Longleaf G.C.

The Longleaf Garden Club will meet Thursday, March 17, at 9:30 a.m. in Steed Hall. The newly constructed landscape gardening curriculum facility will be toured by the group. Featured on this tour will be classrooms, laboratories, design studio, faculty offices and library. Of special interest will be the roof-top garden and attached greenhouses.

“Gardens of the World” will be presented, followed by a brief business session.

Men’s Fellowship

The Sandhills Men’s Fellowship welcomes Lewis Cooper as the guest speaker at the Tuesday, March 22, breakfast meeting.

Cooper grew up in Cameron and graduated from Union Pines High School, where he was an outstanding student-athlete. After graduation, he attended the University of North Carolina, earning a degree in pharmacy.

He returned to Moore County and was employed with the Medical Center Pharmacy in Pinehurst. He realized that he had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and opened Cooper’s Pharmacy in Vass, which has been in successful operation for more than 30 years. Cooper and his wife, Susan Reeves, live in Southern Pines.

The Sandhills Men’s Fellowship meets at the Pinehurst Member’s Club at 7:45 a.m. for fellowship, followed by a breakfast buffet at 8 a.m. The meetings are open to all men who are interested in great speakers from the pool of extraordinary residents of the area.

For additional information, contact Tom Stewart at (910) 295-9775.

Kiwanis of Pines

John Weaver, secretary, treasurer and historian of the Kiwanis of the Pines, gave a presentation on the history of the club, which was begun on Oct. 10, 1974, by David Drexel, Joseph Krause and Fred Garrett. The club was sponsored by the Sandhills Club, and Kiwanis of the Pines went on to sponsor the Carthage, Robbins, Eagle Springs and Foxfire clubs, which are no longer in existence.

Over the years, the club has sponsored polo tournaments, Children’s Center events, Tour de Moore 1989, Special Olympics, golfing for charities, Bud Smith’s bike giveaway, the Travel and Adventure series, Stoneybrook parking, the Town Crier, Easter Seals activities, Terrific Kids at Southern Pines and Vass Lakeview elementary schools, Project Able, Food Bank USGA 2000 concession stand and many other activities in the 37 years this small club has existed.

The club meets at the May Street Market in Southern Pines on Thursday at 7 a.m. for breakfast and the meeting. All newcomers welcome to join us. Contact Barbara Harris-Para at (910) 949-2854

Health Resources

Health Resources Network, a forum for health care professionals that provide services for seniors, will meet Wednesday, March 23, at noon at Table on the Green at Midland Country Club. Featured speaker Sheila Iacobucci, from Health Innovations Pharmacy, will discuss compounding medicine and bio identical hormone replacement. Pam Baker, from BeautiControl, will talk about our largest organ: skin.

Those interested in attending should call Veronica Sanchez, at HomeChoice Network at (910) 944-1116.

Pinehurst Rotary

Judy Lewis, of Prancing Horse Center for Therapeutic Riding, joined Pinehurst Rotarians and their guests at a recent luncheon meeting. She shared a presentation about Prancing Horse, its history, its mission and its current paradigm. The mission of Prancing Horse is fulfilled at two locations in Moore County: Muddy Creek Farm, in Whispering Pines, and McLendon Hills Equestrian Center, in West End, with a training calendar for the program at each location.

Lewis shared many of the miracles that have taken place over the 26-year history of Prancing Horse in Moore County.

Pinehurst Rotary meets each Tuesday at noon at the Pine Crest Inn.

Toastmasters

Christina Menear, of Pinehurst, was Toastmaster of the Evening on March 8, assisted by Linda Carlson, of Carthage, as general evaluator, Richard Moore, of Southern Pines, as timer and Table Topics master, Joan Smith, of Southern Pines as ballot master, Rene Nichols, of Laurinburg, and Leslie Deane, of Pinehurst, as speech evaluators. Smith was also a speaker, along with Garry Carlson, of Carthage. Smith was recognized as Best Speaker of the evening.

Deane was educator of the evening and presented information on how improving listening skills helps refine speaking skills.

Toastmasters Club of the Sandhills is dedicated to helping people improve their public speaking skills. The club meets the first three Tuesdays of the month at 7 p.m. in room 125 of the Wellard building at Sandhills Community College. The public is always welcome. For more information, visit http://tcots.freetoasthost.us.

Sandhills Club

Steve Bouser, editor of The Pilot, was guest speaker at the Sandhills Club’s Feb. 24 luncheon meeting held at Table on the Green. He gave an entertaining synopsis of his book “Death of a Pinehurst Princess.”

Luncheons are held the fourth Thursday of each month. Anyone interested in joining this social group of women may call (910) 949-4234 for more information.

John Blue UDC

Three members and one prospective member of the John Blue Chapter of the UDC in Aberdeen attended the district meeting on March 4 in Lumberton at the Pinecrest Country Club. They were Dorothy Thomas, president; Paula Caddell, vice president; Sandra Hinton; and Jefferie Cade.

The meeting was conducted by former district director Frances Kelly, of the J.E.B. Stuart Chapter in Fayetteville. She introduced the seven North Carolina division officers in attendance, who gave reports on their areas of expertise and informed those in attendance of important upcoming events.

MOCARS

The Moore County Amateur Radio Society (MOCARS) will hold its monthly meeting Thursday, March 17, at 7 p.m. on the lower level of the Moore County Emergency Operations Center, 105 W. Saunders St., Carthage.

This month’s meeting will focus on planning for the annual Field Day in June and discussion of a new location. Members have diverse interests in amateur radio, and everyone with an interest in amateur radio is welcome to visit the website at mocars.org and to attend the monthly meetings.

Alternate month licensing test sessions and periodic licensing courses are offered. The next VEC licensing test is scheduled for March 19, at the Carthage Fire Station on U.S. 15-501. For licensing information contact Charles Wackerman at (910) 947-2707.

For further MOCARS information contact James Johnson at (910) 400-3019.

Chess Club

The Sandhills Chess Club meets every Monday and every Thursday at the Moore County Senior Center on U.S. 15-501, two miles north of the Pinehurst Traffic Circle. Monday meetings are at 2:45 p.m. and Thursday meetings are at 7 p.m.

Call Joe McDonald at (910) 315-1233 for more information.

S.P. Civic Club

Carol Dowd, AIFD, owner of Botanicals, a Southern Pines flower shop, will speak at the Southern Pines Civic Club, 105 South Ashe St., at 1 p.m. Monday, April 4. The meeting is free and open to the public, and tea is served after the program at this historic women’s clubhouse.

Dowd opened her shop at 155 E. Pennsylvania Ave. in 2005, but she has 15 years of experience in the floral industry. She is accredited by the American Institute of Floral Design, and she serves on the board of the North Carolina State Florists Association.

Generously volunteering her time to many community causes, she built the stunning floral Eiffel Tower for Weymouth’s Music Room for this past year’s Christmas House. She has presented programs for the Arts Council at Campbell House and for many local garden clubs, and for the N.C. State Florists Convention.

Dowd is the fourth generation of her family to work in a horticulture enterprise. She started out in landscaping with her father’s nursery but found it to be “a natural move from the outside to the inside of the house” with a business centered around beautiful plant and floral displays.

When not working in the floral business, Carol is a skilled horsewoman, and she has been an entrant — with her husband, Rahmean Kamalbake, in “Dancing With The Sandhills Stars,” and she and her mother, Beth Dowd, have had several winning canines in the Westminster Dog Show in New York City.

“Don’t miss this opportunity to learn something new about floral design from one of the best in the business and to welcome the spring season with tea at the Southern Pines Civic Club on April 4, at 1 p.m.,” says a spokesman.

M.C. Genealogical Society

The Moore County Genealogical Society will meet Saturday, March 19, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moore County Library in Carthage. Items on the agenda include election of officers, discussion of the joint August meeting with the North Carolina Genealogical Society and more.

“We have an exciting year ahead. Make plans to join us. Meet the new officers, and see how we can help in your family research,” says a spokesman.

For more information on the Moore County Genealogical Society call (910) 947-2689 or e-mail kayla@carolina.net.