South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

7 February 2018, 7:30pm

Atlanta Friends Meeting House

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter (mka Helena Bretherton Hay), South Downs Chronicler.

Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois) called the meeting to order.

Officer Reports

• Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois)
  • Lucien announced that the heralds will have a consultation table set up at 40 Year, so come by with your questions.
  • Submissions
    • Five baronial badges were registered at Laurel
    • Mathias Blackett – household name and badge
    • Juliane de Vivone – badge resubmitted
    • Ruqayah al-Zarqa – device change
  • Duke John was asked about the history of the Kestrel – he said it was inspired by an award offered by the Shire of Sol Haven, which recognizes those who contribute to the local group but aren’t actually a member of the group

• Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
  • Armored
    • We’ve had a great turnout at practices, so much so that the new fighters have had to swap out loaner gear between them (yay!)
    • Several of the new fighters are ready to be authorized.
    • One fighter (Brady) is technically a member of Owl’s Nest, but he’s been training with Mairghread; still needs a gorget. Lord Mark has offered to build one for him this weekend
  • Youth
    • She has two fighters who want to authorize by Pennsic
    • One of the youth fighters asked if she (Mairgrhead) could run youth combat at Newcomers’ Collegium, but she hasn’t yet received her paperwork from Kingdom

• Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer – THL Mathias reporting)
  • Last practice got rained out
  • Our next series of practice have been posted to our FB group

• Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
  • Practices. We are still having them, Sunday afternoons, concurrent with armored. Tuesday evening practices at 7pm, temporarily moved to Blackburn Park due to the lighting situation at Liane Levetan. We’re averaging 2-12 people.
  • We are still waiting for updates from Liane Levetan Park about the lighting situation and work order
  • Thanks to all who’ve helped cover marshaling practices while Ben is working!
  • For updates regarding rapier practices, go to the Atlanta SCA Fighting Facebook group.

• Chatelaine (Lady Stella di Silvestri)
  • After two years in the office, Lady Stella announced that she is stepping down as Chatelaine and that Lady Justina will be stepping up as our new Chatelaine. Thank you for all your hard work, Lady Stella!

• Arts & Sciences (Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
  • We had a great turnout at Midwinter A+S; 14 classes were offered.
  • Sunneva has made a schedule for all of 2018 as a Google Docs spreadsheet so you (yes, you! you know it’s one of your new year’s resolutions) can sign up to teach a class at one of our monthly A+S nights. She is pleased to report we have classes scheduled through July.
  • This month’s class on building a breakdown banner pole will be taught by Master Ximon. He points out that this is not a historically accurate banner pole, but it does pass the “10-ft rule”
  • Sunneva is looking for a deputy, and asked if you contacted her previously about this, to please reach out to her again.

• Reeve (THL Andreva Rigaldi)
  • Andreva reported that we have (some)money! Approximately $10,000
  • We have a new account at Regions Bank, and are currently waiting on the new checks to arrive and to finish closing out the old Bank of America account. Because of this,
    she needs to have all receipts in by March 1
  • She reported that we had 220 people at Midwinter A+S, including 13 children and 28 paid non-members (including the cast of the local production of Spamalot)
  • Andreva is also looking for a deputy – if you’re interested, please contact her directly

• Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
  • We have a website!
  • Updated:
    • Class schedule
    • Live weapons practice schedule
    • Web pages for new baronial awards
    • Posted photos from 40-Year, cub scout demo, and Midwinter A+S
    • Class notes
    • Is adding members’ devices to their webpages

• Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
  • Still need articles for the Winter 2018 issue of The Read Tower; goal of the newsletter is to inform, particularly newcomers, about what we do, why we enjoy what we do in the SCA, and why a newcomer would want to take part. Examples:
    • Officers’ column: each Baronial officer has a column where they can describe what they do, what’s cool about what you do as that officer, and anything (events, practices, etc) you want to publicize. Roughly 500 words (a page or so?)
    • Guild reps: again, you have a space where you can let the populace know what you do, why you find it cool, and what your Guild has going on. And again, roughly 500 words would be great
    • Articles I’d like to have written, 500-750 words (ish); if you’d like to write an article, please let me know and we’ll chat:
      • Reveling at Castle Wars: one of the things that makes Castle Wars special, the camping and reveling; article and photos  STILL NEED
      • Presentation (?) Herald at Crown: what it’s like to process with a combatant at Crown and announce them at the beginning of the tournament? STILL NEED
      • Rapier activity beyond the world of the SCA (SERFO/HEMA) (thanks, Brendan de Hay!)
      • A+S Competitions at Midwinter A+S (Thanks, Sunneva!)
      • Class handouts, recipes, etc. – please include images (I can scan if necessary), and a writeup introducing the material (ongoing)
      • Artwork and photos – again, I can scan artwork if necessary (thanks, Andreva, for the 40 Year photos!)

• Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
  • Anachrocon – if you have Viking garb, wear it! If you don’t, wear what you like.
    There was a problem with setting up classes, so we’ll just have fighting otuside and an inside table for recruiting. Wistric will update the Anachrocon schedule on the FB group page

• Their Excellencies
  • Gulf Wars
    • Who’s going?
    • If you’re planning on going to Gulf Wars and plan to be on site by Tuesday morning of War Week, please let Her Excellency know – she would love to have members of the Barony take part in the procession and carry the Baronial banner, looking fab and badass 🙂

Event Report

• Midwinter Arts + Sciences (2-4 February 2018)
  • Lady Alisandre sent in an event report as she was not able to attend the meeting
    • We need to find an alternate site instead of UWG – the way the University handles reservations makes it difficult to confirm the site until just a couple of weeks before the event. Suggestions from the populace:
      • Red Top Mountain (where Owls Nest will host Newcomers’ Collegium)
      • Sir Iazzie suggested Gwinnett County Fairgroungs – we could use one hall as a sleeping hall,
        and one divided up for classes. Lots of parking.
      • Cobb County Fairgrounds
  • Everyone agreed that Midwinter A+S was a great and successful event!
  • Lord Pietro was tasked with passing along cheers to Alisandre

Upcoming Events

• Artsy Crown (26-29 May 2018)
  • Our bid has been submitted; we haven’t heard anything back yet but Iazzie feels confident that we will get the bid
  • Sir Lochlann will do the fighters’ feast Sunday night
  • Need someone to take care of Sunday breakfast – Lady Illy volunteered
  • Need someone to take care of Monday morning GTFO breakfast
  • Help with Royal lunches (Lady Justina will be the royal liaison, but will need help)
  • Still need to determine who will do the fundraiser lunch
  • Iazzie has reached out to the autocrat for Fools’ War (also held at the Shrine) – they will be treating the site for fire ants, so it should be in pretty good shape before our event
  • Lady Emmelina offered to coordinate a fundraiser art sale at Artsy Crown, with proceeds going to the Castle Wars revel (yay!); need to figure out logistics/space between classes,
    lunch, etc., but everyone loved the idea

• Red Tower (5-7 October 2018)
  • Will be held a Hard Labor Creek in Rutledge, GA
  • We have an autocrat! Lord Mark de Wytteney!
  • We have a theme – Bacchanalia! Please send Mark any ideas you may have for the event
  • Some ideas were developed at dinner after 40 Year
  • Iazzie mentioned that he knows a couple of people who are interested in doing feast

SCA Business

• Lady Justina got great feedback for Period Heroes at Midwinter (yay!) Contributions are always welcome! Period Heroes will make an appearance at Ca’ d’ Oro at Gulf Wars
• Wistric mentioned the state of the storage unit; seems there’s a lot of materials for unfinished (unstarted?) projects
  • There’s a fair amount of leftover fleece from the Red Tower sheep – Illy suggested that it could be used for cows for Bryn Madoc (Danelaw?)
  • An entire bin of moving blankets which will be turned into storage bags for the thrones
  • Baronial regalia? A linen unfinished cloak or cassock with baronial arms – it may well be a cover or shade for the thrones for court (fits into a frame). The frame has been lost over the years, so it could become a project for something else. Wistric will bring the fabric to the next meeting.
  • A full bolt of canvas that was originally going to be a painted wall; perhaps it could become two smaller walls (easier to handle
  • Several unfinished banners that Baroness Rhiannon had worked on once upon a time; Ximon would like several volunteers to help with it
  • Several bolts of cotton duck (white, green, black) – perhaps can be used for loaner gear? Mark volunteered to help with this
  • Additional silk for banners – we definitely need more banners as a Barony! Also a frame and paint; could become a group project night, teaching how to make a painted silk banner
  • Lady Juliane would love to encourage South Downs to be more spiffy in 2018
  • Ximon suggested that we break down the banner project into easier manageable sessions: develop design, assess silk pieces, etc.
• Mairghread mentioned that Thor’s Mountain baronial candidates are now down to 4 (one had had his membership lapse); the remaining had a Q+A event that was recorded and posted. The new Baron and/or Baroness will step up at May Faire. Her Excellency Thor’s Mountain has been ill, and the Vicar has stepped up recently to handle administrative issues.
• Juliane mentioned that His Excellency is interested in restoring the Red Raven as a polling order; is there a gap in the OP that needs to be added/corrected?
• Ximon thanked everyone who contributed to the MoB fundraiser lunch at Midwinter A+S

Non-SCA Business

• Andreva’s chorale has a concert coming up, featuring folk songs in a lot of different languages. Concert is in May 18 and 20
• Mairghread will be on active duty orders for the next couple of months, and it may impact her attendance at Gulf Wars. Sunday practice availability will also be spotty for the next couple of months, due to needed house repair
• dilly dilly!

Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 7 March 2018, at our new site, Little Tree Art Studios.

–Raven