For the second consecutive year the Boathouse Foundation, a philanthropic unit of the Boathouse Club of Edgartown, presented a check for $25,000 to the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard. Presenting the check on behalf of the Club’s members, employees and owners, were Scott Anderson (general manager) and Sydney Mullen (club manager).

It may have been the coldest day on the Vineyard in five years, but the warmest place to be on Monday afternoon was the pool inside the new YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard in Oak Bluffs. The heated aquatics center was an echo chamber of energy as the Vineyard high school swim team took to the blocks for the first home meet in 40 years.

Many considered it a historic moment as the first swimmers hit the pool for the first event — 25-yard freestyle — against the Blue Hills Technical School from Canton.

Democratic Delegates

To elect delegates to the state Democratic convention in June the West Tisbury Democratic town committee will be having a caucus on Saturday, Feb. 12th at 10 a.m. at the Up-Island Council on Aging, 1042 State Road, West Tisbury.

In order to vote and/or run for delegate, you must be both a registered Democrat and reside in town as of Dec. 31, 2010.

Elections will include three delegates and three alternates.

For more information, call Rufus Peebles at 508-693-5100.

Valentine’s Weekend

Spend a romantic Valentine’s Day weekend with your loved one at Hob Knob in Edgartown this year and enjoy a romantic culinary experience for two, courtesy of the Island master chef Jaime Hamlin. See a live demonstration, share a toast with the chefs, and enjoy a menu of custom food and wine pairings. The demonstration and toast with the chefs is at 2 p.m., champagne and hors d’oeuvre at 7 p.m. and dinner is served at 7:45, on Saturday, Feb. 12.

The All-Island School Committee voted to ratify a three-year agreement with Island school secretaries last Thursday, after nearly nine months of negotiating. Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss said yesterday the contract, which is retroactive to July 1 of last year, will include no salary increases this year (2011), a two per cent increase next year and a 2.75 per cent increase the following year.

A diver who was working with a private team to remove unexploded ordnance from beach areas around the Island was rescued on a remote Chappaquiddick beach in a driving snowstorm early Wednesday afternoon. Calls that went out over the Island communications center emergency radio network reported the man was unconscious when he was pulled from the water and resuscitated by a fellow diver at the scene.

The diver, whose name was not released by police, was working off the jetty at East Beach in the Cape Pogue Wildlife Refuge.

On Monday the 1,590-pound church bell that has rung the hour for Edgartonians for five generations was temporarily relieved of duty. The bronze bell, cast in 1843 and installed in the Edgartown Whaling Church in 1889, was gingerly removed from atop the clock tower by crane, for the first time, on the coldest day this winter.

Members of the Vineyard’s creative community seldom miss an opportunity to support each other, especially when there’s free food involved, as was the case when Island artisans, interior decorators and architects met last week to share notes on sourcing custom-made, handcrafted built-ins and accessories close to home.

Winter Gardening

Ground frozen, snow forecast and the smart birds munching Spanish speaking worms down Mexico or South America way. So, time to start gardening, right?

Crazy as it sounds, it’s true. Waiting on the warmth to start laying the foundation for a summer garden is a quick ticket to a long summer killing time in line at the store for your fruits and veggies.

Tisbury is looking to reduce the cost of health insurance by pushing town employees to shift themselves onto the policies of family members who don’t work for the town.

In return for getting themselves off the town’s health insurance, workers could be offered thousands of dollars toward subsidizing the cost of alternate arrangements.

The suggestion was one of a number of cost-saving and revenue-raising measures which came up at Tuesday’s meeting of the selectmen.