Notes submitted by Seong Myeong Su Daesaseong, South Downs Chronicler.
Magister Lorenzo called the May meeting to order. The Seneschal Lady Raven Helmsplitter, started recording the meeting and greeted the populace joining the Zoom meeting. Lady Raven read the Kingdom Anti-Bullying statement.
Practices have been proceeding, weather and other events permitting. Sundays starting around noon (concurrent with armored practice). Schedule changes, cancellations, and any other relevant information is shared on the FaceBook group “Atlanta SCA Fighting,” and we’re trying to get better about including Discord. Loaner gear is usually available, but it doesn’t hurt to check the “Atlanta SCA Fighting” group or message us in advance. Sometimes when I’m not available, the “stunt marshal” might not be able to bring it.
If you have any trouble at all finding practice announcements, feel free to reach out directly to me or Ld. Eirikr. If you are using Discord, please @ us, otherwise your post will probably be lost in the chatter.
Thanks to everyone for working together to keep practices happening. I wouldn’t mind having a deputy step up who could take over from me in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, my continued thanks to our celebrity stunt marshal team, particularly Ldy. Ogata, Master Ximón, Master Nikoslav, et. al.
Big shout-out to folks recently giving rapier a try. Congratulations to a slew of new authorizees.
If you helped out transport and load the castle walls to Fool’s War, thank you so much!
We had 6 students in attendance at this past month’s class on basic concepts and language in Archery. I think it went really well – if a little long for the format.
This month’s class will be on May 22 at 7pm. It will be a virtual class night on Zoom and our teacher will be Master Rhydderch discussing Sacred Geometry. Come out to learn about the invention of geometry and its use in medieval construction and architecture, all without having to do any math.
I am currently looking for teachers for July, August, September, and October. I will not know if those will be in person or virtual until in-person nights are officially scheduled for the later half of the year, but if you specifically need one or the other, we can be flexible and shift months around if possible. If you have something you would like to teach or otherwise share with the Barony, please get in touch with either myself or Sumarliþi.
Aiming to have the May issue of The Read Tower Newsletter released this Friday.
Always looking to interview the populace for each issue, so please fill out this form to get included! Eventually I’d like to collect these into one PDF so we have a good collection of information about our members: https://forms.gle/MNxww3KUQJo2VsEG9
Please submit photos, art, articles, shout-outs, or anything that you’ve found interesting and want to share! I’ll always be collecting stuff for the newsletters going forward. You can submit either through this form: https://forms.gle/8SyEF9D7c8rMCnZP6 or email me at chron.southdowns@meridies.org.
We’ve begun to get the word out about RUM; please keep an eye out for the Paypal registration, schedule, etc to become available. I’m pleased and thankful to report that Baroness Emelina will be the Social Media Officer deputy! Thank you!
Planning on having a DEIB class on May 15 this month
DEIB Officer Q&A and Suggestions from the Barony about DEIB classes in the future
Come and ask questions about the DEIB Office and bring suggestions on what kinds of classes you’d like to see in the future
If you can’t come to the meeting, please feel free to send questions and suggestions to my email beforehand so your questions can be answered: dei.southdowns@meridies.org
Rough graphic is up gate token, please take a look or submit other designs to get some more ideas in
Site is Little Tallapoosa
Thinking about giving young heralds a chance to get some practice and have a chance to herald in combatants at the tourneys at RT50
Major kudos to everyone who’s been active at events, in and off the field and supporting and helping the barony shine at events. Thank you for making this group the best group!
Baron Ximon
Progress:
Golden Lily – May 11 – Daytrip
Artsy Crown – Memorial Day Weekend – Arriving mid. afternoon on Sat
Will need to go to storage to pick up the baronial pavilion, will need help on Friday to help set up the pavilion and help tearing it down at the end of the event
June
Warden’s Challenge – hoping to go
If you’re into archery and thrown weapons, come out!
RUM
Fighter practice after RUM – will discuss with financial committee about funding for that and securing the pavilion
You guys rock! Please write in recommendations so we can get people recognized!
SCA Business
Royal University of Meridies
Lord Sumarlidi and Capt. Brendan
Flyer has been made, will send it to the Exchequer and Deputy Exchequer to get Paypal set up for the event
FB Event is set up, thanks to THL Agnes for handling that
Sign-up sheets for staff positions will be coming soon
Red Tower 50
Little Tallapoosa Park in Carrollton
Did confirm site policies regarding fire pits, archery, and equestrian. The same rules as MacIntosh. Raised fire pits are okay, we can have archery and equestrian as long as things are set up correctly.
If you have any questions, please email Their Excellencies or Lady Raven
Looking at hosting various salons at RT
Castle Wars
We currently have Camp Bert Adams reserved for Castle Wars in Covington GA
Please contact us if you are interested in running the event!
Bardic Event in Trimaris
Jacksonville, FL
May 4th 2024, hosted by Barony of Castlemere
Please contact Mathias if you have any questions
Dance and Gaming Event in Trimaris
June 15th
Daytrip
St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1950 Silver St., Jacksonville FL
Artsy Crown
Baronial encampment in the works
Lady Maren has moved out of the area to Chicago, and she donated some things to the Barony. Baron Ximon will be bringing some of the items to the potluck at the end of the month so come by and feel free to peruse and grab some things.
Maestra Isabetta – Looking for a deputy for quartermaster for Gulf Wars. If you’re interested, please contact me. Will just need a copy of your resume.
Job: You would be the person that department heads could come to for checking-out inventory and check back in at the end of war.
Non-SCA Business
None reported
The business meeting was closed @ 8:22 PM EST
The next business meeting will be held on June 5th, 2024, 7:00 PM EST via Zoom Meeting.
Notes submitted by Seong Myeong Su Daesaseong, South Downs Chronicler.
Magister Lorenzo called the January meeting to order. Our Seneschal, Lady Raven Helmsplitter started recording the meeting and greeted the populace joining the Zoom meeting. Lady Raven read the Kingdom Anti-Bullying statement.
January in-person dates are 1/17 and 1/31 (5th Wednesday potluck)
Project online, class on third wednesday
His Excellency and I went to Bert Adams for a site visit to scout out the site for RedTower 2024 (RT 50!). Looking for a new site since it’s booked for the weekend that we wanted.
We need to start thinking about what KLE we might put in a bid for, as every barony is required to submit a bid for a KLE
Another group may be doing RUM this year
Midwinter A+S is coming (3 February 2024)!
Officers:
Please check your officer page on our website to make sure your info is correct – especially links to external websites (kingdom, for example). If there are any updates needed, please get your updates to Eirikr (I believe he has a form to use).
Populace – please also check your listing in Dramatis Personae > People of South Downs. If you have updates (or are not listed), please let Eirikr know and he’ll update your listing.
Their Excellencies would like to meet with all the officers (and deputies) sometime soon (possibly in January, after the holidays), to discuss what we want to do in 2024.
Our pause during the pandemic made our usual processes, well, weird. I want to get back on track with our normal terms of office, and am looking into what the usual/expected terms of office should be. In the meantime, I’d like to have all the officers let me know when they started their terms.
Practices have been proceeding, weather and other events permitting. Sundays starting around noon (concurrent with armored practice). Schedule changes, cancellations, and any other relevant information is shared on the FaceBook group “Atlanta SCA Fighting,” and sometimes other locations depending on circumstances. Loaner gear is usually available, but it doesn’t hurt to check the “Atlanta SCA Fighting” group in advance. Sometimes when I’m not available, the “stunt marshal” might not be able to bring it.
BTW, “Atlanta SCA Fighting” is still visible publicly and searchable, but is now “Private” to keep the bots out. If you have any trouble at all finding practice announcements, feel free to reach out directly to me or Ld. Eirikr. It should be readable to anyone, but you’ll need to join in order to post.
Thanks to everyone for working together to keep practices happening. I wouldn’t mind having a deputy step up who could take over from me in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, my continued thanks to Ldy. Ogata, Master Ximón, Master Nikoslav, et. al.
Big shout-out to folks recently giving rapier a try. Looking forward to seeing more folks having fun! Just before Castle Wars, we had several new authorizations, and a couple of new auths at CW. The field is getting bigger!
The castle is now as functional as it’s ever been. It still needs paint. It’s really nice to see it stored indoors again, but let’s please keep in mind that it really does need a work day sometime for a sprucing up (new paint will also help protect the wood from bugs and weather).
His Highness and Baron Engelbrecht have put together a demo at Atlanta Comic Con Feb. 9-11th.
If you want to get involved, contact His Highness Sebastianos or Baron Engelbrecht
Demo Deputy (VACANT)
Demos covered by Lady Ogata
Arts & Sciences (Lady Maryam)
I hope everyone had a good holiday season and a great start to the new year.
Midwinter A&S pre-registration is open, and the regional faire is open for all kinds of entries (except brewing due to site restrictions)! To register in the faire, find the link on the Facebook event page, the event’s Discord channel, or you can message me.
Even if you don’t have anything to enter, there will be an opportunity to show your appreciation for our artists by voting for your favorite entry at the faire and sharing your input.
Additionally, if maybe you have been researching a topic or fixated on something you’d like to share – please consider teaching or sharing your knowledge at a class night!
Getting back into the A&S Class Swing for the new year.
Midwinter class signups are in full swing. Still have approximately a week and a half remaining before the signup deadline Jan. 14.
Wenyeva will be teaching about Middle English Nicknames online on Jan. 24th.
I still have most of the year open for teaching slots, as well. Please get with me if you have things you would like to share with the barony. Our class nights are a great way to test out or dry run a class that you might be interested in offering for larger events as well.
Thank you to all who got your reports sent in early!
Behind on newsletters, but will post them as soon as I get them done
Updating the baronial calendar with the in-person/virtual meetings, should update and in turn update the baronial calendar as well.
Always looking to interview the populace for each issue, so please fill out this form to get included! Eventually I’d like to collect these into one PDF so we have a good collection of information about our members: https://forms.gle/MNxww3KUQJo2VsEG9
Please submit photos, art, articles, shout-outs, or anything that you’ve found interesting and want to share! I’ll always be collecting stuff for the newsletters going forward. You can submit either through this form: https://forms.gle/8SyEF9D7c8rMCnZP6 or email me at chron.southdowns@meridies.org.
For your convenience South Downs has combined the heavy and rapier sign up onto one platform. Here is the link to sign up for either. If our combined numbers stay under 20 we will combine our practices. If not, we will break out and split the field to practice at opposite ends of the greenspace to maintain Kingdom distance requirements. Sign up includes fighters as well as all spectators.
Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.
THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. Our new Seneschal, THL Juliane de Vivonne, sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”
Before the officers began giving their reports, THL Piers asked to speak before the populace. He offered an apology for how he handled the coronation bid he submitted.
Lucien is also the kingdom submissions deputy; if you want to submit something, please let him take a look at it before you submit it officially. It will save you time and money to do so, and he’s more than happy to help. Just contact him via Facebook or text him directly.
Sir Iazzie offered a PSA: a lot of people like to do their heraldic consultations at Gulf Wars, but it’s always better to work locally and wrap things up (if needed) at Gulf Wars. It usually adds time to processing your submission if you don’t work locally first – the heralds at Gulf Wars get slammed with consultations
Mistress Alessandra mentioned that another reason to not have your consultations done at Gulf Wars is that alcohol might be involved there, and you might end up with strange results 😀
Mairghread will be out of town for a couple of weeks for training for her new business, so Lord Jürgen will cover Tuesday evening practices in her absence
Practices are going well – Sunday practice continues at the incipient Viking Alchemist Meadery site (3080 Jonquil Dr., Smyrna, GA 30080). Everyone is very happy with the site! We have gone back to holding joint practices on Tuesday evenings with the rapier fighters at Brook Run Park, 4770 N Peachtree Rd, Dunwoody, GA 30338, near the Veterans’ Memorial.
Levetan Park may be getting too dark for Tuesday evening practices. So far, so good, but suggestions for alternate locations are welcome.
Thanks, as always, to our collection of rapier marshals who make it possible for practice to happen without me. Efforts to get a couple more people warranted are under way.
Live Weapons (Mistress Mara Palmer), THL Juliane reporting
People have been shooting stuff! Yay!
We have equipment! Yay!
There have been some issues with the Royal Rankings – we are working through them, just be patient
Upcoming practices are, as always, posted on the South Downs/Owl’s Nest Live Weapons Practice group, so come check us out!
Tom has accepted the deputy chatelaine position. Yay!
Demo Deputy (Lady Bú Feiyan)
Our next demo will be on 9 May at the Alpharetta Library; they are looking in particular for people to demonstrate calligraphy and embroidery inside the Library and fighters outside. The indoor demos will be very hands-on.
It’s time for the quarterly report – post what you’ve done the past three months on the baronial A+S spreadsheet so we can document it.
This month’s A&S class will be about silkworms taught by Erin Neko Hennessy (what is your SCA name?)
April’s A&S class will be on weaving with gold thread, taught by Mistress Alessandra
Speaking of A&S classes in the new year… are you interested in teaching a Baronial Arts & Sciences class in 2020? Submit your class idea on this form, or contact Alisandre directly.
There was a good turnout at the A&S/group visit to Fine Fabrics. Everyone first met up at the food court at the Global Mall for delicious Indian food, then we headed over to Fine Fabrics for a guided tour (for those like your Chronicler who gets easily overwhelmed there).
It is also gift basket season! Their Excellencies will need largesse for event season gifts. They’ll give Alisandre a list of largesse they already have – if you are considering making something for this effort, please contact Alisandre first so she can coordinate if necessary
Thanked everyone who worked on Midwinter A&S last month
Reminded everyone who is planning to go to Gulf Wars that if you are considering volunteering, make sure you get your volunteer hours logged and (if so), consider applying those hours to South Downs.
Red Tower will actually start in September; not sure how this will impact the PopChiv event requirements
We have unofficially had our Artsy Crown bid approved; the event flyer is being published in PopChiv
Kingdom was notified that Coronation’s feastcrat is looking for middle and high school aged children to serve feast, and there will be a teen hafla afterwards.
Juliane described a plan for the next five years – she was going to take it easy and not autocrat any events in 2019, but would look at autocratting Castle Wars in 2020 before she stepped up as seneschal as she isn’t comfortable with the idea of autocratting while serving as seneschal.
However, she had already been making plans to autocrat this year’s Castle Wars and has asked THL Isabetta to co-autocrat Castle Wars with her so she can recuse herself from any financial issues for the event
Iazzie had concerns since this would remove a layer of responsibility for the barony that would be problematic.
THL Andreva pointed out that the legal paperwork related to submitting a bid requires three signatures: the seneschal, the reeve, and the autocrat.
His Excellency asked if the kingdom seneschal had any thoughts about the situation.
Recent and Upcoming Events
Meridian Challenge of Arms (MCA), 28 February – 1 March 2020, Dalwhinnie Fields
96 people attended
We had fencers come in as far away as Glenn Abhann (10 hours drive!)
This was the first time that MCA was held as a weekend event
Lex was really excited to host the event there
Everyone had a great time, and not having a hard departure deadline on Sunday was really helpful
Chickens!
There was a brick oven onsite, and fundraiser lunch was made-to-order woodfired pizzas – so great!
Funny moment – the Barony of Iron Mountain was assumed by the heralds to host the event (MCA, like Meridian Grand Tournament, are hosted by the kingdom, not by any local group). Shenanigans ensued.
THL Isabetta was tasked to make the site full of pageantry, and had everyone bring their banners. This created a beautiful scene with the banners fluttering in the breeze around the lyst field.
House Excelsior made several kingdom pennons to add to the pageantry. It rocked!
Artsy Crown (22-25 May 2020, Camp Benjamin Hawkins, Byron GA)
Countess Gwynhwyfar offered a donation of a linen tunic from Linen Garb as a raffle for everyone who volunteers at troll. Thank you!
There will be a signup sheet for setup and teardown
There is a potential handfasting to be scheduled Friday night of Artsy Crown – this, however, will not be part of the official schedule, they’re just letting people know it will happen.
SCA Business
Lady Isabella has been asked to spearhead our baronial beautification project; she would love some help to make general signs for parking, etc., at an upcoming project night.
Freeside Atlanta is moving to another location and is looking for large cardboard packing boxes and help packing
We now have bardic meetings in our barony! For more info, please contact Master Mathias
Non-SCA Business
Andreva has a spring concert the weekend of 19 April at Northside Church; the theme is motets (a 16th century music form). If interested, please contact her for ticket info
THL Justina brought a bunch of fabric and other stuff, free to a good home. Anything not taken after the meeting will be donated to Goodwill.
THL Stella said we are a go for the DragonCon parade! Yay!
Business meeting is closed.
Next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 1 April 2020, at the Doraville Civic Center.
Our Knight Marshal, Lady Mairghread writes:
“Tired of redunculous heat or marshy practice fields? We have been offered an indoor practice location! The Viking Alchemist has graciously offered their new space to practice, and mead will be available for purchase.
Practice will move there starting next Sunday 13 Oct.”
Doraville Civic Center – 3744 Central Ave., Doraville GA
Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.
THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. Our new Seneschal, THL Mark de Wytteney, sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”
Officer Reports
Herald (THL Lucien d’Artois)
Awards – Menhir
Mistress Mara Palmer – Split Arrow
THL Piers Simmons – Order of the Bough
THL Marianna Cristina Tirado de Aragón – Order of the Laurel
Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
Armored
Lots of discussion lately about warranted marshals; essentially, the kingdom’s marshallate has not been functioning consistent with Society’s rules about establishing marshals. In response, the kingdom Earl Marshal has asked all local groups to provide him with a list of their armored, rapier, and live weapons marshals.
Lady Mairghread, as our local Knight Marshal, is collecting all the information for South Downs – if you are a marshal, please give her your contact info as soon as possible.
Only warranted marshals can run an event, with the clarification that *any* warranted marshal can run an event, they don’t have to be the local group marshal.
Further clarification, per THL Juliane’s question: the person running the tournaments does not have to be a warranted marshal, but the marshal with the responsibility for the event has to be warranted.
Rules for the Society and kingdom marshallate and potential changes were discussed – there will be changes coming down the pike, so stay tuned!
Youth
Nothing to report
Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
We are still holding practices when the weather allows.
There will be a regional fighter practice at Brook Run/Levetan Park this Sunday, following Midwinter A&S (weather permitting) – come on out!
Four white tassels and one black tassel have been awarded; if you are owed a tassel and don’t have it, please let Mara know
She also has requested for volunteers to help make tassels for the archers. Instructions are available on the Facebook Live Weapons group; if interested in helping, please contact her directly.
Chatelaine (Lady Justina di Silvestri)
We’ve had some awesome new people who have recently joined the Barony – welcome!
After Midwinter A&S and the Gold Key streamlining/purge, Justina will update the Gold Key spreadsheet
Countess Ysmay is requesting write-ups about the SCA for newcomers
Will host a salon and newcomers’ Q&A
Anachrocon will take place over Presidents’ Day weekend!
There’s a Facebook group for Anachrocon, for the latest info
Rapier fighters have volunteered to host a demo – will there be any armored fighters going?
Signup sheets for volunteering are online
Anachrocon is coming in February! Please stay tuned for updates, but in the meantime, teachers are needed to teach at Anachrocon, if interested, please contact Justina.
Upcoming demo
OwlCon at Kennesaw University on 16 March. His Excellency has asked the Gold Key Deputy to help out.
Arts & Sciences (Lady Alisandre de la Chapelle)
We have A&S in the Barony, and it is good! Yay! Now that Mistress Sunneva has stepped up as Baroness South Downs, her deputy Lady Alisandre has stepped up as Minister of Arts & Sciences
Thanks to the response from the populace, Baronial Arts & Sciences classes are nearly completely scheduled for 2019, only three class slots still available “because y’all are amazing!” But there’s still opportunities to share you knowledge! If you are interested in teaching a class, please fill out the form or contact Alisandre directly.
Midwinter will rock – we will be offering lots of great classes!
Our next A&S class will take place on 27 February, when Lady Justina will teach “Taking a Bite Out of History: Your Ancestors Were Cannibals!”
In March, Cellach Ingen Oengusa will teach a class “Who Was King Arthur, Anyway?”, followed by THL Madalena’s class on making bysockets in April.
Reeve (THL Andreva Rigaldi)
We’ve had some unexpected expenses come in (exploding coffee pots!), which is why it’s important we are careful with our expenses
There was a vote on having the following officers removed from the baronial bank account, since they are no longer relevant officers for the bank:
Laura Thomason
Owen Townes
Joseph Coffee
There was then a vote to confirm the following offers to be added to the baronial bank account, as they are now relevant officers for the bank:
Erin Garrard
Christee Cartee
Mark Baron
Meghan Vaughan
Andreva is also head troll and reservationist for Coronation; please get your reservations in, and please consider volunteering for troll.
Quartermaster (THL Lucien d’Artois)
We have stuff!
We’ve begun looking at alternate storage spaces nearby; we are currently paying +$300 per month for our storage space. Some things that may make a difference in costs:
Do we need the space to be climate-controlled?
Textiles? We have three bins
Paper goods – we discussed options to help keep textiles and paper goods dry (silica packets, baking soda)
Finding a non-climate-controlled site could save us significant money. At our current storage site, the non-climate-controlled spaces are $150 per month, less than half of what we are paying now. Other sites have larger (non-climate-controlled) spaces for just a little bit more, that would allow us to store the castle walls at the storage site as well
20’x20′ at Extra Space: $207 per month
20’x20′ at Public Storage: $170 per month
Do these facilities offer 24×7 access?
If we move, when would we move? We are paid through the end of February at the current storage facility. It would be great if we could move out before Fools War, to simplify moving the castle walls.
We could perhaps move on 24 February, after MCA?
Would we get a discount at the new site if we pay for a full year in advance?
What are the insurance requirements at new storage facilities? We are currently required to have it.
A supplies list will be needed for Midwinter; Alisandre and Justina will provide a list
Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
We have a website!
Updated the Officers page to bring Quartermaster and Minister of Children listings current
Updated awards for:
Wistric Oftun
Sunneva de Cleia
Andreva Rigaldi
Stella di Silvestri
Rhiannon verch Madyn
Marianna Cristina Tirado de Aragón
Updated devices for:
Margavati Bai
Marianna Cristina Tirado de Aragón
Updated pages for:
“History of Chess” class notes to Iastreb’s profile page
Submitted Y2019 Q1 report to Kingdom Webminister
Updated legal disclaimer for Y2019
Posted polling results
WordPress user adjustments:
Renamed admin user form from “sd-admin” to “webminister”
Created a deputy webminister userid (Pietro took a moment to mention that is is looking for a deputy, so if anyone is interested, please contact him directly)
Added “lorenzo” login (“baron” login is still Lorenzo for now)
Downgraded “artsci” user from administrator privileges to author
Midwinter A&S web page updates:
Posted event schedule
Posted class schedule
Link to the regional fighter practice
Link to Sari Safari
Link to sign up Midwinter A&S Faire
Added Baroness Sibella’s note about no live weapons on the University of West Georgia site
Added Alisandre’s notes about not being able to have merchants on site, and about the research library
Updated staff list
Added admission cost
Created event page for “Coronation of Morgan and Sebastiannos” 5-7 April, 2019
Posted Pop Chivalry flyer
Updated 2019 class schedule on main A& page
Minister of Children (Lady Myndee of South Downs, THL Mark de Wytteney reporting)
HRM Gwenwhyfar has been working on getting deputies approved for background checks – YAY!
Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
Nothing to report
Their Excellencies
Master Lorenzo sez “I QUIT!” Motion seconded, voted on, and approved 😀
HRM thanked Lorenzo for everything he’s done in the Society, beyond being Baron South Downs
Other SCA Business
Midwinter Arts & Sciences (9 February 2019)
We’re having an event this weekend!
Need setup crew for 7:00am; site opens at 8:00am, classes start at 9:00am
Also need cleanup crew; it was suggested that someone should go and take photos of each room before setup begins, so we know how each room needs to be restored at the end of the day
Need a social media person to respond to Facebook comments (especially thoes comments about having problems finding the site)
Evening court will be held in the ballroom but we have zero chance of getting in there before 3:00pm, and we will need someone to help direct attendees to the ballroom
Margavati mentioned Sari Safari will take place on Sunday, for anyone who won’t be going to the regional practice. Please join the FB group for the event (or contact Margavati) for details
There will be a garage sale at Sunday’s regional practice – BYOT (Bring Your Own Table)
Spring Coronation for TRH Sebastiannos and Morgan (5-7 April, 2019)
We have a site (Camp Benjamin Hawkins), we have insurance in process, we have the flyer posted in Pop Chivalry!
The event is being branded as “TRH are throwing a party!”
Juliane will be doing memes of TRH and TRM
We need staff/volunteers, especially someone to work on parking logistics
Sebastiannos has volunteers from the Order of the Bear lined up
Feast will be held during court
Marianna has plans for feast
The muses will make an appearance
Site tokens are being taken care of by Sebastiannos
Feast tokens will be place cards – as above-the-salt feast will be pre-registration only, place cards will work.
Feast will be all finger foods and open bar; when you come into feast, food will already be on the table
Kebab marshal! Everyone sign a release! 😀
Queen’s yeoman tourney is definite for coronation
Pre-reg is open!
Gulf Wars (9-17 March, 2019)
Justina invited everyone to come visit the Ca’ d’Oro at Gulf Wars, and they’ll be hosting both a salon and a ball
Artsy Crown (24-27 May, 2019)
The seneschal for Owl’s Nest is looking for volunteers for Artsy Crown – if interested, please contact THL Charles de Joscelynne
Non-SCA Business
Margavati brought fabric that needs a new home
Next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 6 March 2019, at the Doraville Civic Center.
Doraville Civic Center – 3744 Central Ave., Doraville GA
Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.
THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. Master Wistric sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”
Baronial Polling Results
HRM Gwenhwyfar announced that after a great turnout with votes and comments from the populace, the new Baron and Baroness South Downs will be Master Wistric Oftun and Mistress Sunneva de Cleia! Huzzah!
Officer Reports
Herald (THL Lucien d’Artois)
Awards – Magna Faire
Lady Stella di Silvestri – Order of the Velvet Owl
Submissions
THL Andreva Rigaldi – device and name change registered Margot de Saint Denis
Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
Armored
Lord Bram has offered to step up as deputy armored marshal
Lady Mairghread will discuss with their new Excellencies how they would like to handle choosing their new rapier and armored Baronial champions
Youth
Completed reports for the youth program
Is working on rewriting the rules for youth rapier
Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
We are still holding practices when the weather allows.
We are looking for a new site for Tuesday evening practices, given the ongoing problems with lighting at both Blackburn and Brook Run parks.
Mistress Mara needs to get in touch with anyone who’s earned a tassel, so she can arrange to have the tassels presented in court
She also has requested for volunteers to help make tassels for the archers. Instructions are available on the Facebook Live Weapons group; if interested in helping, please contact her directly.
Chatelaine (Lady Justina di Silvestri)
We’ve had some awesome new people who have recently joined the Barony – welcome!
Anachrocon is coming in February! Please stay tuned for updates, but in the meantime, teachers are needed to teach at Anachrocon, if interested, please contact Justina.
Arts & Sciences (Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
We have A+S in the Barony, and it is good! Yay!
Thanks to the response from the populace, Baronial Arts + Sciences classes have been scheduled through July 2019 “because y’all are amazing!” But there’s still opportunities to share you knowledge! If you are interested in teaching a class, please fill out the form or contact Mistress Sunneva directly.
Our next A+S class will take place on January 23, when Sir Iastreb will teach the History of Chess; Iazzie described it as more of a survey of the evolution of chess from its earliest historical versions to modern chess as we know it today.
Lady Justina will teach February’s class, “Taking a Bite Out of History: Your Ancestors Were Cannibals!” followed by Cellach Ingen Oengusa’s class “Who Was King Arthur, Anyway?” in March, and THL Madalena’s class on making bysockets in April.
Reeve (THL Andreva Rigaldi)
We have some money! Huzzah! We don’t have specifics yet, as the report just arrived today, so she hasn’t yet had a chance to analyze it.
Andreva pointed out that the profits the Barony makes on our big events goes toward paying for the storage unit and meeting site rental fees, and not much more than that. So please consider hosting fundraiser lunches at events, as those profits go towards any other needs and requests for Baronial supplies
Gulf Wars is coming! Make sure you designate the Barony of South Downs as your local group when you volunteer – local groups will receive funds based on the number of volunteer hours logged by their members.
Quartermaster (THL Lucien d’Artois)
We have stuff!
Lucien thanked everyone who came out on project night to help mark new baronial kitchen supplies, etc.
Inventory weekend coming to a weekend near you! Please stay tuned and come and help out!
Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
We have a website!
Worked on disk cleanup
Midwinter A+S site updates:
Class signup link
Fighter practice page – updated live weapons schedule for early 2019
Live Weapons marshal page – added links to Meridies archery scores and How to Make Tassels instructions
Minister of Children (Lady Myndee of South Downs, THL Mark de Wytteney reporting)
Not much has happened in the past month, but Myndee and her deputy have volunteered to run children’s activities at Fools’ War
Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
Wistric thanked everyone who helped with the Baronial polling
We need to find a new meeting site, as the rental rate has been raised from $50/week to $70/week beginning in March 2019. Perhaps we can go to St. Philip’s in Buckhead? But we’re definitely open to new site options.
Their Excellencies
His Excellency also thanked everyone who helped with the Baronial polling, and is looking forward to the new Baron and Baroness South Downs
He then asked if anyone was going to Magna Faire, and what activities they were planning on taking part in – A+S? Fencing? Anything else?
Other SCA Business
Midwinter Arts + Sciences (9 February 2019)
We’re having an event next month!
Classes are coming along
Many volunteer positions have been filled, but volunteers are still needed – please contact Lady Alisandre if interested
Still looking for a group to host the fundraiser lunch
Evening court will be held in the ballroom but we have zero chance of getting in there before 3:00pm, so morning court will take place in the lecture hall
We are going to try to have evening court start at 4:30pm because there is a lot that will happen at court and we have a hard out of the site at 6:30pm
Now that we know who is being invested as Baron and Baroness South Downs, we can move forward full force with planning the investiture
Please pre-register for Midwinter A+S, it will make troll go a lot easier and more quickly
Speaking of troll, volunteers are still needed for troll shifts, especially first thing in the morning
Regional Fighter Practice – it’s happening (weather permitting)! Will be held Sunday, 10 February 2019, at Brook Run Park (usual practice location and time) We will have signage advertising the Regional at the Midwinter site
Inquiries have been made about crash space for Midwinter – Mara will be coordinating, so if you can offer crash space (or know someone who needs it), please contact her directly
There is interest in holding a Baronial yard sale, since the Barony has a good amount of stuff we no longer need, and there’s also people who want to donate. We’ll hold it perhaps at Midwinter, the Regional practice, or Fool’s War. There were a lot of ideas offered for the yard sale, and a volunteer to serve as point person was requested. Since Owl’s Nets has expressed interest in helping (as they have stuff to donate as well), it was suggested that Adaire be contacted to organize the yard sale.
The Courtesan’s track is still seeking volunteers to teach any of the Courtly Arts, social aspects of court, etc. Family-friendly classes are welcome.
Spring Coronation for TRH Sebastiannos and Morgan (5-7 April, 2019)
Juliane is going to look at the site this week. The new site, which is also where Fools’ War will be held, sounds really promising. HRH Sebastiannos is really excited about the site.
Discreet cigarette smoking is allowed – please religiously police your cigarette butts
Dogs are welcome on site (with all required paperwork) – if you bring your dog, please religiously police their butts 😉
A lot has already been negotiated with the site, thanks to Fynlo and the Fools’ War team, and the Boy Scouts (who own the site) are really excited about having us (the SCA) use their site in the future
Juliane has put a bid together already, and is working through requests from Sebastiannos for feast arrangements. She will discuss these requests with the finance committee to get them implemented.
Stunt Bards! (for feast?)
Red Tower (4-6 October, 2019)
Lady Veronica has volunteered to put together a bid
Castle Wars (21-24 November, 2019)
THL Piers is interested in autocratting, but has concerns about some issues with the site, including pricing and SERV-Safe certification for kitchen workers.
The event site will be the same Boy Scout camp site as Coronation and Fools’ War
Anachrocon (15-18 February, 2019)
Takes place over Presidents’ Weekend; it does conflict with several events, but we’re looking for volunteers
These are our people we just have to draw them in
We are seeking teachers for classes – please contact Lady Justina if interested
JordanCon (26-28 April, 2019)
Fantasy literature convention, in honor of author Robert Jordan
Will be held at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia
Tiff Frankin is point person for Meridies
Questions from HRM Gwynhwyfar
She wanted, first of all, to let everyone know that HRM Adhemar would have liked to have been at the meeting for the Baronial announcement and thank everyone personally
After the meeting, representatives for Meridies will need to come to a final decision about kingdom-wide fundraising for the Knowne Worlde party at Gulf Wars
Party theme – Hogwarts! HRM will be Fleur Delacour
There will be a fundraiser raffle, and items are being requested for the raffle
HRM wants to have an army of dementors, and mentioned something about thousands of glowsticks?
Other SCA Business
Mistress Allesandra mentioned that while Midwinter A+S is going on, the populace is welcome to enter the A+S competitions, and “we have like 400 laurels who would love to help you!”
Lady Stella is still looking for someone to take over organizing the baronial activity at DragonCon, as she won’t be able to be there for registering our group. Justina reminded us that we’ve been invited by the alternate history track to provide some classes
Non-SCA Business
His Excellency, Master Lorenzo, said that a couple of lovely chairs had been left behind at the baronial holiday party. If you left one, please come get it!
Dinner – Shaking Crawfish!
Next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 6 February 2019, at the Doraville Civic Center. Happy holidays and a happy new year!
Doraville Civic Center – 3744 Central Ave., Doraville GA
Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.
THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. Master Wistric sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”
Officer Reports
Herald (THL Lucien d’Artois)
Awards – Castle Wars
TBD
TBD
Submissions
TBD
Baronial Polling (THL Mark de Wytteney)
Polling begins at tonight’s meeting for non-residents
Polling will continue at next Sunday’s fighter practice and next week’s baronial meeting
He explained the polling process:
Voting will be a ranked system for the three sets of candidates; everyone will vote their order of preference for the sets of candidates
Ballots are being mailed for residents of the Barony today
Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
Armored
Has been out of the loop for a little bit, due to real-life responsibilities
Youth
Completed reports for the youth program
Is working on rewriting the rules for youth rapier
Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
Nothing to report
Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer)
Mistress Mara was counseled by the populace to walk, not run, to the lectern as she approached to give her report
Practices have been going well, although they are starting to slow down as the weather has grown colder
Reports that Live Weapons will need more equipment – in particular, bows, arrows, and longer arrows
Castle Wars
went really well – great turnout, and many new participants. A total of 70 participants signed in at the archery range.
W did have a few safety incidents at Castle Wars, especially with people walking behind the targets. Mistress Mara emphasized that even if out of range, people walking behind the targets make the archers really nervous.
Thanks to the Barony of Bryn Madoc, who marshaled the throwing side of the Live Weapons activities at Castle Wars
It seems that there were many people who didn’t realize that they could come to our practices, even if not part of our Barony. Our practices are open to all, not just the members of the Barony!
We had a lot of new people attend Castle Wars – it was awesome!
Lady Justina mentioned that there is a new Newcomers group on Facebook, and encouraged everyone – new and established members – to join, to ask and help answer questions and see what new people want to know about Meridies and the SCA in general.
Upcoming demos:
Anachrocon in February
Master Mathias mentioned that Anachrocon has asked for a commedia presentation. Anyone interested in helping, please contact Mathias directly.
DragonCon
Justina reminded us that we’ve been invited by the alternate history track to provide a couple of classes
Kennesaw State University (KSW)/OwlCon
Master Wistric mentioned that last March, KSW sponsored OwlCon; they have planned to hold it annually, but he’s not seen anything about this year’s event yet. Jaden and Lauren are looking into its status for this year
Possible demo at a library in Milton? More information to follow
Arts & Sciences (Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
We have A+S in the Barony, and it is good! Yay!
We had 19 classes at Castle Wars, most well-attended
Courtesans’ track and the Newcomer’s track were both really encouraging
The period firearms demo was really exciting
Mistress Sunneva thanked everyone who took and taught classes
Next year’s classes for South Downs A+S nights are already scheduled through July 2019; if you are interested in teaching a class, please fill out the form or contact Mistress Sunneva directly.
Our next A+S class will take place on January 23, when Sir Iastreb will teach the History of Chess
Reeve (THL Andreva Rigaldi)
Castle Wars’ report has not yet been completed, pending final PayPal report
we made approximately $3,700 in profit
If you have receipts for Castle Wars, please send them to Andreva THIS WEEK
We have money in the bank, no outstanding checks
We have purchases we have made for the Barony that we need to approve:
$151 for tiki torches (HE South Downs)
$64.58 for 2 coffee pots and (?) air presses, which are so much easier to manage than industrial coffee urns (Justina)
$82 for dollies for transport (Lucien)
Quartermaster (THL Lucien d’Artois)
Nothing to report
Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
Nothing to report
Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
We have a website!
Sent Warrant for Appointment to the Office of Group Webminister to Kingdom Webminister at the Request of Rhiannon Mulholland
Updated Castle Wars website
Posted in-person polling announcement
New profile pages for:
Lord Guido of Axbridge
Lord Lucis Wicanius Cicero
Lord Jacob Mór
Captain Nikoslav Mikolaevich
Safa
Updated profile pages for:
Lord Nikon Dawidowicz (device, awards, and spelling)
Captain Brendan de Hay (awards)
Lady Myndee of South Downs (awards)
Lord Quintus Valerius Gracchus (awards)
THL Mark de Wytteney (awards)
Lord Jarec Markov (awards)
THL Juliane de Vivonne (awards)
Master Davio de la Rouge (awards)
Minister of Children (Lady Myndee of South Downs, THL Mark de Wytteney reporting)
Much of the Minister of Children’s report is regarding Castle Wars
One of the things thats important about the office is the issue of background checks. However, the MiC of a local group is the only one who is allowed to be sponsored/paid for by the Kingdom to get a background check – not even her deputy can be allowed to have a background check through the Kingdom. This restriction is causing problems with events with good turnouts for kids, such as Castle Wars. We’re not allowed to leave any children unsupervised, or supervised by a non-cleared volunteer – if one kid needs to go to the bathroom, they all need to go to the bathroom
We would love to have enough authorized support (without having to depend on the occiasional MiC from another group) to be able to split the group into younger and older kids so everyone can do cool things
Mock court was a huge success
We want to be able to get the kids active in what they are interested in doing in the society – not just passively doing arts and crafts “kids’ activities”
Mairghread mentioned her experiences with youth marshaling, comparing and contrasting her requirements with background checks with what the MiC has to go through
It was clarified that the Kingdom will only pay for one background check for an MiC per group, and that outside background checks are not applicable in the SCA. It was asked if it’s possible for the Barony to pay for an additional background check through the Kingdom, and if we knew how much the background check would cost, if finances are part of the problem? Can the group sponsor additional background checks?
Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
If you haven’t signed in, please sign in
The 4th Wednesday this month is Boxing Day, there will be no meeting
Their Excellencies
His Excellency greeted the populace “Hi! I’m your lame duck baron!”
He then asked if anyone was going to Magna Faire, and what activities they were planning on taking part in – A+S? Fencing? Anything else?
Other SCA Business
Castle Wars Post-Mortem
THL Juliane stated that the #1 lesson learned was that we have the most awesome kingdom in the world
HRH Sebastiannos commented that his #1 lesson learned whas “Don’t give a kid a big tin of candy and let him go off with it!”
Other lessons:
When we got on site, we realized we didn’t have all the things we need for the lyst field – marking tape, flags, etc.
We should have a check off list for the field in advance
As a barony, we delineate in advance what each staff position involves, so there’s no confusion and less stress (esp for new people wanting to volunteer)
3 hr courts are long
His Excellency really liked the idea of morning court to take care of a lot of the smaller awards done
HRM mentioned they had roving court which helped, but His Excellency pointed out the only people who would see court would be those who happened to be there
Having a co-autocrat would also be a great mentoring opportunity
Everyone needs a Nikon! But seriously, having a general assistant is a great idea
Iazzie mentioned that at MGT the autocrat has the co-autocrat take up the next year’s event. This would also help educate the autocrat – they have a year to find out all the details while co-ing
Issues that couldn’t be anticipated – at the Shrine, the radios didn’t work between the hall and the field. need to figure out how to work around it.
Lucien mentioned that Tir Briste has 3 co-autocrats (for Fools War?), each with a specific area of the event, so one person doesn’t have to run back and forth – makes communication around the event site much easier
Duke Thomas pointed out that CW is one of the biggest events of the kingdom, so we really should have a team of (co) autocrats just to manage
Landcrat
We need to address parking issues
Parking was really problematic, site manager was grumpy
We should have a parking team to manage where cars go as people arrive, especially with events this size. PARKING CZAR!
(Ximon) Cleanup
The people who were there until the end did an amazing job
We might consider working with a smaller group (for $$$) to help with set up and break down
Iazzie suggested that we contact Gulf Wars people to see how they handle volunteers for setup and breakdown
Andreva pointed out that yes, we make a decent profit with Castle Wars, but we also have had events over the year that have lost a lot of money
Volunteer raffle on Sunday didn’t get a great turnout because it was on Sunday
Lucien mentioned that we spent a lot of time on Sunday doing trash runs. Perhaps the pottycrat team could also do trash runs throughout the weekend.
Wistric mentioned that (Ben) had an idea – his Amtgard group has each camping group assigned a camp master, and each camp submits a deposit at registration. When their group is cleared to go, they get their deposit back.
Make it a competition? Whoever leaves their camp the quickest and cleanest gets an attaboy and kudos. hmm…
Better advertising in general for calling for volunteers
Rain was also an issue because the portapotties couldn’t be set where they needed to be – portapotty groups were supposed to be where the trash cans were set.
Andreva pointed out that it wasn’t that the site was trashed – it was that piles of trash bags were left at the portapotties, and it took forever for Ximon and Farouq to load up the trash and haul it to the dumpsters.
Could the parking people also inform groups about the trash situation – where the dumpsters are and that everyone is expected to dispose of their trash before they leave?
Perhaps the pottycrat could also have a trash detail throughout the weekend, going along camps collecting trash bags?
Dumpster locations? We can place them anywhere, since we have it brought in ourselves
Problem – the portapotty truck could not get on the swamped field, which is why so many cars were left on the field
Ximon, Lucien, Lorenzo, Wistric, and Ben did an awesome job
Truck was totally worth it, but it cost a lot more than was budgeted. Need to revisit budget for the truck
HRH mentioned that it would save the Barony a lot of money in repairing the castle wars by getting a trailer that is dedicated to storing the walls
Storing walls in storage unit, good short term solution but trailer is good long-term solution
RV fees were more than we expected/were told. need to clear that up
Midwinter Arts + Sciences
Please check with Lady Alisandre if you are interested in volunteering. We already have several volunteers for troll
Justina mentioned that we are looking for teachers for the Courtesans’ track – classes on any of the courtly arts, not just “R-rated,” are welcome
We are opening bids for Spring Coronation (HRH Sebastiannos and Morgan!), which will be held at the Fools War site
We need an autocrat for Red Tower 2019
Other SCA Business
Andreva announced that if you aren’t going to Magna Faire, she will be performing that same evening with her new vocal chamber group and invites everyone to come to the concert. It’s their first concert and “we have no idea what is going to happen.”
Mathias and Mara are planning a fuzzy PJs and dinner party (when?)
Next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 2 January 2019, at the Doraville Civic Center. Happy holidays and a happy new year!
