The Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library’s Armchair Traveler Series has become a favorite “cabin fever beater” during the cold winter months. 

In past years, we have traveled to China, Chile, Mt. Everest, Antarctica, Czechoslovakia, and many other locations. 2013 begins with a trip to England, specifically to the prestigious Wimbledon competitions. 

Ham and Helen Meserve have made this trip several times, but this past year, they traveled aboard the Queen Elizabeth II, and say now they will never do it any other way. 

The Meserves began this tradition after their retirement in 1998 when they founded Running Battle Antiques, a business that required them to travel to England in order to purchase products. 

Ham Meserve is a long-time tennis fan. He was also a winner of several silver championship cups at both the Bridgehampton Tennis Club and Millbrook Golf and Tennis Club in New York, as well as at Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club in Japan. There was indeed something special about seeing many great matches on Center Court as well as wandering the back courts to watch rising young tennis stars. 

You may know Ham or Helen Meserve. Back home, Ham Meserve has recently been elected as a Lincoln County Commissioner, and he also serves as treasurer of the Rotary Club and the Boothbay Region Land Trust, and as vice president of the Student Aid Fund. 

He is also a member of the Woodchucks, a group of local men who cut deed or unwanted trees to provide fuel assistance to those in need. 

Helen Meserve is on the board of the YMCA and serves as its volunteer coordinator; she works as a volunteer at the Southport Memorial Library and St. Andrew’s Village (Gregory Wing). Both she and her husband volunteer for the Free Clothes Closet in Boothbay Harbor. 

If you are interested in seeing this visual presentation of “To Wimbledon Aboard the QE2” beginning at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 7, at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, call the library at 207-633-3112 to reserve a spot, or email Barb House at barbh@bmpl.lib.me.us.