President’s Message, August 2011

WOW!   I hope you were able to join us for our 25th Anniversary Old Fashioned 4th of July Celebration – it was Great!  You can read all about it in the Independence Day Celebration article in this newsletter.

We have several things in the works right now and I will take a minute to tell you about them.

First:  We are trying to obtain a Historic Marker for Boonville before the Town site disappears under a sea of concrete during the construction of new housing.  Sheila Fields has been working very hard to get the necessary permission from the owners for us to apply for the marker.  Anyone who can help us with this project please contact Sheila Fields or myself. 

Second:  Glynis Gore has been working with the City of Bryan to get a Master Plan in place for Heritage Park.  She is waiting, at the moment, for a detailed drawing from the designer so we can present the Master Plan to the Parks and Recreation Department for approval. 

Third:  We are having a collection of vintage clothes, donated to us several years ago by the Astin family, restored so they can be displayed at the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History.   Beverly Myers has been coordinating this project.  The clothes are to be prominently displayed in the Astin wing of the Museum, a first run is scheduled from January through April of 2012, contingent of course upon our getting the clothes restored to a usable condition in time.   The Heard-Craig Historic Center in McKinney, Texas has offered to loan the museum some of Nina Heard Astin’s china and other items to enhance the clothing display.  We are currently applying to the Arts Council for funding to help with the restoration.  We will be looking other places for grants to help with this as well.

Fourth:  A full Membership Meeting is being planned for the last of September, (hopefully the heat will have dissipated by then).  We will be issuing an announcement as soon as plans have been completed.  I will email those with email addresses, and Dan Beto will put the information up on our new blog – Heritage Brazos – at http://heritagebrazos.blogspot.com.  We will also be mailing notices about the meeting to those members who do not have computers.

Fifth:  Plans are in the works for our Annual BHS tea, which will take place at The Clary House on November 12th and 13th.  Anyone interested in helping with the tea please contact me!

Sixth:  We have tentatively set the date for our Christmas fundraiser for December 10th; there will be more information to follow on this as plans firm up. 

I have been blessed with a wonderful, enthusiastic, hard working Executive Committee, for which I continually give thanks.

Anyone wishing to step up to the plate and help us accomplish our goals please contact me at 979-229-2468 or nathilliard@verizon.net.

                                                                                                Nat Hilliard

President