Equestrian Benefit

An auction and party with food, music, raffles and Clarence (Trip) Barnes 3rd will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at the agricultural hall in West Tisbury to benefit American Horse Trials Foundation and Olympic equestrian hopeful Robyn Hanover. Admission is by a $15 donation. More information is available by calling 508-693-3922.

Marsha Winsryg first went to Africa over a decade ago. She went armed with curiosity and a passport. She came back with friends, photographs and a big box of carved figurines she had promised a young merchant she would sell in the United States before sending the profit back to his small crafting village in Zambia.

Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the moon, and 12 men walked upon its surface. They remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. The film In the Shadow of the Moon brings together for the first, and possibly the last, time surviving crew members from every Apollo mission that flew to the moon, and allows them to tell their story in their own words.

Island Theatre Workshop will hold auditions Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. at the Federated Church parish hall in Edgartown for two coming musical productions.

Amahl and the Night Visitors, by Gian Carlo Menotti, a one-act opera directed by Lee Fierro and Peter Boak, will be performed for two weekends in January 2008.

Needed are people to play three kings and a page (one tenor and three baritones) and a chorus of women and men (soprano, alto, tenor bass.) The roles of Amahl and his mother already have been cast and are in rehearsal.

Acting with dispatch, Chilmark voters at a special town meeting Monday night amended zoning bylaws, approved design money for a building on the Menemsha harborfront, endorsed a complicated conservation land swap and paid some miscellaneous bills.

The Oak Bluffs Police Department will host its first Citizen’s Police Academy from late November through January. The academy will give Oak Bluffs residents the opportunity to observe the daily operations of their police department.

Officers will conduct training in their areas of expertise, allowing participants a practical view of policing and its complexity.

Lively, strong pieces that reflect the flair of Oak Bluffs-based Washington Ledesma and his Uruguayan heritage are on display until Wednesday at Featherstone Center for the Arts.

Mr. Ledesma’s striking style is exhibited here in two mediums, ceramics and oils. He is teaching both styles at Featherstone this fall.

Marie Allen Honored

Marie B. Allen of Oak Bluffs has received the Soaring High President Award for exceptional service as president of the Martha’s Vineyard Branch NAACP. The award was presented at the NAACP New England Area Conference’s 69th annual meeting held on Oct. 13 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick. Mrs. Allen accepted the award in memory of Mandred Henry, past president of the Martha’s Vineyard Branch NAACP, and in recognition of Mrs. Vera Shorter for her many years of devotion to the Martha’s Vineyard Branch NAACP.

Soldier’s Memories

Islander Mev Good will present his recollection of his teenage experience in World War II — when he enlisted in the 10th Mountain Division which fought in Italy — at a talk on Monday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. at the Tisbury Senior Center, 34 Pine Tree Road in Vineyard Haven. All are invited to the presentation, which includes an original recording of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s address before the House of Commons in 1940.

The fuel assistance program of the South Shore Community Action Council began accepting applications Thursday, Nov. 1.

The council encourages those who did not receive an application and believe they may qualify to apply. Applications will be accepted through April 30, 2008.

Senior citizens on the Island may get in touch with their local councils on aging and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) for information on the program.