South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

7 December 2016, 7:30pm

Atlanta Friends Meeting House

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

THL Bjorn called the meeting to order.

Officer Reports

• Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
  • Nothing to report

• Herald (THL Bjorn Gullharr)
  • Submissions – Devices
    • Iastreb Desislavich – passed Kingdom
    • Stella di Silvestri – returned from Kingdom
  • Court Reports
    • Castle Wars – Royal Court
      • Pietro di Conti – AoA
    • Castle Wars – Baronial Court
      • Wistric Oftun – Tower Or
      • Veronica de Lucca – Tower Or
      • Alisandre Ysabeau de la Chapelle – Baronial Arts Champion
  • Bjorn announced that he will be stepping down as South Downs herald, and Lucien d’Artois will step up as the new Baronial Herald. Bjorn got a big round of applause in gratitude for all his work.

• Arts & Sciences (Lady Veronica da Lucca)
  • Mistress Allesandra taught a very well-received class last week on A+S submissions. There is a lot of interest in offering it again before Midwinter A+S, with more time before the event so everyone would have time to make adjustments to their A+S entries.
  • Allesandra is interested in teaching a class in January (topic TBD)
  • THL Mattias would like to teach a class on performing arts (discussion with Veronica will ensue)
  • Will there be an open A+S competition at MW, or just Stella Nova? As of now, there isn’t other A+S planned, but perhaps there should be to encourage non-beginners?

• Webminister (Master Wistric Oftun)
  • We have a website!

• Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
  • We continue to have practices Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons (weather and event schedule permitting).
  • We have a new winter practice location for Tuesday evenings, at Gerrick’s house in Peachtree Corners, with a backup at Brendan’s office warehouse.
  • For the latest info on practice status, check Atlanta SCA Fighting group on Facebook!
  • Wistric was named QRC at Magna Faire; everyone laughed that he will have to stand up in court again

• Reeve (THL Maire Dhocair Inghean Chairain)
  • Final numbers from Castle Wars – $5739.60 profit (more to follow in post-mortem)
  • Numbers are also available from Gulf Wars (need to get info from Maire)
  • We really need to look at where we should spend money for the Barony – conversation and plans are ongoing. Ximon suggested that we devote some time at next month’s meeting for proposals, etc.
  • We need to look at reducing/not increasing charges for events next year; we were quite fortunate in how we were charged for site rentals, etc. will discuss this further at January’s meeting.
  • Shower trailers for events at the Castle Wars site were suggested
  • Iastreb bought one of the pavilions we discussed previously and brought it to Crown. Was quite pleased with it, we could easily use 5 more.

• Their Excellencies
  • Scribal nights that have been held on first Thursdays will now be on the first Monday of the month at Their Excellencies’ home.
  • The populace is encourage to write recommendation letters for those who they find inspiring – Midwinter is coming! Matthias reminded everyone that if you are not 100% sure that a person has a particular award check the Meridian Order of Precedence – you would be surprised at the awards people deserve but DONT HAVE.

• Chatelaine (Lady Stella di Silvestri)
  • We have had some new people show up at 5th Wednesday social and/or went to magna faire, yay!

• Armored Marshal (Lord Robert Throckmorton)
  • We had two injuries at Castle Wars
  • War Practice to be held Saturday, 10 December, in the shire of Depedale; likely SD practice Sunday as usual.

Recent Events

• Castle Wars (17-20 November 2016) Post Mortem
  • Note: There is a more detailed analysis of the event compiled by CW staff. Please check with Wistric if you’d like to see it (Google Docs)
  • Pros
    • Live weapons field adjacent to rapier/armored was a big hit!
    • We had approximately an extra 100 people likely from Richard RaeFen’s memorial; would like to get the attendance numbers without the sad circumstances that increase attendance this year.
    • Having feast hall/tent available all weekend to hang out in was a great gathering spot
    • Excellent merchant turnout
    • Wistric has supply suggestions/needs for future
    • Feast was amazing, we should do it again! First Castle Wars feast in many years
    • Revel was excellent, but Justina stressed about the timing between court/memorial/feast/revel
• Cons
  • Bulk of problems occurred during load-in
  • FIRE ANTS! Thorough fire ant treatment would cost $300 (suggested schedule: month before, 2 weeks before, and day before)
  • We need to address needing help to set up/staff/strike
    • Discussion about where to get more volunteers – within barony? encourage other groups? we should look at models of other large kingdom/interkingdom events
    • We go to other events to have a good time, we should make sure things are taken care of so others can have a good time. more service at our own events
    • Autocrats need to be more aggressive in recruiting volunteers
    • We need to develop culture where everyone is expected to help out in some way
    • We should work on how to get information out about what is needed
    • How to build rapport with other groups to coordinate service?
  • Traveler’s fare – there was confusion about whether it was being offered Thursday night (it wasn’t, but communication can be clearer about it)? Friday night kitchen tech failed. REMINDER – these were all experimental, hadn’t done at previous CW events. Overall, it was much appreciated.
  • With the drought and the high winds during the weekend, there was confusion about the burn ban.
  • Information point needs to be out on the field, not (just) at Troll

Upcoming Events

• Bryn Madoc Twelfth Night (7 January 2017)
  • Fighting! Classes! Feasting (potluck)!
  • Event website

• Midwinter Arts + Sciences (3-5 February 2017)
  • Need teachers for classes! Matthias will teach heraldry 101; Mariana has offered to teach a course as well
  • War college on same weekend – should contact HRM to suggest it perhaps there’s a better weekend to assign it into kingdom law than the same weekend as MW

• Kingdom-Level Events for 2017
  • Bids for Red Tower and Castle Wars are due in April to encourage newer autocrats to step up – it’s never too early to put a bid together for these events!
  • Iazzie has offered to co-autocrat to help teach/supervise a newer autocrat
  • Red Tower (7 October 2017) – potential site is Booker T Washington Park in Chattanooga (where Crown Lyst was held).
    • We would need to put reservation in with 50% deposit. It’s a relatively expensive site with weird pricing structure, but we have the resources to give it a shot. Payoff could be HUGE
    • Bacon Bash is not a conflict in 2017
    • Duke John expressed concern that we have to go out of state for an event. Where else can we get a large cabin site for such events? We are always looking for closer-in sites, but there aren’t many that could handle an event this size.

Other SCA Business

• Secret Santa! gift exchange will be at January business meeting

Non-SCA Business

• Mattias and Mistress Mara just bought a house – housewarming party on 12/23!

All the business issues having been addressed, the business meeting was closed.

Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 4 January 2017, at the Atlanta Friends Meeting House.

Happy holidays!

–Raven