In accordance with Chapter By-Laws, the names of Chapter Officers and Board of Directors up for election should be published each year. Here is this year’s slate of officers up for election at the November meeting:

Several members in our chapter have been participating in Project Healing Waters at the Bedford VA Hospital. We are looking for volunteers of all skill levels for fly tying on a one on one basis with the Veterans. This is an opportunity to share your skills with someone who has given greatly to this country. Read a great article about it HERE!

The meetings typically take place on the First Thursday of each month at 6:30pm and are located in Building 4, in the 2nd Floor Dining Area, with parking provided in Lot 4. Please see the facility map for details.

Please bring materials for several flies: hooks, thread, feathers, materials (dubbing, tailing material, etc.) and a wine cork for the residents to keep their flies on. We have quite a few vises at the hospital but you might want to bring yours (if you have one) and some tools as a backup in case we have an overflow of participants.

Below is a photo from our September session. Note the "helping hands" of volunteer Kirk Reynolds as he assists one of the residents tie a green and white saltwater clouser. We had fifteen fly tying volunteers and about twenty hospital residents. Everyone had a great time. The residents are acquiring quite a few flies which the hospital staff is displaying in a shadow box with the name of the resident fly tyer below each fly.

If interested, call Michael Rosser at 978-433-6418 or email at mlr6418@aol.com.

A new page detailing our longtime involvement with the Adopt A Salmon Family Program is now available on the projects page. Check it out and you may be pleasantly surprised how much effort and funding has been put into this great program over the years.

Also the accomplishments page has been updated, pointing to our involvement in the Acid Rain Monitoring (ARM) project.

An effort is underway to build an email announcement list for the chapter members. This email list will only be used to diseminate important chapter news and notify members when the newsletter is available on the website (usually before it is even mailed out). Sending out the newsletter in paper form is a costly endeavor in both time and money, and the funds used toward printing and stamps could best be used elsewhere.

Help out by signing up to receive the newsletter via email. After September 2009 the plan is for the newsletter to go fully electronic, and only when necessary will it be printed and mailed out. Sign up now!