custody and they're going to give me some information first we'll be talking about the school and how we got started with it and all in so the tell me if you'll give us some of your experience of the history of the ok it's a pleasure to be here and to share that information with everybody in peter's township and you may not know that peter finishes school started around was built in one nine hundred twenty six when he said so i think it's more than eighty years old right now this structure and it was basically for most of the students on the eastern end of the township and i believe it was originally first through grade grade school  grade and over the years ago transformed according to how the demographics changed in peter's township and eventually in the more modern times the seventy's eighty's and ninety's it became primarily an elementary school and it housed anywhere from kindergarten to fifth grade maybe one of each grade level until eventually in the ninety's we ended up with a k three building up about one hundred eighty three students and  that school closed in one thousand nine hundred ninety three and that's when we opened up the new mcmurry elementary school the structure that's on memory road across from the middle school in the hundred ninety seven fifteen of us got together and we purchased the school and with a lot of help from grants and everything like that and we've been working with it ever since so i like to know why you became interested in the mission here in  society well as you know and that's the group you were just talking about to help preserve this historical structure in peter's township having been a daughter of peter's township myself and i went to finish school when i was a youngster in the  sixty s and now i'm entry school prior to them building pleasant valley and then having been a teacher there in third grade and then being the last principal for the building i had quite an interest in make sure and making sure that we preserve the structure and helping it to stay within the community and a structure that would be available to everybody so that we could preserve history in peter's township we haven't had a whole lot of occasion to do that you know i thought it was great that this group formed wanted to preserve the structure and so one day a community day i was at your booth and said i know you're doing this and this is i don't know how you signed me up  a very memorable event to reopen venetia school that's the way i look at it and i as tony had many memories from finishing school when we first came to the community of peter's township my children attended that school as their very first school and all of our children went through that school was it one through three was it k through three was it one through five whatever it happened to be when the youngsters were there they went through it i too was employed in that building for a period of time in the dining room and in the playground area so it has many lovely memories i too was very very pleased to have the group take over the building and try to keep the memorabilia down in that area have a place for the people of that area not just the seniors and not just the children but everyone in the area have a place to go gather enjoy and many learning experiences can come out of this building after all that is are already built and then what are we going to have the board of directors for the the nation heritage society determined that it was high time to share the building inside not just outside with their membership and the community that is what we're going to do on june the second saturday and the hours are going to be from eleven to we want everyone to come we have one activity going on down there which are my hope you'll help me with the model railroad has a room down there that they have put together on a lot the information and railroad business they had an open house i understand in march i was not able to attend the day stanton are dare policeman from the community is kind of heading this up and there was quite a group attended and they had so much fun i understand hopefully this particular area will be open the day of our open house says there are more we want to say about that particular room and facility before we move on well i think it should be open to the public for them to see what all in is done by children i don't know what age group that is where it's mostly done by then with supervision of adults and they say i haven't seen it myself but they say it is very nice gun lobby where no dave's in charge of a local group here that is also collecting artifacts from them onto a railroad that had run through peter's township idea and a glimpse into prior history here in peter's township that we had that a lot of people are not familiar with and they're not familiar with the roots of our community there's a great book in the public library of which i'm sure you're both aware of that has the history of peter's township's little red book yes and it was done for the bicentennial yes in one nine hundred seventy six and it still remains a good resource and a way that we can get in touch with our roots here peters township so for anybody would like to know a little bit more they would be a good resource for them and i do believe that book tony is also in or of our schools libraries as well so there would be plenty of access  that bit of information might be wise to look through it before the open house and catch up on what you might be looking for down here at the school that particular day is going to be we're hoping in those few hours chuck full of lots of fun our man has over the years put together some videos on this channel and we are going to show them that day there they will be information and history on the hackett and peters township area so that will be available for folks we're going to have a fifty fifty raffle of course and the chinese saw and that's going to be up to some individuals of the board to put some things together so i have no idea why what might be packaged there that day and of course what would be an event without music are we going to have that most certainly peter's township is well noted for our arts and mrs donna foxx is going to see that at least one of her groups gets down to the event the day there may be more than one we're having gone roach who was a vocalist share some music with us and we are working on two or three others i would offer an invitation that if there are those out there that would like to share sayings with us that day through music please be in touch with irma and let her know because i'm sure that she will schedule you in for that day there would not be a problem prob y one last thing that we will be hopefully kicking off that day and i say hopefully because there's a lot of work entailed we're going to do a buy a brick campaign through the society and hopefully that will be ready to go and how do you relate to this cast your minds to our public library in the township it will be that sort of  a program that we will be doing hopefully you will be receiving information by way of the various media prior to our event so that that would be an activity that you might want to take part in that day do come and join us and of course you know how it is if you serve food they'll come well we're going to serve it so we know that your calm you know can you share something else with  the other great part of this is we close this building in one nine hundred ninety three it has been available in a sense to the community especially to the senior part of our community and so some people are getting to utilize the building and we like to get additional utilization of it and also kind of focus on some of historical aspects so this will be the first time that the general public will be able to come in and walk through the building and we're hoping that those who visit the building will be able to get a chance to see the kind of work that needs to be done and perhaps will be able to generate some ideas and some new interest in them in a shared society maybe people who would like to join in they may have resources they may have talents and ideas that they can generate and provide to us say hey have you tried this with the building are you going to go in this direction with that you know i have dreams too because i certainly from an educator stand point would like to see that building be a source of still troops for kids in the future so that they can see and historic site here peters township it's located near the right house i mean you could package that all together and let our kids experience history as it once was here peters so we have all kinds of little projects that we can accomplish and we certainly need our communities help and interest in that some hoping that when they walk through the building they'll get some additional ideas because the blackboards are still there the original windows are there there's been in the antipodes some deaths that we've managed to get there so we'll see what we have to offer so far and how we can build upon this foundation the evil started three initial interest maybe you could share with us irma since you're a little more involved than i am in the senior aspect of what we actually do provided to the aspen issues community center right now we're a campaign senior lunches we have them twice a month the second and fourth thursday of every month and everybody says twice a month and once a whirl twice a month and we like blood pressure screening first and then we have lunch and then we have people coming for lunch and it's always about that up to and we can have up to seventy five people because i want to get involved and coming to lunch and going to the minissha saro how do they were they sign up for that seemed to be pleased with it and in our entertainment we usually get entertainment from the schools and speakers coming from different organizations and it's just something that we all work together and try to make a nice program for everybody also i think we need to mention some of the things that has already been completed at the building we put in that chair left for those folks who are not capable of getting up to the second and third floor because this is an old building member we're not all on one floor so we did manage to get the chair lift stand which is a great help so that all persons might be able to get in there we took care of redoing the kitchen isn't that right yes we got a grant from a bank in they gave us so much money and it was to be slated for the kitchen and we spent every penny  what are we going to be receiving yet this week yes i don't know well the rotary is going to be given us we're going to be presented with a check for a thousand dollars to be screened and the goals that we all have in mind because without doing that folks do not know what we need how much we need and why do we need they always want to know wh need so we need we really need to share that you know it's interesting to me being a long time resident of course we all know we're finished school is but i'm not so sure that all the community members  how do we get there if we live on the western side of the township if we take mcmurray wrote with go towards a middle school if we're coming from donaldson's crossroads area and get onto there we broke make a right to valley broke  will pass the country store dress and you will pass the post office right in it's right next to the methodist church right next to the rites methodist church there in fact many of the folks from up on this end of town are better are aware of where it is because of the fields there that the youngsters play ball on but they don't know about that red brick building being there and  that is what it is so maybe the young people who play ball there and so forth would be able to share that day too by coming in and saying an old school house and and see the train of the railroad information and know what that building stands for that they are playing around every week well in my eyes there was a big spore because i went to a one room school and you know where there you go into a historic preservation and this is a great opportunity for the community to see a building that is very special in the hearts and minds of many people there are a lot of people who want to finish a school in it when although you go back and yet well it's going to be a fun day and i certainly hope that those in the community will share it with their families and you can if it's a half an hour if it's the whole time whatever it takes will be very glad to  you there that day and if you have any information to share with us please be in touch with irma to give her the information we will take historic photos absolutely any kind of memorabilia that people may have so that we can maybe one day we'll have a little room that will have all the old their accent that's in the plans are safe as a matter of fact when they painted the whole building over again we left that room in the original colors that they were