december at the senior center yes sure i've got a few pictures with me to show an example of the kind of things we do each week we usually have to do three special events on tuesdays and fridays this week on tuesday afternoon we had a feature on dolly madison with a live free an actor and we followed that up at four o'clock with a bollywood dance workshop we had about twenty five people dancing to indian music and it was really exciting and fun you can see it was dark outside but we had a good turnout than the last and then we followed that with an indian dinner that really was enjoyed by a lot of people so looking forward to the rest of december we keep having these events from week to with the holidays coming up there's a theme of music coming so starting next tuesday on december eighth we have the second show from the ambassadors did you see the first ambassador show why didn't oh you should come this is joe pop andrea who is one of our regular participants he's a world war two vet and he played with big bands and orchestras for many have the girl scouts doing a sing along right after the butler school lets out they'll walk over on monday and towards the end of the week on december eleventh the powers music school is bringing a soloist with piano to sing holiday music as well wonderful  lots of music great fun yeah and the music keeps coming throughout the month so you can also look at our calendar the belmont high school madrigal singers are coming and we have a new year's mixer as well which will feature one of our favorites coming back to do some live performance babbelas and any special events related to the the holiday good while the christmas special right we do have a holiday luncheon we currently have it capped off at one hundred seventy five and there's a wait list on that but we're bringing back one of the favorite shows of the year and that's the singing graham pops through the  s club so there will be pictures hopefully in the newspaper after maybe on the local cable for everybody to see excellent and what about some of the other activities that are going on in addition to the music where they are see put ball or any of those yeah you want to talk about if you haven't been to the beach street center in the past few months or if you haven't been every day you might have missed some of the new programs that have started this summer we started a laughter yoga group and that is currently meeting fridays at ten forty five it's free and like a lot of the programs that we've started a new it's taught by a local resident so it's one person who had an interest sharing it with a bunch of their neighbors together and at that class people do gentle dance movements some yoga breathing and then they have laughter sometimes  group so that's really good for cardiovascular health and also just fun to try out fantasy football which you mentioned is a really exciting one for me because i asked the high school if there were any students who wanted to teach classes and one of our software is at belmont high decided he'd like to teach fantasy football and he has a good following of people who really enjoyed learning from him excellent so yeah i know that  that the laughter and yoga is great part and because he left which i never knew before you left him different parts of your body you know depending on the way he left and getting together with a bunch of people who are laughing and dancing is definitely good for your brain yes and zumba zoom was a new class i think we started in november and it's a really up dance class but it's not to the same speed that you might have seen in fitness studios around town it's gold so it's specifically tailored to the students who come to that or age fifty plus and they love our instructor who's brought in different props and things to play with on the days and some really good music so you'll notice on zuma days that there are people in the gymnasium dancing with the teacher and then people in the lobby dancing a little bit because they hear it too it's hard not to dance to death if to say oh i've done that and i be tripping over my own feet all the time but i have laughing all the ever having a good time ok and then i see hot topics which i understand is great fun yes i mean you have been to hot topics before i've heard a lot about it but it hasn't worked into my schedule yet but i'm intending to be there because i understand that the whatever the topic is they get into it and it's  with mutual respect right to respect but nonetheless lively yes right now there's a group of about six people and they really would welcome more neighbors to come in people with different experience and knowledge can really add to a conversation about current forming called our tech club and it's with richard berger he's one of our local specialists who can do computer tutoring and help you troubleshoot your home problems with laptops or phones but he also wanted to invite anyone who has an interest in working with computers or learning about new software features of phones to come in once a month and just have a conversation with each other all skill levels welcome and they're having a forming meeting this month so look for that or that sounds great ok you think you can think of that's like a that's a major thing this one well one i know you've been trying out with me is beginner chinese yes so we have a new class because so many people in belmont have neighbors who speak mandarin as a primary language and they ask for beginning basic phrases that they could share with people so that everyone is comfortable and can communicate so we found a really wonderful instructor she's a newly retired belmont resident who's been teaching basic phrases so jan and i have both been in those classes and they'll be continuing mondays at ten am that's another three thing and i encourage anyone to try it out at least once or twice to see how fun it is you'll keep coming it is absolutely and well as i had mentioned  before when i first moved to belmont thirty years ago or so i thought that the most wonderful thing about belmont was its easy access to boston where i worked but since i retired and started doing some volunteer work among them many things that i have gotten involved with is the senior center which is absolutely wonderful and you get to be with people and do all kinds of fun things in the  facilities that are there are quite remit remarkable also and and the people there are absolutely remarkable and inspiring and by anyone who hasn't been there yet please do come down in and join us and have fun with us it's like a play date ok so move it on the things you want to talk about that are that you have working that you're working on for the future you have in the pipeline we've been having request because they have a suggestion box and i really do look at that i promise and we have evaluations after each workshop to see what people would like to come in because of those we're adding a free legal clinic starting in january where people over sixty can come in and get a fifteen minute conversation with a lawyer for free it's being offered by metro west legal services which is a nonprofit law firm and you do need to sign up in advance so they have enough people staffing it but if you're interested in that had to be really helpful to people who have landlord tenant issues or questions about paying for nursing home  care will trust the states anything that you might want to ask a lawyer about but you don't want to necessarily contractor pay one hundred seventy five dollars an hour quite yet it's a good time to ask those basic questions excellent  and oh i've forgot to ask you about the the recent craft fair we have a big crafts group at the center who gathers regularly and they do amazing things and there they do an annual craft fair which is great fun and they do it right they have the craft fair right before christmas and lots and lots of good gives so we had a big sale day the saturday after thanksgiving and i was one of the staff lucky enough to be there that day so i did a tour with my husband and we tried not to spend too much money but there were a lot of good things i actually brought some that i picked up today which are baby hats for a friend of mine from our knitting group made these  and the sale on that saturday raised over forty six hundred dollars to support our programs and scholarships at the council on eating excellent i have to warn you that there are still some of these available so if you love cute baby things or other neat goods you can still find them mondays and fridays until december fifteenth and are raffle quilt is still accepting new tickets you can also buy those mondays and fridays it's really beautiful if you haven't seen it can stop by the center any time we're open to look at it and the art room this is a great big beautiful quilts handmade yanis being raffled off yes i got a full patchwork really bright queen size quilt  anything else i could talk about the center itself which is really beautiful because i i find it just an amazing place i really love that place and i invite you tucker so i only started recently in august this year at the senior center and when i came up for my pre interview checking out the place it was one of the most gorgeous senior centers i've seen around the state was built in two thousand and six it is two stories it's located where school was so we still have the beautiful playing fields out in front to look at and see kids playing and it's filled with high energy efficiency and kind of all the amenities that you would look for in a brand new building so it's a little bit cozy and home like but it also feels very fresh and then we have a lot of event spaces which during the middle of the day are free those are sorry not for you they're really busy that we might have  every four or five activities going on at once and hundred or more people a day that i get to see at the front desk so it's a really vibrant place to check out it is and there are so many different kinds of things i mean there's  poor table and ping pong table and and all different kinds of games like poker and scrabble and what's wrong and different things that people would be interested in and can go there and relax a lovely little library that is very well stacked are stocked i should say and and the lunches that they serve there are they have wonderful hot lunches for what a two dollars contribution and it's and they also if you don't have transportation you call and you will get transportation there are drivers are awesome they are they are awesome and so it's just a wonderful thing that is available in belmont to to the seniors that is just that below us it's a place to go to if you want to find a volunteer opportunity or a social group or try something out new you can come in and explore you know take a walk around and see what's going on that day talk to one of the staff for a tour even just look at our newsletter which we both have here so you can get this at the library or at the beach there to see what's going on i would be surprised if someone didn't find something they want to try out here absolutely yeah the companionship and the just the facilities in general and i do also want to mention specifically the fitness room because that is one of the nicest fitness rooms i have ever encountered and i will mention specifically to a gentleman that come in there who are world war two veterans and they go upstairs and they work out in that fitness room daily and it's just very inspiring it really is and so please do come and have a tour if you haven't already been there come in visit with us and we'll show you around and you can try out a class yes you can try out a class there was class a most instructors are really happy to have you learn about what they do before you sign up for sure absolutely and most of the things there are no cost membership has no cost and but volunteering there is always welcome and appreciated and great fun i can say that it is has been a great thing to be here i can put in a plug we need a couple different kinds of volunteers right now yes but in a plug we need some lunch volunteers because we serve between forty and one hundred people every day and there's a few kitchen staff who get the meals ready but we usually need a few volunteers to help serve and pick up things and find out what people need at their tables especially towards the end of the week we need some extra help we're also looking like some of these cool new activities we've been able to bring in the chinese language lessons and fantasy football and laughter yoga if you have an interest that you want to share with neighbors and you want to offer a free one time workshop or an ongoing group i'm always happy to talk about that and see if we can find an interested group in a time to try it out and then the last is a joint effort between the senior center and the belmont media center we need some people who want to learn to record our workshops so that when we have a really great speaker and that can go live on the public access t v so if you're interested in learning those cameras skills they'll train you here and then you can help us share what we do there are also some wonderful trips that girl from the senior center this past summer for instance what i joined a trip that went to george's island out of boston harbor and visited forewarn which is a bad bill a civil war fort that and that was a great trip and i've gone on a trip that was up to the charles river that was absolutely delightful and these things i mean there is always something like this going on at the senior center well and i i know i know of one program it's going to be coming out at the senior center has to do with the civil war history of belmont and i think al smith is going to be doing a tour in boston of some of the key civil war sites is he not for working on those tips for later in the spring at this time in in january and kind of the cold winter months for staying closer to home and doing in fact we can take you on the bus to a number of places on a regular you know for shopping in the market basket for instance market basket in burlington and star market in belmont we do i think every week or every other week and then if you just need to get to a hair appointment or a doctor's appointment and you live in belmont and you're over sixty give us a call because our transportation is available if your car's in the shop or if you can't park or if you just need a hand ok anything else that you can think of that's coming up in the pipeline that we are to know about well we're working on some extra kind of fitness and dance classes for different groups to try out so that bollywood event went so well that we will probably have a bollywood dance class starting in january or early spring run yet we also go i'm not sure yet on our january calendar but it should be out usually the last week in the month you'll see next month's events and there is one thing that's kind of an exciting new collaboration the health department group and it's for all ages in the months to come learn about laughter yoga try it out and if you're free during the day and want to be in the continuing group that's a good way to get a taste of it so that's a pretty that sounds great but you know it's a good stress them during the day often grandparents absolutely that will be front you know we want to talk about veterans a little bit or yes because i i really am so impressed with the the the respect and the special things that that are done to make the veterans you know be honored and recognized so we had a wonderful veterans day breakfast it was the first annual beach street veterans day breakfast sponsored by bob upton at the health department he's our veteran service officer for the town and we had really really great participation from the belmont hill school so there was a boys acapella group that sang the national anthem it was really beautiful and then there were students from belmont hill who sat with you to the tables of veterans helped them get their water and coffee and also just got to know them so it's a great place for intergenerational interaction you know for younger people to learn about history local and sometimes war history or national history by coming in and meeting people yes and then asking them questions about their experience with that and it really is this wonderful added it's it just is the right thing to do is to honor them and i think you set up a wonderful program to do that pancakes well again i just i find this senior center to be a wonderful place for everyone to go who is retired and or what the sixty is if you're belmont resident over fifty year in order to defeat every program and our gym our fitness room and then there are specific programs with federal funding where it's a sixty plus limit and that's the transportation and the lunches that we are able to provide for an amazing two dollars cost it's because it's a federally subsidized program for sixty and above but it's it just is a very very  very wonderful place to be with people and to enjoy the companionship and and when they have children coming in and either whether whether it's children from the high young people from the high school or the grade school or whether it's little tiny children running around it's always just great fun you know and i think it's good for everybody involved y our classes are amenable to having someone bring a grandchild with them as they always are you know doing babysitting during the day but they really want to try out a class check with the teacher but a lot of times that's fine and then we do have inner generational events especially in december we're going to be having i think it's a butler after school program doing a piano concert we have that high school madrigal singers so you're going to get to see a lot of interaction between groups here and it different times of the year for instance in the summertime there's always an ice cream social which my grandchildren have certainly enjoyed and also the the craft group does special things for instance at easter so you know if you enjoy crafts pick up those knitting needles and karate have end and make something from like those hats or come in and make work or quotes whatever there are so many things you can do there no matter what your interests are and so com if that's we're finished with everything that we can think of to to share yeah i wish i had pictures of everything we do but since i don't you have to come live in person to meet us and see what it's like yes  ll really be surprised i think if you haven't been by how exciting it is to be there absolutely i couldn't agree more so well and thank you so much for coming today