The latest correspondence from Marti McFadden is encouraging concerning the progress Skowhegan Area High School drama students are making in raising money for their trip to Scotland this summer.

The students and their supporters have been busy raising more than $80,000 to help pay for all students to make the trip, McFadden wrote.

The goal is $100,000 to enable the students to represent Maine in the prestigious Fringe Festival in August in Edinburgh, Scotland.

For those unfamiliar with the background of this story, I remind you that when the high school participated in a national drama festival, 32 schools were selected to participate in the Fringe Festival, and all eight judges chose Skowhegan as one of their favorites.

The students will perform “Tall Tales,” a series of humorous stories about men and women of American lore, including our own Paul Bunyan. You can see the play, by the way, at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 15, at Lakewood Theatre in Madison. Admission is $5.

In addition to the Scotland appearances, however, the students will spend three days in London, touring the theater district, seeing a stage musical and participating in a workshop at the Globe Theatre.

During their seven days in Scotland, they will perform four times before an international audience, which may include Queen Elizabeth II.

But, of course, they still must raise the remaining $20,000, and the following are their next fund-raisers.

The Skowhegan Area High School drama club will host a barbecue from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at Agway on Madison Avenue in Skowhegan. There you can buy hot dogs, chips and drinks.

A seedling and yard sale is planned for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, at the Skowhegan Savings Bank lot on Madison Avenue in Skowhegan. If you have items to donate, call 474-5855.

I will update you later on more of their June events, but I do want you to know that the students are seeking donations of goods or services for an auction planned for June 14 at the high school. To make a donation, call 474-9860 or 634-2640.

If you are unable to make a contribution any other way, writing a check would be most appreciated.

You can make the check out to Skowhegan Area High School Drama, write Edinburgh Experience in the memo line, and mail it to 61 Academy Circle, Skowhegan 04976.

Your donation is tax-deductible, and the tax-exempt number is 01-0276217.

The Harborside Players will host auditions for two plays from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at the Union Street Brick Church on the corner of First and Union streets in Bangor.

Some parts for teen-agers are available for the one-act plays, which will be presented during a Renaissance Fair planned for July 12-13, according to Lee Whiting of Castine.

The plays are “Everyman II,” which Whiting reports is a version by Philip Bernardi, and “Job & Jesus, Lucille & Baal,” a play Whiting wrote several years ago.

“Baal is as in Baal,” he said of the pagan god of fertility.

Since the plays are being produced as part of the upcoming fair, “they are morality plays of a contemporary nature,” Whiting added.

For information about the auditions or the Harborside Players, call 296-3335 or e-mail thespisq@cs.com.

The annual visit by Daniel Chaplin Camp No. 3 of Bangor, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, takes place at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 26, at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor.

The group will pay honor to the eight Civil War generals buried there as well as to Hannibal Hamlin, who served as vice president during Abraham Lincoln’s first term as president.

Members also will pay honors at the Civil War soldiers and sailors plot; the citizens’ memorial, which is the nation’s first public Civil War monument; and the 2nd Maine Infantry memorial.

Members are asked to meet by the superintendent’s office near the State Street entrance to Mount Hope Cemetery, and the public is invited to attend.

For information, call Eric Boothroyd at 277-3947.

For all but three of the 38 years of his teaching career, David Swett of Orrington has taught at Abraham Lincoln School in Bangor.

He is, undoubtedly, one of this community’s favorite teachers, and so it is with great sadness that those whom he taught, those with whom he worked, and all who call him “friend,” bid him a fond farewell upon the occasion of his retirement.

In honor and recognition of his dedication to the education of the young people of our community, the public is invited to attend an open house for Swett from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, May 31, at Abraham Lincoln School, 45 Forest Ave., Bangor.

It is hoped that anyone who is able to will stop by and share some school day memories with a man who exemplifies the nobility of teaching as a career.

Anyone who wants to buy table space for the Winterport Woman’s Club annual Mile Long Yard Sale, which is 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1, may do so now.

If you want to buy space to participate in this event, which benefits community projects, call Patty Doble, 223-5747, or Jackie Watson, 223-5780.

And, as a public service, Winterport Woman’s Club members also want you to know that any mercury thermometer you bring to the group’s table during the sale will be swapped for a digital thermometer.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.