Advice To The Players, Sandwich’s own Shakespeare company, is proud to present their 3rd annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare. Fall Festival is an education program where students work with a directing team of teaching artists who lead the teens through a language-based exploration of Shakespeare. At the end of 10 weeks, the groups come together at Plymouth State University and showcase their work.

This year they have two groups of students participating: Newfound Regional High School and the Sandwich Cobble. Both groups have been participating since 2019. NRHS will be performing Much Ado About Nothing followed by the Sandwich Cobble’s production of The Tempest. The production will take place in-person at Plymouth State University on December 10th starting at 6:00 with Much Ado About Nothing. The Tempest will begin at 7:30. Tickets are $9 and are available at plymouthstatetickets.com. Only one ticket is needed to attend both performances.

Heading these productions is a team of dedicated teaching artists. The lead Director for the Sandwich Cobble’s production is Jessie Chapman, ATTP’s executive producer. Lead Director for Newfound Regional High School’s production is Lucy Randal-Tapply. The team of teaching artists working on these shows include Plymouth State University students and alumni Sarah Anne Bailinson, Garrison Barron, Frederick, Bickford, Mikayla Caterino, Ethan Fifield, Emma Littig, and Stephanie Wiencek at Newfound. The evening will be full of revelry, magic, and two audience favorites from the Shakespeare canon. Don’t miss it. 

What is your name and the name of your business?
Nancy Jones Hansen, my business name is Sewing. It leaves no question as to what I do!  ​

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I met a guy....! I came to Sandwich in 1980, married a local. We lived here for several years and then moved to Bethel, Maine for 15 years, returning in 1999. On our first date, my husband, Carl, looked at the Brick Store and announced he was going to live there some day. So here we are in the Brick Store, running our businesses from one of the most iconic buildings in town. 

What got you started in this line of work?
My mother was a sewer, and taught me to sew over Easter vacation when I was 12, on my grandmother's treadle sewing machine. (Sounds like I'm really old, but it was a really old machine at the time.) I've been sewing ever since.  

Once out of college I realized I could make money sewing. I applied for a job with a small wallpaper/fabric store. I had a basic  book on how to sew everything. The owner would ask me if I know how to do... whatever. As long as it was in the book I said yes and got the job.  I've been sewing for people in Sandwich for 30 years.

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
There is no Home Economics any more in schools, so people are not learning sewing as a craft or vocation. I think it's a dying art. I am fortunate that I have sewed for over 50 years and have done just about everything in the field, from simple alterations to designer drapes and swags. I've done prototypes for people with new ideas, and repaired antique quilts.  

When/how did you begin your business?
In the 80s Carl worked as a contractor and I became a division of that, Hansen Homes & Interiors/Sewing. Carl has retired from building, mostly, so now he works for me.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job?  
I like to see people happy with something they thought was ruined and now it's good. Weird is fun, repetition is repetitive, but it pays the bills. Quite often I get clothes or ties from someone who has lost a loved one and want a quilt made from them. T-shirt quilts are fun because usually all of the shirts have meaning to those who receive it. If I know the person, even better, then I can add to what I know of their personality. My business is my hobby, so I get to do it everyday.

What is the hardest?  
The hardest is being sure people are happy. Even after all of these years making things for people, a little voice always wonders, "will they like this?"  So far so good.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year?
I had the best job during Covid. People still needed things fixed. I just did a lot of business out on the porch. Of course I made many, many masks. Both donated and some for sale. It was a good way to use up small pieces of fabric. ​

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goal for the future is to retire! This seems impossible as the phone keeps ringing. Two or three seamstresses have closed in the last year for different reasons so there are not as many people sewing.  For the near future, I'm still working. I have a new shop space at our house and I hate to give it up.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?
In 1980 I married into Sandwich. Coming from Detroit, it was a big change, but a good one. Friends from 1980 are still here and still friends, and now their grandchildren play with mine. All three of our children live in town, which made our Covid bubble very nice. We travel more now, but it's always nice to come home. We live in the most beautiful place.

Sewing4u525@yahoo.com
603-387-4767

What are your names?
Peggy and Bob MacArthur, Birch Corner Associates ​

How did you get to Sandwich?
After two decades in the Midwest, we returned to New Hampshire in 2004.  Having spent fourteen years raising our family in Hanover and exploring many of the state’s peaks, trails and tributaries during our days with Outward Bound, we were happy to return to the land that is home to our spirits.  

While in St. Louis Bob served as president and CEO of the American Youth Foundation, a national youth development organization. Camp Merrowvista in Tuftonboro is one of AYF’s program centers, and over the years Bob made many trips east to oversee the expanding program and renovations to its facilities. It was during those trips that friends introduced us to Sandwich.

Why the name of your business?
Exploring the land while our home was being built, we were drawn to one corner formed by the intersection of two rock walls.  We found the woods contain a preponderance of birch trees.  Many are beyond mature, bearing the wrinkled bark of decades and the scars of the 1998 ice storm. Nearby, younger birches grow strong and supple with the skin of youth.  An author we read at the time opined that the symbolic quality of birch trees includes “cleansing of the past, new beginnings and vision quests.”  True or not, the attributes resonated, and we embraced the name as emblematic of our work in this chapter of life. ​

After attending seminary, Bob spent two years as Episcopal chaplain at Dartmouth. He recognized that his vocation was not to parish ministry but a broader calling to build community and help others attain their goals. In addition to chaplaincy roles, Bob’s formal leadership experience includes directing the Dartmouth Outward Bound Center for twelve years and for nineteen years serving as President and CEO of the American Youth Foundation.