Postings on this site look a little
sparse, but I guess you are all out
there visiting and hugging lighthouses
while the good summer weather lasts.
So I will kick off the autumn postings
by telling you what is new at our club.

We are now up over 80 members and will
be celebrating our first anniversary
this November. Our next meeting will be
on Saturday, October 9, in Portsmouth,
NH. We will be meeting at the Forestry
Center, which is a wonderful old barn
that has been remodeled into a
conference center. It is situated on a
few hundred acres with an arboretum that
was once a private estate, later donated
to the state of NH. The usual club
business will take place and also
hopefully the finalization of our By
Laws process, which will enable us to
file for state and federal non-profit
status, so that we can seriously do some
fund-raising for various lighthouse
restorations projects underway in New
England.

There is also an Outing planned for that
weekend in Portsmouth; and it begins
that Saturday evening with a catered
dinner and then a visit to the assisted
living home where Connie Small resides.
She is famous in her own right, having
been on many national TV shows, has
written a book about being the wife of
a lighthouse keeper; but is probably
most recently recognizable from being
interviewed and included on that
wonderful PBS series "Legendary
Lighthouses". She will be giving us a
slide lecture that evening. At age 98
she is still a fascinating speaker and
our club looks forward to hearing her
talk about a bygone era.

Sunday morning will find the club
members going on a special 4 and 1/2hour
lighthouse cruise to see Portsmouth
Harbor, White Island, Whaleback, Boone
Island, and the ocean backside of Cape
Neddick (Nubble) Lights. If there is
enough interest, a tour and climb of
Portsmouth Harbor light is also
available.

Summer was not an idle time for several
of our members. Ron Foster, who won the
club contest for our official logo, was
busy fine-tuning it for various uses.
He put together on-line a comprehensive
and colorful catalog of clothing
products that members could order with
the logo. Our club pin will also have
his attractive logo on it.

Our editor, Ray Patnaude, spent several
months putting together our first club
bulletin, which is also a completely
electronic on-line bulletin. Quite an
achievement in its own right, but
especially as this is Ray's first
attempt at editorship and creating a
special webpage to support the bulletin.
Our club is thoroughly committed to
using the internet as much as possible
for our communications, bulletin, and
club announcements, not only for
members, but for all of you to also see
what is possible for your club to
achieve and to provide you with some
interesting lighthouse-related articles
and photography.

Please take some time to view our sites.
We are proud of what we have achieved
and eager to share it with you. Our
club webpage is
www.lighthouse.cc/nelighthouselovers
You can click onto our bulletin button
from this page, or you can enter it
directly as
http://home.att.net/~beaconkeeper
There are articles on lighthouses,
photography, website reviews, and
members' lighthouse travels -- something
for everyone. On the leftside at the
very end of the bulletin contents list
appears Ray's e-mail address and he is
interested to hear your comments on this
first bulletin. If your club is
interested in doing something similar,I
am sure he will be willing to give you
some tips. By going electronic, our
club is saving hundreds and hundreds of
printing and postage dollars; it is our
feeling that this money can be better
spent towards lighthouse restoration
activities.

Also be sure to click onto the fabulous
site that our webmaster, Jeremy
D'Entremonte, runs at
www.lighthouse.cc It is filled with
beautiful lighthouse photography,
histories, info on cruises, old
lighthouse postcard views, and info on
some neat lighthouse products he has
developed.

Member Bob Scroope, who comes to us from
Long Island, and is also our rep to the
Long Island lighthouse group, was
honored by being invited to be aboard
the Coast Guard ship during the big
celebration of the Orient Point
lighthouse this summer. Read more about
it in detail and see his photos on the
General Forum and in our winter bulletin
which will be online.

Keeping the Flame and HL club activities
going strong here in New England ---
Barbara Hupp, President
New England Lighthouse Lovers (NELL)