During the month of October the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre and Wake Forest ARTS will present a four-part music series by the Free Spirit Ensemble of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, pianist David Kim and guitarist and Wake Forest native Edward Burke. The first concert will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, when the Renaissance Centre will present Close to Home featuring the Free Spirit Ensemble of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, with works of area recognized composers including: Lawrence Dillon, Bryan Putnam, Lanette Lind, Ann Pearce and Daniel Poissant. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for students. On Sunday, Oct. 13, at 3 pm. pianist David Kim, winner of numerous musical and academic prizes, will perform works by Mozart and Beethoven on his five-octave Viennese piano, with a talk and demonstration. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 the day of the concert. Edward Burke will perform

The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources (PRCR) Department is pleased to announce a new initiative designed to encourage public participation in its long-range planning efforts. “Play It Forward Wake Forest” is the name given to the town’s approach to developing a comprehensive Master Plan. Coordinated by the PRCR, the Recreation Advisory Board, and GreenPlay, the master plan consultant, the initiative will offer residents a variety of innovative ways to get involved and offer their input. The Master Plan reflects the town’s vision of a vibrant community that responds to the needs and desires of its residents, friends, and visitors for fun, healthy, exciting and diverse activities. The purpose of the plan is to look at where we are now, what the anticipated needs are for the future and how we can improve and upgrade our existing facilities and programs to effectively serve residents and visitors in years to

The Town of Wake Forest is pleased to announce the launch of a new comprehensive community engagement website where citizens can engage, communicate and collaborate with decision makers and other residents on the future of our community. Developed by MindMixer, the site is called ‘Engage Wake Forest’ and can be accessed at www.engage.wakeforestnc.gov. The goal of Engage Wake Forest is to encourage area residents to participate in the planning process for a variety of town initiatives. Along the way, the site will be used as an online tool to generate new ideas and feedback from citizens through an interactive and accessible platform. Feedback from the engagement website will be used by town officials and staff in order to lay out plans on a variety of projects. “Through Engage Wake Forest our citizens can now offer their input 24-hours-a-day,” said Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones. “We are pleased to offer this

Wake Technical Community College has a department that offers job skills training classes designed for job seekers. These classes are tuition-waived for individuals who are currently unemployed, under-employed (which can include part-time workers or low-wage earners) or facing a layoff. Individuals who are stay-at-home spouses looking to enter or re-enter the workforce and seniors looking to supplement their fixed income may also qualify for the waiver. The classes include categories in:  Job Search Strategies, Job Search Technology, Career Planning and Assessment, Career Readiness/Exploration, Financial Literacy and the NC Career Readiness Certificate. Wake Tech is currently offering classes in Wake Forest at the Northern Regional Center. A full list of classes may be found at www.hrd.waketech.edu. For information about HRD, please click on the links below: HRD Courses:  www.hrd.waketech.edu Career Readiness Certificate preparation: www.crc.waketech.edu WorkKeys/CRC Test:   www.crctest.waketech.edu Follow us on Twitter at:  www.twitter.com/wtcchrd Follow us on Pinterest at:  http://www.pinterest.com/waketechhrd

How does a person – and their loved ones — react when he or she begins to experience dementia? Many of us will face it, one way or another, and the play, “Helium,” written by Julian Wiles, the founder and artistic director of the Charleston Stage in South Carolina, uses comedy and emotions to explore some of the problems and rewards. It’s the story of Mrs. Molly Kingsley, a retired high school chemistry teacher in her eighties who is struggling with the onset of dementia. Gramms navigates her life beyond the boundaries of time and space with consequences both humorous and sobering. She struggles to retain her grasp on the here and now while taking perverse pleasure in provoking her daughter into fearing that her mother has lost all touch with reality. Like the family, the audience can’t always tell when Gramms is pretending, and the resulting humor helps soften