New England Lighthouse Lovers -  NELL


A chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation



March 11, 2009

Subject: **** Upcoming NELL Events **** Save The Dates****

Dear NELL Members,

Due to the many lighthouse events being held throughout the year I thought it would be best to notify you of the dates for NELL'S upcoming events. This should help in planning your lighthousing events for the year. Both Ron and I are aware that the dates might conflict with other events. We regret this very much. It is almost impossible to avoid with all the different events that are being held. Years ago it was not to difficult a task. Today, with the popularity in lighthouses and the events surrounding them it is becoming more and more difficult to plan. To try to avoid this in the future we are already in the planning stages of LHHC&Y and the spring trip for next year. Should you have any suggestions please contact Ron Bandock or myself. Complete information will be sent to you as the dates approach. Thank you.

UPCOMING NELL EVENTS:

Spring cruise and meeting weekend.
Date:
June 5 - 7. Information already sent out. A reminder -- If this is not sold out by April 15, 2009 the trip will be opened to the public.

Fall cruise and meeting weekend.
If you haven't been to Execution Rocks, Sands Point or Steeping Stones Lighthouses, join us on our fall cruise and meeting weekend. All together we will cruise to see ten lighthouses. (Weather permitting.)
Date:
September 11 -13, 2009 with the cruise on the 12th. Leaving Liberty State Park at 9:00 a.m. sharp to return around 4:00 p.m. (Same hotel, location and boat as last year.) Meeting will be held Sunday morning.

NELL'S 10th Anniversary Family Picnic.
Bring your spouse, significant other, boy friend, girl friend, kids and grandkids to NELL'S 10th Anniversary Family Picnic.
Date:
Saturday Sept. 19, 2009.
Location: Lighthouse Point Park, Connecticut at the pavilion near the antique carousel. Climb Five Mile Point Light which will be opened for NELL members and family only ($5.00 donation per climbing adult, which will be donated). Also see Southwest Ledge Lighthouse off shore. Possible cruise to the light for a nominal fee for those that wish to sign up.

There it is folks. I hope this helps in your planning and I hope to see you at one or more of our events.

Regards,
Tom Kenworthy
President
New England Lighthouse Lovers
NELLLogo
"Keeping the Flame"
845-896-5787
Between 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. EDST  

2008 NELL’S YEAR IN REVIEW
January, 2009



On January 12 & 13, 2008 NELL held its annual LHHC&Y in Plymouth, MA. We stayed at the Clarion Hotel, Nantasket Beach, MA where we could view Minots Ledge, Boston Light and Graves Light from our rooms. The weekend started with a visit and climb of Gurnet Light, along with a tour of Gurnet LSS and Minots Ledge Keepers House. Then we climbed Plymouth Light, and toured Pt. Allerton LSS. After climbing Scituate Light we visited the Scituate Driftway Museum. The folks there gave us a nice warm welcome and had plenty of hot chocolate and donuts for us. We finished the day with a drive to Government Island in Cohasset to view the original Fresnel lens from Minots Ledge Light. The weather was cold but the days were beautiful. A good time was had by all.

The brochure committee designed a new NELL brochure and the board voted to have it distributed to various visitor centers on the highways of MA and ME. They were also distributed (with permission) to the many different venues we visited. The brochure made its debut at the NELL spring meeting and was very favorably accepted.

On May 30th NELL members headed to the Clarion, Gold Star Inn in Groton, CT where we stayed for the weekend of our Spring Meeting and cruise. The next day we all met in Waterford, CT at the Sunbeam Fleet. We cruised to the following 11 lighthouses; Saybrook Breakwater, Lynde Point, Pequot, New London Ledge, Morgan Point, Latimer’s Reef, North Dumpling, Race Rock, Little Gull, Plum Island and Orient Point.

Jim Streeter, NELL member and President of APLS, offered to open up the beautifully restored Avery Point Lighthouse for us to climb after the cruise. After making the climb, many members took the opportunity to look for “their brick” in the walkway. Jim also got permission from Mayor Popp of the City of Groton to allow us to use the Municipal Building for our spring meeting. NELL took the monies we collected from the donation to climb Avery Pt, added to it, and donated $160 to Avery Point lighthouse in honor of Mayor Popp.

The month of June brought the 2nd Annual Mid-Maine Lighthouse Challenge and the first Martha’s Vineyard Lighthouse Challenge. Many NELL members completed both of these challenges with NELL making up half of the challengers on the Vineyard.

NELL members travelled to Wales, New Brunswick, CA, Alaska, and Hawaii. Locally, members travelled to Monomoy Island, MA, attended an ALF cruise out of Newbury Port, MA, and the first ALF Cape Cod Canal cruise. Members also went to Maryland and cruised to the lights of the Middle Bay along with Thomas Point.
August brought about the first ever Lights Across the Border Lighthouse Challenge (from West Quoddy ME to East Quoddy Head in CA). Many NELL members attended that challenge and for some, it was their first challenge. Crossing the border into Canada was no trouble at all -- except for the traffic coming back into the states for those of us that ventured deeper into Canada to see some lights not included in the challenge. Crossing back into the states was a wait of ¾ of an hour. (For the sake of space, I just listed the new challenges and not the established ones that many members do attend.)

Soon after the Cape Cod Canal cruise, member Doug Bingham received a kidney transplant. Something he had been awaiting for years. I am delighted to report that Doug is doing very well and is recuperating at home with his wife Barbara at his side making sure he does what he’s supposed to do. We look forward to seeing you out lighthousing in the near future Doug. God Speed!

The summer of ’08 was also the time that our 10th Anniversary raffle winners took advantage of the prize trips they won. A week’s stay at Race Pt. Light on Cape Cod. A week at the Outer Banks, NC on Hatteras Island. A Windjammer cruise on the Schooner Mary Day. A stay at the Nantucket Inn on Nantucket Island MA. A stay on Thacher Island at the Assistant Keepers Dwelling and a week stay in Hawaii.

With September came our fall cruise and meeting (9/12-14). We stayed at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, Newark Airport, NJ. On Saturday, we departed Liberty State Park and sailed by the lights of NY City harbor, and the surrounding area including the Waterfalls of NY (an arts project commissioned by the City of NY). The weather was beautiful for our cruise of 19 lights and lightships. The following day we held our fall meeting where the new Mr. & Miss NELL were crowned. Kathy Santucci was crowned by the outgoing Miss NELL, Linda Graham. Tom Pregman was notified via cell phone that he was the new Mr. NELL by Lee Hall, the outgoing Mr. NELL.

November was ALF’s annual Volunteer Award Dinner and Gala. This year it was at the Hyatt Regency in Newport R.I. All attendees got a chance to climb Newport Harbor Light (Goat Island).

Bob and Ann Trapani put together a fantastic slide show of all the different chapters that make up ALF. NELL was included with our Project Hope work at Long Point, Wood End and Race Point lights. After dinner, the winners of the Len Hadley Volunteerism Award were announced. I’m proud to say that NELL Charter Members Carolyn Carbone and Penny Miller who were, and still are, our original secretary and original webkeeper, respectively, were the well deserved recipients from NELL. Congratulations ladies and thank you for your over 10 years of volunteer work.

November is NELL’S 10th anniversary. I am proud to be a member of NELL and even prouder to be her President during this time. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO NELL and to all her members past and present that made this wonderful 10 years possible. In our short history, we have donated over $113,000.00 to lighthouse preservation.

We started 2008 with partially revisiting NELL’S 1st LHHC&Y and our first cruise of the year followed the same idea. Ron and I are planning a couple of special events to help celebrate our anniversary in the spring/summer of ‘09.

Your Board of Directors works hard to serve you and to make sure NELL stays on top as a premier lighthouse organization. On behalf of your Board of Directors I wish to thank you. Without your help and support this could not be done.

Lighthouse events are becoming more and more plentiful, therefore, harder to plan so they don’t conflict with each other. If next year is as exciting and busy as this year was, we are in for one heck of a ride.

I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a safe, healthy, prosperous Happy New Year!

Thank you for a wonderful year!

Tom Kenworthy
President, NELL



WinterNELLLogo

Holiday logo courtesy of Ron Foster


Posted November 15, 2008

Dear NELL Members,

Due to the many new memberships we have received I find it best to send this to all members. I have received several inquiries stating "I (we) just joined NELL. That automatically makes us members of ALF, correct?" The answer to that is -- no my friends, that is not correct. True, some chapters have that in their agreement with ALF, but due to the complexities and differences of each agreement that each chapter has, that clause is not universal. It pertains to a very small group of chapters within the chapters that make up ALF. Here again, going back to those complexities, NELL is the only chapter of ALF that does not have a particular lighthouse under its stewardship but does support and donate money to all ALF lights and other New England lighthouses.

We (NELL) have our own dues structure as does ALF. (NELL dues run from Jan. to Dec. and ALF has your anniversary date when you joined as your renewal date.) NELL highly recommends that a NELL member join ALF and help support our parent organization. Do we require you to join ALF? Definitely not and we never will. But as I have already stated we do recommend it and request that you do so.

NELL, ALF and many other lighthouse organizations have members only event[s] throughout the year so it does benefit you to become a member, but that remains as your choice.

For further information regarding the American Lighthouse Foundation and their dues structure please go to: http://www.lighthousefoundation.org/index.html or call 1-207-594-4174.

I hope this clears up any confusion and or misunderstandings any of you might have. Thank you.

Regards,

Tom Kenworthy
President, NELL


August 17, 2008
lighthouseLighthouse "Bagging" Boom

I received this from Ron Foster and thought you'd enjoy it. I think we will stay lighthouse lovers though. smiley vace

Regards,
Tom




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