Meeting Minutes

August Baronial Business Meeting

South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

3 August 2016, 7:30pm

Atlanta Friends Meeting House

 

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

Lord Bjorn called the meeting to order.

 

Officer Reports

  • Seneschal (THL Mathias Blackett)
    • Mathias pointed out that this (the playroom) seems to work out better than he expected. We will be here both tonight and next Wednesday (10 August)
  • Chatelaine (Lady Stella di Silvestri)
    • Lady Stella thanked everyone who took the survey – if you’d like to take it, it’s not too late – please contact Stella.
    • Will be discussing updates to plans for DragonCon later in the meeting
  • Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
    • Nothing to report
  • Webminister (Master Wistric Oftun)
    • The Red Tower event website will be up shortly
  • Herald (Lord Bjorn Gullharr)
    • Court Report – RUM
      • Lady Allessandra Fiorvanti – Order of the Laurel
      • THL Maire Dhocair Inghean Chairain – Meridian Cross
      • Lord Pietro di Conti – Meridian Cross
      • Lady Alisandre Ysabeau de la Chapelle – Meridian Cross
      • THL Mathias Blackett – Order of the Bough
      • Lady Stella di Silvestri – Tower Or
      • Lady Raven Helmsplitter – Tower Or
      • Lady Zeliha bint Sayyid – Tower Or
    • Clarification – you do not have to be a paid member to submit a name or device; non-members just pay an extra $5 per submission
    • All submission fees will increase to $10 per submission as of August 31, 2016; non-members will still pay extra $5 for their name/device submissions
  • Arts & Sciences (Lady Veronica da Lucca)
    • Great classes in July, featuring Talhoffer’s Judicial combat class, taught by Wistric and Sunneva
    • This month, Sunneva and Margavati will be teaching a class during the 4th Wednesday meeting (24 August) on artistic criticism, especially in the SCA:
      • Ways to receive criticism and what to do with feedback
      • Mock judging session to see how things work
      • If you have questions about judging forms you’ve received in the past, please bring them and they’ll review them.
  • Armored Marshal (Lord Robert Throckmorton)
    • We’ve had great turnouts over the past month, reaching approximately 10 armored fighters the past couple of practices
    • Loaner gear needs are being reviewed with Their Excellencies.
  • Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
    • We still have practices Sunday afternoons (alongside armored fighter practice) and Tuesday evenings at Blackburn Park
    • Getting ready for Foxes! Looks like South Downs Rapier will have 3+ teams fighting for Her Excellency (hooray!)
  • Reeve (THL Maire Dhocair Inghean Chairain)

    • We have a little money ($12,000)
    • A team from the Barony went through the storage unit, inventoried everything and made a list of things we will need to replace/add. A detailed list of items needed and pricing/costs will be ready to present to the populace by the September business meeting.
  • Their Excellencies
    • Tournament of the Foxes is coming up, hosted by our cousins in Vulpine Reach (Chattanooga)! Her Excellency will be sponsoring teams for rapier, armored,and archery! Please let her know if you wish to take part
    • Populace badge – presented 2 options for badge:
      • 1 – On a tower gules, a compass star argent (potential conflict with a barony in Northshield (Manitoba, Canada)
      • 2 – fret azure, muscled sable
      • Tower gules (Option #1) won by a wide margin. His Excellency will now open negotiations with the Northshield group. Duke John feels strongly that we should just go ahead with the tower badge.

 

Upcoming Events

  • DragonCon (1-5 September 2016)
    • Margavati has an idea to do a flash mob during the parade
    • Duke John – still needs volunteers to help pull chariot, at least 4 people
    • Ximon – commented about Wistric’s posts seeking volunteers, but he would like to get people together to plan out the parade beforehand
  • Red Tower (30 September – 2 October 2016)
    • Rebecca and Mattias are co-autocratting Red Tower
    • The event will be held at Little Talapoosa Park
    • Staffing needs:
      • The site herald is not able to make Red Tower so we need a site herald now. Please contact Mathias if you’re interested – or can this be outsourced to someone from another local group?
      • Need someone to do site booklets – Veronica volunteered since she is compiling the class schedule,and Maire has volunteered to provide paper (leftover from RUM)
      • Fundraiser lunch – no one has stepped up to do fundraiser lunch so far (benefiting baronial revel alcohol supply at castle wars), but Mathias will reach out to other groups to see if there’s interest. Someone offered the 15 bottles of wine they have in their car *right now* – could be mulled. Remainder of discussion will be offline
      • Feastcrat – making recipes from Bartolomeo Scappi (16th century chef and writer); curious about Bartolomeo Scappi? You can find more info about him at http://www.cooksinfo.com/bartolomeo-scappi
      • Classes @ Red Tower – 6 classes scheduled so far, room for 16. If you’re interested in teaching a class, please contact Veronica
  • Castle Wars
    • Most of staff is taken care of
    • Still need someone organize revel
    • Still need someone to organize kids’ activities
    • Media rollout will happen after pennsic
  • Midwinter A&S
    • Sir Timothy contacted Mathias about the possibility of holding a large melee practice at Midwinter
      • Iazzie and others feel strongly that we ought to protect the A&S focus of Midwinter clear – we should keep fighting activities on Sunday at the regional practice
      • Can our site at Blackburn handle a large melee armored and rapier practice?
    • The site we had in mind – Booker T. Washington Park, near Chattanooga – won’t work because the park is closed through the winter. Currently considering University of West Georgia as a potential site. We need to talk to Heather to see if this is possible

 

Other SCA Business

  • Sunneva is starting an eastside scribal night on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, at Chez Townes. First session will be 16 August. Contact Sunneva for more info
  • Calligraphy & Illumination evenings at Mistress Alessandra on the evenings of Bryn Madoc’s fighter practice in Dacula (would this then be the “even further eastside scribal night”?)
  • Baronial scribal night at Their Excellencies will take place tomorrow night (4 August); please contact them for details/directions

 

Non-SCA Business

  • Duke John had several dozen eggs in his car, free to a good frypan

The business meeting was closed, and the populace went to vote on candidates for the Heart of South Downs and Chivalry awards.

 

Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 7 September 2016, at the Atlanta Friends Meeting House.

–Raven