahue, Martha Tournas, Lois McDuffie, and Eileen Esch. Secretary Dede Degrange presented the minutes from the last meeting and Treasurer Nona Burrell gave the financial report.

The next club meeting will be held on Thursday, March 15, when Carol Dowd, owner of Botanicals Floral Shop, will give a presentation and talk on beautiful containers for the home and demonstrfate how to create botanical vignettes.

"Members are reminded to contact Dawn Munday by the Monday before the meeting to reserve a spot and to let her know if they are staying for lunch," says a spokesman.

NARFE

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Sandhills Chapter 1895 will hold its monthly meeting Monday, March 12, at 10:30 a.m. at the Community Congregational Church, 141 N. Bennett St., Southern Pines.

Chapter 1895 welcomes all Federal (including U.S. Postal Service) active employees, retirees and spouses to monthly meetings. Additional information about NARFE is available by contacting: Vilma Geisert at 910-215-5898, Peter Feeney at 910-695-1554; or George Sandoval at 910-949-7287.

Pinehurst Kiwanis

Jim Lewis, treasurer of the Village Heritage Foundation, spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Pinehurst about the Village Arboretum.

"The Village Heritage Foundation is working closely with the Village of Pinehurst leadership to develop the concept for The Village Arboretum, an historic landscape renovation project," said Lewis.

The Arboretum is being built in phases, with phase I, the Magnolia Garden, virtually complete. The Arboretum is located on land adjacent to the Pinehurst Village Hall.

"The design is in place for phase II and phase III, with all past and future funds for the project coming from private donations," said Leiws. "No government funds have been asked for or received."

Future phases include additional gardens, many new plantings, an educational pavilion, bridges, resting areas and connection to the existing Village Greenway.

"Thus far, 245 donors have contributed in excess of $600,000," said Lewis. "We are asking our current and new donors to raise the additional $575,000 needed to complete phases II and III." Interested donors may contact Lewis at jflewis@nc.rr.com.

The Kiwanis Club of Pinehurst is part of an international alliance of Kiwanis Clubs that direct their civic efforts to benefit children in Moore County and worldwide. For more information about membership in Kiwanis, call Adam Piergallini at 910-246-3320.

Pinehurst Rotary

Shannon Harris addressed the Pinehurst Rotary Club in late Jan-uary about the upcoming Rotary 7690 District Conference to be held at The Homestead.

Harris is currently serving as the Assistant District Governor for Rotary District 7690. She has served as president of the Southern Pines Rotary Club.

Women of Weymouth

Fred Garrett will present the program for the March 19 meeting of the Women of Weymouth.

Garrett initiated and headed up the Landscape Gardening Program at the Sandhills Community College from 1968 until June 2001. He is a native of Virginia and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and a master's degree in horticulture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

After he finished school, his first job was to establish a one-year, non-degree curriculum in applied horticulture for high school graduates at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, Norfolk, Va. Lady Bird Johnson was instrumental in obtaining the support and funding for the one-year school.

In 1968 Garrett was employed by Sandhills Community College to organize and initiate a two-year Associate in Applied Science degree curriculum in applied horticulture.

During his career at Sandhills, the 32-acre Sandhills Horticultural Gardens was initiated with the primary purpose for student training.

Garrett received the L.C. Chadwick award for excellence in teaching from the American Nursery Association in 1985. In addition to receiving two teaching awards from Sandhills and recognition from numerous other organizations, he was awarded the Meadows Award, considered to be the highest honor given in the International Plant Propagators' Society, Southern Region.

He served as president of the Southern Region, was elected a Fellow in 1994, and served on the International board of directors for five consecutive terms. He has traveled extensively on all seven continents.

Since 1993 he has developed, organized, and led groups sponsored by the Sandhills Horticultural Society on domestic and international adventures exploring the world of plants in 21 countries.

The March 19 WOW meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. with coffee time, followed by a 10 a.m. business meeting and the program.

"The women of Weymouth encourage guests to come and enjoy the programs and fellowship at Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities," says a spokesman.