FESTIVE PROGRAM CHAIR (1 member)
ASSISTANT TO CHAIR (1 member)
SUBCOMMITTEES:
BUY-A-BULB (BAB)
COCOA
GREENS
BUSINESS LIAISON
MRS. CLAUS
USHERS
MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES
May: Sign-up sheets at Annual Meeting & Luncheon to ask for volunteers
July: Set date with Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce to coincide with the Sunday of Christmas-by-the-Sea (almost always the first Sunday in December unless that is December 1)
Contact all Committee members and volunteers for listing in the annual Club yearbook.
July-August: Schedule with First Parish Congregational Church (FPCC) office and write letter to obtain permission from FPCC trustees to hold program. Hire sexton and organist at their suggestion; invite minister to talk at the opening of the program; coordinate with 1st Parish Church Office Manager for chairs – 978-526-7661, opt. 1.
Early September: invite MERHS music teachers to have their students perform at program: Manchester Elementary chorus, High School chorus, High School band, and SoundWaves
Choose seasonal songs for sing-along (not religious standards as before)
October: Coordinate with Buy-a-Bulb committee; supervise edit of donation envelope and its printing (Daily Printing, Beverly Farms)
Coordinate with Christmas Greens Committee
Coordinate with Publicity: Cricket articles
November: get program selections from MERHS music teachers
Flowers for altar: Katerina Gates or the Church
Produce program and get it printed (Daily Printing, Beverly Farms) including song sheets for sing-along.
Launch Buy-a-Bulb program, Cricket Press articles and donor lists.
Christmas Greens up on Sunday after Thanksgiving; we provide 2 small wreaths and one large one for the Church facade. Church will put them up and take them down.
Contact ushers, remind and set time to arrive
Find someone with truck to fetch 4 stacks of chairs from FPCC Chapel at 1:30 day of lighting and return them at 4:30.
Coordinate with Mrs. Claus
Get checks from Treasurer for organist, sexton, FPCC, any others who need to be paid at the event; use the Manchester Woman’s Club stationery to write thank-you cards, enclose checks.
First Sunday in December: Church opens at 1:30; supervise chair moving; manage ushers; provide any help needed to performers; program at 3:30 pm; cocoa afterward outside; arrange trumpet fanfare and count-down to lighting with HS Band director; Tree lighting at dusk; clean up afterward inside with sexton and outside with cocoa committee; supervise chair return.
December: Follow-up thank-you article in Cricket; thank you notes; invoices to Treasurer
LIGHTS (1 member)
- Order lights (replacement and/or new) through Dan Houde, Manchester Electric, LLC, in July (978-526-1194)
- Arrange with arborist to put up lights at the end of November and remove them in late January or February (Bartlett Tree, 978-927-1590, Jack Ingram has volunteered to do this as a donation since 2018).
- Plan for the count-down, actual lighting of the tree. Pick two children to light the tree along with Dan Houde.
BUY-A-BULB FOR INDIVIDUALS (3 members)
- Club Board determines where money is needed; Communications Committee and/or Publicity Director edits donation envelope blurb to reflect that; prints 200 (Daily Printing, Beverly Farms) in October; gets display stands.
- Distribute envelopes to membership on tables at (October and November meeting(s) (Covid alternative: mail them to the membership).
- One member receives all donations, creates weekly computer files, and forwards them to Cricket Press each Monday, forwards receipts to Treasurer at regular intervals: see Elaine Person’s Buy-A-Bulb write-up.
- Publicity works with The Cricket to produce articles to announce the campaign and introduce the weekly donors list; get it in the Scott Oil community announcements early November; clip and save copies of all articles.
- Submit all bills to Program Chair for approval and delivery to Treasurer.
BUY-A-BULB FOR BUSINESSES (1 member) (Dropped in 2022)
- One or two member distribute envelopes to businesses around town early November; replenishes as needed – OR – develop Levels of Sponsorship for Town businesses. Identify 3 to 5 businesses that may be willing to sponsor the Friendship Tree. Contact those businesses.
MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES (1 member)
- Coordinate and announce each presenter or performer(s)
MRS. CLAUS AND HER ELF (1 member and friend)
- Member Ann Gilson has her own costume already and a sister who acts as elf.
- They provide their own basket of candy canes to distribute during cocoa service.
USHERS (6 to 8 members)
- Guide visitors in the Church for the singing of Carols
- Keep children from climbing onto the Town fountain
- Distribute programs to crowd prior to and during event
COCOA COMMITTEE (4 to 6 members)
(See separate procedures)
CHRISTMAS GREENS (4 to 6 members);
(See separate procedures)
PUBLICITY
- Contact Cricket editor early mid-October so she knows who is doing the publicity and schedule a Buy-A-Bulb (BAB) notice in the Scott Oil community events space in an early November issue; get BAB donation envelope and previous Cricket articles from Festive Program Chair for examples of what to include.
- Submit introductory article to Cricket on the Monday before the first Thursday in November: all info about Tree Lighting and BAB program
- Submit header article every Monday from then on through day after tree lighting; each will lead into list of donations received that week; Erika will provide them if you don’t, so work it out with her
- Submit big “Thank You” article to Cricket on the day after the Program: basically, repeat the program’s listings of committee members, performers, and all the help received to put on the show; may be written by the Festive Program Chair
Manchester Woman's Club MBTS 