in the Sturbridge Town Hall:
Click on any of the photos for an even larger version.
Tammy introduced Ditte Frederiksen McNeil (left photo below), Josh and Leah Lieberman's granddaughter, who grew up at the camp. Ditte spoke briefly. Sturbridge historian Bob Briere (middle below) spoke next, reading a letter from Simon Ottenberg, who attended the camp in its early years on Bailey's Island in Maine. Josh and Leah ran the camp there in the summers of 1929 - 1931. Filmmaker Bruce Butcher (right below) then spoke about his progress on the documentary. He is going through footage and starting on the script - there are many sides of the camp's story that could be told. He is enjoying interviewing so many interesting alumni and learning about how CRC has influenced their lives. He anticipates that the film will be at least an hour and he is considering the possibility of a longer film.    Tom Greenfield then led the group in singing old camp songs, from a songbook he had earlier prepared and circulated by e-mail (click that link to see a copy, in Word format).  After some practice run-throughs, the group was filmed singing, possibly for footage to be used at the close of the documentary. The singing was done before lunch, instead of later in the day as originally scheduled, because the predicted arrival of Hurrican Sandy the next day caused some of the participants to have to leave earlier than expected.  The group then retired to the Publick House for lunch, including large quantities of their famous sticky buns. Here's my table:  After the lunch, a group was led on a tour of the camp grounds. I did not participate, with expected guests arriving at my house later in the day (they were evacuating their home in Chatham prior to the hurricane). I thus have no photos of the walk. But Tammy Bliss subsequently wrote, "Conservation Commissioner Chairman Dave Barnicle joined Bob Briere and about a dozen CRC alumni on the walk. Bruce Butcher stayed at Town Hall to conduct three interviews that were originally scheduled for Monday, but were done on Sunday because of the Hurricane. Dan Weissman was on the walk with his video camera. A reporter from the local paper joined us for the entire walk." In fact, two reporters reported on the meeting, although perhaps only one went on the walk. Bob Briere has sent along copies of what they wrote. One article can be found on-line: Another article appeared in the Southbridge Evening News, October 30, 2012. We were given permission to post it on these pages courtesy of Stonebridge Press - click the link below for a scan of the article, with photos: While searching, I also found an older article on the film in the Sturbridge Villager of September 28, 2012 (click on the link to see it): Below is a picture of filmmaker Bruce Butcher interviewing Ditte Frederiksen McNeil. You can click on the photo to see more photos taken on the camp grounds during the interview process.  The following sign was brought to the meeting, found on the camp grounds. It used to hang on the entrance road, near the office:  Here's a list of the attendees, about 35, circulated before the event (let me know if I've omitted anyone). This is the list as I received it from Tammy, alphabetized by current last name, with some maiden names in parentheses: Former campers and spouses: Tammy (Guzik) Bliss
Town of Sturbridge: Dave Barnicle (Sturbridge Conservation Commission)
Go back to the Making the CRC documentary (history) page. This page was last updated November 12, 2012
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