Poplar Springs

St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Poplar Springs will celebrate Bastille Day with a concert by the LePetit Chanteur de la Vierge Noire Boys Choir from Paris.The concert will be held at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the sanctuary at 1125 St. Michael's Road, south of Mount Airy.The 35-year-old choir is under the direction of Pierre Balbous. The 40-member choir of boys and men from ages 8 through 24 performs classics by Schubert, Mozart, Vivaldi and Bach, French folk music and American spirituals.

WHEN TRISH Rayeski joined the faculty of Glenelg High School as a special education teacher in 1995, she was full of hope and promise.Rayeski, a quiet woman of 24, died early Friday morning of injuries she received in a car accident in Glenelg on April 10.At Glenelg High, she worked hard and took a serious interest in her students.As she followed her students' progress, she constantly asked their academic subject teachers about the students' successes."She was an enthusiastic teacher who enjoyed her teaching and was able to transmit that to her kids.

Their buildings are less than six miles apart. Their congregations are almost 100 years old -- or older. And they share the same denomination.But for the first time that members can remember, five small churches in the western end of Howard County are joining once a month trying to help ensure their survival by bridging gaps of geography, tradition and race."

Because of tomorrow's Independence Day holiday, Sally Buckler's West County column is appearing in today's edition of The Sun.FAIR BOOKS for the Fifty-First Annual Howard County Fair filled mail boxes this week. Aug. 10 is opening day for the weeklong event. Some exhibitors have been getting ready for the fair for months. 4-H members are reviewing responsibility and showmanship rules, attending workshops, working on club booths, keeping up with their projects and planning banners and parade costumes.

WEST FRIENDSHIP Elementary School Principal Leah Farmer will retire at the end of the school year after 32 years as a professional educator, including 21 years as a principal, in the county public schools.She has been principal at West Friendship for eight years, a time she describes as "marvelous and memorable."Tonight, 150 family members, friends, staff members, and county and school administrators will fete her at a retirement dinner.Monday, West Friendship students and parents will honor Farmer at a strawberry shortcake party and reception organized by the school's PTA.Farmer says she is grateful for her eight years at West Friendship, in a community with "so much tradition, history and positive values."

ST. PAUL'S Episcopal Church of Poplar Springs is a small wooden country church painted white with dark green shutters. The bell tower and stained-glass windows of the 1883 church make it a perfect picture for a Christmas card.The St. Paul's oak tree, planted in about 1750 in what probably was a rural tobacco field, has become a symbol of the 65-family congregation's efforts to raise money to build a addition to the church. "Rooted in the past, building for the future," the congregation says.

DOES YOUR LIST of New Year resolutions include making quality time for family and spiritual growth? Linden-Linthicum United Methodist Church has initiated a weekly evening program of Christian nurture for children and teens called the LOGOS program.It is a system of Bible study, family time, worship skills and play time.Kick-off meetings for the LOGOS program are Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. (dinner and child care provided), and Jan. 9 from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. (child care provided)

Like the customers who buy $2.50 men's suits from its thrift shop, Poplar Springs United Methodist Church will be content LTC with its well-worn but still useful image Sunday when it celebrates its 125th birthday.From the brass-band Independence Day picnics to the fund-raising suppers, it's not difficult to imagine the red-brick chapel back when a bell still hung under the little square roof above its south entrance.Four loudspeakers now hang in the little bell tower, each Sunday sounding chimes to remind the Poplar Springs community that at least one thing hasn't changed in rapidly growing west county.

The fabulous 20-member Jazz Band of Glenelg High School excels, and the band's latest invitation proves it. The Jazz Band is one of only two high school bands invited to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and at the Montreux Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.Festival organizers rarely select amateur groups but chose the Glenelg band. The young musicians will be traveling to Europe next summer to perform at the festivals.If you'd like to hear this phenomenal group here at home, it'll be playing 6 p.m. Dec. 10 at Columbia Mall and at 3 p.m. Dec. 19 at Chatham Mall.

Almost ten years ago the Howard County Horse Shows Association was just a dream for Tricia Scarcia and Ann Cockrell.The women, both from Howard County, envisioned a structured countywide organization for putting on horse shows, educating riders and awarding performance at the end of each year.When they met in early 1982 with organizers of the Carroll CountyHorse Shows Association to find out what had to be done, Scarcia recalls, "They said we'd never be able to get it organized for that year.