Under Wraps: Winterizing the Underwood Pool Construction Site

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They are wrapping up the construction of the Underwood Pool; not as in “finishing the job” but literally wrapping the site in plastic tarp as the contractor, New England Builders and Contractors of Methuen, prepares for a winter of building the project.

New England Builders said at a public meeting in November it would work through the winter including pouring concrete for the foundation of the bath houses and the pools. Enclosing the work site will allow it to be heated preventing the sub grade and concrete from freezing.

 

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Belmont Boys’ Swimming Already Making a Splash this Season

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A dedicated group of seniors joined by a crop of energetic underclassmen has the Belmont High School Boys’ Swimming team off to a confident start of the 2014-15 season.

After winning its first duel meets by significant margins against Arlington on Tuesday, Dec. 22 and Burlington a week earlier, Belmont Head Coach Bobby Reardon has high hopes for the squad as it has already equaled the number of wins it had in the past two years.

“It’s a great group of guys with a lot of swimming experience who have already stepped up. There is a lot of possibility because of their attitude and hard work,” said Reardon, who believes that this year’s team could send at a minimum of  five swimmers to the state championship (last year only three went) and an entire complement of three relay teams.

Reardon said the team currently tops 35 members which is the most the squad has had in years, coming off last season which saw the team’s home pool, the Higgenbottom at the Wenner Field House, being lost due to electrical and pump issues.

“The team has a very diverse background with some who have swum competitively for years and others who are essentially self-taught who have swum in legal events,” he said.

Leading the way this year will be the team’s senior captains: Jake Carr, Dan Quinn, Ryan Touzjian, Brian Smith and Tom Zembowicz. 

They are proven leaders and they each do some practical things for the team such as keep statistics and lead the team exercise. They are going above and beyond what is expected,” said Reardon.

Joining the team this season includes a group of athletes with significant swimming backgrounds including Anthony Bulat, Ian Traxler, Nate Green, Will Findley, Bruce Westgate and Max Turkowski. They join a crew of strong swimmers that include Owen Luo, Erik Uhlmann, Ben Ackerson, Langston Chen, Eli Bai, Tom Choy and Spencer Fan.

In addition, Reardon praised “our core group” of swimmers –Jack Stewart, Bo Lan and Alex Sun – who came to each practice and meet despite the closure of the pool.

There are three divers this year: Sam Bozkurtian (first-year diving), Trevor Corning (second year) and Avery Pullman (first year) who will be coached by junior manager Cynthia Kelsey, Belmont’s record-setting girls’ diver who placed second and third in consecutive state championships.

In the Arlington meet, Zembowicz won the 200 individual medley, the 100 butterfly and was on the winning 200 medley relay. Newcomer Traxler took the distant events, the 200 and 500 free, while Touzjian won the free sprints, the 50 and 100.

While off to a great start, Reardon – who is assisted this season by Harry Delgado – knows the rest of the season will bring greater tests to his team.

“Obviously we have a hard road ahead as we’ll meet much deeper programs,” said Reardon.

“But we’re going to surprise them; Belmont will be a team that they have to be on their toes to beat,” he said.

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This Week: Funny Magic Show, an Old-Fashioned Mixer Tuesday With Sensibility Friday

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• The Belmont Board of Selectmen will be meeting at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at Town Hall for some executive sessions and end-of-the-year approvals.

• The Benton Library, Belmont’s independent- and volunteer-run library, will hold Story Time at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30. Stories and crafts for children age 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must attend. Siblings may attend with adults. Registration is not required. The Benton Library is located at the intersection of Oakley and Old Middlesex.

• Ed Popielarczyk’s Comedy Magic Show, a wonderful program of kids, will be held on esday, Dec. 30 from 2 p.m to 2:30 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. 

• An old-fashioned mixer is being held at the Beech Street Center on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Start the New Year by meeting someone new. So show off your party clothes and enjoy good company, tasty desserts and a complementary 30-minute dance lesson with teacher Paul Hughes at 6 p.m.

• The Academy Award-winning film, Sense and Sensibility, will be screened at the Beech Street Center on Friday, Jan. 2, at 1 p.m. This 1995 adaptation of the Jane Austen novel – which will be discussed at our book group on Jan. 9 at 11 a.m. – follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family, whose circumstances result in their sudden destitution, forcing them to seek financial security through marriage. The version stars Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman. 

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Sold in Belmont: Haircuts for List Prices on All Homes in Belmont

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 10 Wood Rd. “A mish-mash” Colonial “on steroids” (2006), Sold for: $997,000. Listed at $1,159,000. Living area: 3,661 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 95 days.

• 29-31 Flett Rd. Two-family (1939), Sold for: $600,000. Listed at $659,900. Living area: 2,112 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 101 days.

• 51 Berwick St. #1. Single-floor condominium (1908), Sold for: $370,000. Listed at $379,900. Living area: 1,199 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 67 days.

• 59 Stults Rd. Colonial (1926), Sold for: $960,000. Listed at $1,025,000. Living area: 2,743 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 101 days.

• 55 Elm St. #1. Single-floor condominium (1925), Sold for: $600,000. Listed at $599,999. Living area: 1,317 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 92 days.

The year in Belmont real estate is ending with an adjustment downward as four of the five residential home sales defied their list price and sold for a discount – the only property that sold above the initial sale price did so by a single buck –with the houses owners and the salesperson believed would take in seven figures came back with a healthy haircut. 

The Aftermath: How to Get Rid of All That Holiday Cardboard in Belmont

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Now that all your holiday presents are unwrapped, the Highway Division of the Belmont Public Works Department asks that residents recycle all of their cardboard in the following way:

  • All boxes must be flattened with a dimension smaller than 3 feet by three feet (3’X3′) about the size of your average four year old.
  • The cardboard must be cut, not folded, to make the above measurement.
  • If you have a great deal of cardboard, tie or tape them in stacks not higher than nine inches wide. Residents can leave an unlimited number of stacks for pickup.

Town Offices and One Library Closed on Boxing Day in Belmont

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Town offices and the Belmont Public Library will be closed today, Boxing Day, in Belmont.

Belmont’s other library, the independent and volunteer-run Benton Library at the corner of Oakley and Old Middlesex, will be open today, Friday, Dec. 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for families and individuals to use and enjoy.

Thursday’s trash collection will occur today due to Christmas. 

The MBTA is running regular weekday service.

Cats LOVE Boxing Day.

You all should know by now that Boxing Day is not the annual organizing of rounds of fisticuffs to settle scores – you are likely thinking of the “Airing of Grievances” that is part of the Festivus Celebrations – but commemorating the custom in which tradespeople and servants received “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. 

A paid holiday in the UK and most Commonwealth countries – the day is spent fox hunting, recovering from “making merry” the day before and watching “football on the telly” – the tradition was popular in Boston until the 1920s as my grandmother recalled receiving on the 26th a small, gold-colored wooden box with her yearly bonus in cash. She didn’t get to keep the box.

Humanity’s Victory: Commemorating the Christmas Truce of 1914

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One-hundred years ago today, one of the most miraculous, magical events in the history of modern warfare occurred along stretches of the Western Front during World War I; soldiers on both sides of the conflict put aside their weapons and spontaneously ventured out onto “no-man’s-land” in a gesture of goodwill and peace associated with Christmas.

Watch the 2014 English video advertisement on The Christmas Truce of 1914.

In an examples of the facts being as true as the story told, in many locations along the 450 miles of trenches stretching along the French and Belgian countrysides, German and British soldiers declared an unofficial Christmas armistice of the fighting that began just four months before.

The first inkling of  began around midnight late Christmas Eve (the day most German’s celebrated the holiday) as German’s shouted out holiday greetings and could be heard singing Christmas songs and carols well known and loved by British including “Silent Night, Holy Night.” British soldiers began singing along through the night. British troops could also see the German’s decorating the wire with evergreen branches and candles.

According to countless accounts, letters and reports, on Christmas morning, Germans emerged from the shelter of the trenches to first wave, then cautiously cross onto the strip of land barely one hundred meters wide separating the two foes.

Writing to his mother, Capt. A. D. Chater of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders described “one of the most extraordinary sights anyone has ever seen.”

About 10 o’clock this morning I was peeping over the parapet when I saw a German, waving his arms, and presently two of them got out of their trench and came towards ours.

We were just going to fire on them when we saw they had no rifles, so one of our men went to meet them and in about two minutes the ground between the two lines of trenches was swarming with men and officers of both sides, shaking hands and wishing each other a happy Christmas.

I went out myself and shook hands with several of their officers and men,” wrote Chater wrote.

From what I gathered most of them would be glad to get home again as we should – we have had our pipes playing all day and everyone has been walking about in the open unmolested.”

Cigarettes and rations were exchanged, photos taken, in one instance a Brit gave a German a haircut and conversations took place about the war, home and loved ones. Unit buttons were traded and addresses provided. It was also a time for both sides to recover the remains of comrades who were killed earlier.

There is also references to soccer matches between the two sides at different locations with the writer’s side always winning.

It would be the one and only day-long truce to occur during the war that continued for almost four more years, resulting in the deaths of 37 million civilians and soldiers.

Many historians believe the truce took place as many of the combatants in the first few months of the war were professional soldiers rather than conscripts which came after the wholesale slaughter to tens of thousands in single day battles that would begin in the spring of 1915.

Both sides in the trenches saw the men across “No-Man’s Land” almost as respected, brave colleagues in the prosecution of battles.

And for one glorious day, the common humanity within all men triumphed over the call of war.

Boys’ Basketball Starts Fast, Races By Stoneham, 82-47

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Simply put, this edition of Belmont High School Boys’ Basketball was too quick, too big, too skilled and too good for Stoneham High on Tuesday, Dec. 23 at the Wenner Field House, downing the visitors, 82-47.

Just how dominate was the Marauders? In the first four minutes of the game, the starting five outscored the Spartans, 15-0 (the squad was ahead 13-0 two minutes in) and Belmont Head Coach Adam Pritchard had five subs on the sidelines ready to give his starters an early Christmas-Eve Eve rest.

While Stoneham did cut the lead to 7 (15-8) with a minute left, a pair of threes from junior forward Cole Bartels upped the lead to 21-10 at the end of the half.

Then the starters came back in and senior point guard Ben Lazenby knocked down the next 7 points (a drive through the lane, a break away and a deep three) as the defense clamped down on Stoneham led by big man senior center Adam Kleckner who either harassed or rebounded everything that came his way.

A drive by Kleckner and a rare four point play (hitting the three while being fouled) from junior guard Matt Kerans saw led grow to 38-15. In came the subs and soon the lead expanded to 29 (48-19) thanks to a pair from Bartels just before the half and a game high of 32 (58-26) midway through the third.

“Yeah, we were good out there,” said Pritchard, noting that Stoneham is not a walkover as it defeated a strong Winchester team last week.

When asked what did the team gain in a blow out, Pritchard said “[o]ur goal is to get better with each game and what I saw tonight is that [the team] played unselfishly and every game you do that, you benefit.”

Pritchard was able to clear the bench for an extended period allowing reserve senior forward Pablo Reimers and sophomore Bryan Goodwin to hit towering threes and injured senior captain Tom Martin the chance to bang in his first basket of the year to the cheers of the crowd.

Belmont Girls’ Basketball ‘Niks’ Stoneham with Smothering ‘D’ in Win

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Photo: Belmont’s sophomore guard Irini Nikolaidis drives to the basket in the Marauders’ 55-42 victory over Stoneham, Dec. 23, 2014. 

If one player on the Belmont High School Girls’ Basketball team epitomizes the style of defensive intensity that is becoming the team’s identity, it is an off-the-bench, in-your-face 10th grader.

“I just love playing defense,” said sophomore guard Irini Nikolaidis after being a spark-plug in the Marauders’ 55-42 victory over Stoneham at the Wenner Field House on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

The second-year varsity player is fast becoming a game-day headache to opposition point guards who challenge the Marauders. With a doggedness and athletic Esprit on the court, Nikolaidis faces up to opponents with long arms threatening to poke the ball or deflect a pass as she uses her quickness to stay in front of them.

“I tell the girls on the bench if they want to know how to play defense, they should watch [Nikolaidis],” said Belmont Head Coach Melissa Hart, as the Marauders now stands at 2-1 with a match away with Reading High School on Friday, Jan. 2 next on the schedule.

Belmont took control of the game early as the team’s big front line of senior center Linda Herlihy, junior Sarah Stewart and senior Elena Bragg dominated the boards and transitioned nicely on offense as Stewart (6 points) and Herlihy (a double-double with 10 points and numerous rebounds) benefited from assists from freshman point guard Carly Christofori (6 points) who attacked the Spartan defense from inside and from the wings.

Up 16-11 after the first, Belmont spread the scoring around in the second with Nikolaidis hitting four of her 9 points, freshman Jenny Call (3 points) hitting a three for consecutive games and junior Samari Winklaar – who sang a wonderful rendition of the “National Anthem” before the game – buried a jumper for her 2 points to give Belmont a 32-21 lead at the half.

The Marauders’ team defensive pressure forced Stoneham to take outside shots and not able to utilize its best player, senior center Olivia Gaughan, who was held to 12 points.

The Marauders quickly upped its advantage to 17 points (38-21) in the first three minutes of the third quarter, led by forward Bragg who scored from inside, on the outside and via a great pass from fellow senior Sophia Eschenbach-Smith (2 points) to score six of her team-high 13 points in the third quarter, building Belmont’s lead to 45-28 at the end of the eight minutes.

The two-digit advantage allowed Hart to play the entire bench with scrappy junior guard Meghan Ferraro (1 point) scoring for the second of three games while the third freshman on the team, Gretta Propp (3 points), got on the scoring sheet with a basket and a made free throw.

As for Nikolaidis, the game comes down to going all out so not wanting to let down her teammates.

“I say to myself, ‘I have to get that ball,'” she said.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Services in Belmont

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All Saints’ Church (Episcopal)
17 Clark St. (on Common Street)
617-484-2228

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

5 p.m.: Festival Holy Eucharist, children’s homily and children’s procession to the Creche. Seasonal music by the church’s choirs.

Christmas, Thursday, Dec. 25

10 a.m.: Quiet Contemplative Holy Eucharist

Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church
421 Common St. (Cushing Square)
617-489- 0730

Christ Lutheran Church
597 Belmont Street (on Common Street)
617-484-4352

Cornerstone Baptist Church
54 Brighton St.
617-489-2498

Crossroads Evangelical Church

51 Lexington St.
617-489-4959

First Armenian Church
380 Concord Ave.
617-484-4779

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

7 p.m.: Joint Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with Armenian Memorial Church at in Watertown.

First Baptist Church of Belmont
129 Lexington Street
(617) 484-1310

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

5:30 p.m.: Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols.

First Church in Belmont, Unitarian-Universalist
404 Concord Ave.
617 484-1054

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services: 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m.

Christmas, Thursday, Dec. 25

10:30 a.m.: Worship Service and Brunch with Rev. David M. Bryce

Payson Park Congregational Church
365 Belmont St.
617-484-1542

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

5:30 p.m.: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Plymouth Congregational Church
582 Pleasant St.
617-484-5257

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

5 p.m.: Family Christmas Service

11 p.m.: Candlelight Christmas Service

Saints Joseph and Luke Collaborative
130 Common St. and 132 Lexington St. 
617-484-0279

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24

4 p.m.: St. Joseph (Church)

4 p.m.: St. Joseph (Hall)

4 p.m.: St. Luke

6 p.m.: St. Luke

Christmas Eve Midnight Mass
Midnight: St. Joseph

Christmas, Thursday, Dec. 25

8:30 a.m. St. Luke 

10:00 a.m. St. Joseph

11:00 a.m. St. Luke