Every week, I learn more and more about the fabulous history of our wonderful Pohick. One of the true pleasures of this job is being able to participate in committees like the Pohick Foundation and the Strategic Planning Committee where we step back and look at how to preserve the past while moving to the future. These dedicated people are making great progress in putting together a comprehensive future plan for Pohick and obtaining the resources to make it real. We have so much potential here at Pohick and now we have the energy focused on making it real.

The gardeners have the grounds in beautiful shape. We are headed into a busy few months for the Parish! A mad rush before the summer schedule is here, including a visit by the Bishop. We also have a concentrated effort to get the building and grounds in shape. The Fair Grounds clean up 13 April followed by the church spring clean up 11 May.

• Fairground Workday - we need to clean out the place and expand the grounds to accommodate the highway work on US 1. Bring your tools! We will start around 9:00 AM.
  

• Spring Clean Up! This is our major workday of the year. Please come join us (men and women alike) and let's get this old place looking good. The Brotherhood of St. Andrew will be sponsoring a Frogmore Stew after the work is done. This should be a wonderful day! Sign up for work assignments will start this month.
  

We have added voice mail to the church phone system! This is step on in a long term plan to modernize our system. We are currently using an outdated local private exchange that no longer meets our needs. If you call now and the line is busy or after hours, you have an option that gives you service hours and directions to the Church or private voice mailboxes for the Rector and his staff. This has been a major area of concern for the congregation and staff. Try it out!

Steam and more Steam! We experienced more broken steam pipes last month. Our facilities are heated with steam from an oil-fired boiler. Parts of the system are getting old. This time the problem was a steam pipe in the northeast corner of the church. This is the 4th major problem in 60 days. Looks like we are going to have to continue to patch this system together until we can do some major work this summer. We have more damage to the pews and walls from this leak. We are going to try and get this cleaned up as soon as possible. Ever wonder about the clanking you sometimes hear in the church? This is the steam coming in contact with the cold water in the pipes. It is more often heard at the early service as it stops as the pipes heat up. This is actually not abnormal for a steam system. If the clanging continues, move the thermostat up or down a few degrees. This should cause the system to even out and the clanging to stop!

I have gotten some responses for volunteers to join the Pohick Handyman Corps! I will be continuing to solicit volunteers to get and keep ol' Pohick in shape.

Please let me know when you see things that need attention. The best way to contact me is usually via email. Just drop me a note at jrbrooksatt@att.net. Also let me know if you see something that looks especially good. I will make sure the responsible volunteer gets the message!

Randy Brooks
Junior Warden