News: January 2022

January report

Nordic Trail the trail is being groomed by Allied Contracting again this year.  Since our groomer at Huntley Meadows has finally become unrepairable, we have added this recreation area to Allied’s scope of work.  Nordic at Night was scheduled to begin in January, but the lack of snow early in the and inconsistent temperatures have caused us to postpone our opening to February 5^th. 
We are working with the Upper Valley Land Trust again, with additional support from the Norwich Lions Club. The Lions will host a fireworks display at the Brookmead Conservation Area on February 19^th, during a Nordic at Night event.
 
Basketball Season -  Our teams began playing games this month.  We played games against Lebanon, Lyme and Hartford.  Our 5/6 boys and girls teams each have at least 12 players, but our 3/4 teams ending up combining into a coed team this year.   Many of our players have enjoyed the program enough that they attended Hanover Heat’s AAU tryouts.  Norwich was well represented at both the 3/4 and 5/6 level.

We hosted a skating party on January 17^th for children in Norwich, with time slots available by grade level. The HHS Youth in Action teenagers supported the event by clearing the rink every 10 minutes from 8:30am-12:30pm, and supervising the children as needed.  The Youth in Action volunteers included a very talented ice skater, who put on a short, but impressive show for the children

Safe Zone training began late in January and will continue through February.  Norwich Recreation is joining Burlington, Rutland and Milton in representing Vermont in the Northeast contingency of Safe Zone facilitators.

We began hiring for our summer camp season, and recruiting volunteers for both mud and spring sports seasons.  We have commitments from Good Life, Sports, Photography and Outdoor Adventure camp staff.  Volunteers for our sports programs are coming in slowly. Many of our parents are “aging out” of Norwich Rec, when their children begin attend school across the river.
Our Rec Council lost two members this month –Ryan Gardner and Stephen Gaughan both retired from the Rec Council after many years.  Marisa Lorenzo is applying for appointment to the Council.