Saturday
Hogmanay: Join the Lawrence Historical Society for a bonfire to welcome the new year.
Get an early start on your New Year’s Eve celebration. Join the Lawrence Historical Society at 6 p.m. for its popular Hogmanay bonfire that starts promptly at 6 p.m. in the Great Meadow at the 1761 Brearley House. This free annual event is great fun for all the family. Adults even have time to go home and dress up for a midnight party.
A bagpiper will play as participants toss into the flames a list of bad things from 2005 best forgotten. Indoors, revelers can enjoy refreshments along with old-time fiddle music.
Hogmanay is an ancient tradition going back to the Celts and the Norse. A big fire has always seemed like a good idea when the nights are long and cold. And the Great Meadow at the end of Meadow Road off Princeton Pike is a fine old place for such a fire. Fire Master Joe Logan and his able assistant Tom Ledwith continue a historical society ritual that began even before the Brearley House was restored in 2000.
For further information or directions, call (609) 895-1728 or go to www.thelhs.org. For information Saturday about a possible bad weather cancellation, call (609) 895-1728 or (609) 896-0782.
Monday
Compassionate Friends: The Compassionate Friends, Mercer Chapter will hold its monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Occupational Health Center, Building 2 in front of Robert Wood Johnson Hospital on Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road in Hamilton.
The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
For more information, call Lisa Linkowsky at (609) 516-8047.
Wednesday
Brain injury/stroke support group: Lee H. Pickett, Ph.D, will discuss emotional reactions following a brain injury and stroke at the monthly meeting of the Brain Injury and Stroke Support Group at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Room 117.
Dr. Pickett is a member of the clinical psychology and neurospsycholgy section at St. Lawrence.
For more information about the support group, contact Paula Slamowitz at (609) 896-9500, extension 2587.

