South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

6 June 2018, 7:30pm

Little Tree Studios

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.

Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois) called the meeting to order. Master Wistric sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”

Officer Reports

• Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois)
  • Events – Kingdom Arts & Sciences / Crown List (Artsy Crown)
    • Lord Mark de Wytteney – Argent Comet
    • Melusine La Pucelle D’aix La Fayette – Award of Arms
    • Svala – Award of Arms
  • Submissions
    • There are 13 submissions in various stages of the submissions pipeline

• Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
  • Armored
    • We have lots of new people coming to practice!
    • We have one complete and one nearly complete loaner kit (thanks, Lord Mark!)
    • Lord Mark is working on loaner gear this weekend, may need to buy some helms to accommodate all the new people. Mairghread will research costs for cheap helms. Sir Morgan suggested contacting Sir Wulfstan to see if he could help put something together.
    • Mark suggested we host a potential project night (this month?) to build some armor from pickle barrels.
  • Youth
    • Nothing to report

• Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer)
  • No report, other than the next practice will be held July 15, when we’ll hold our Baronial archery championship.
  • Please check the Facebook group, South Downs/Owl’s Nest Live Weapons Practice to track upcoming practices.

• Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
  • Practices. We are still having them (even without Brendan) Sunday afternoons, concurrent with armored. Tuesday evening practices at 7pm, at Liane Levetan / Brook Run Park in Dunwoody. We’re averaging 2-12 people. For updates regarding rapier practices, go to the Atlanta SCA Fighting Facebook group.
  • The warehouse we’ve used as an alternate site has not been available due to work schedules.
  • We have a potential new indoor site in Clarkston. Wistric is investigating.

• Chatelaine (Lady Justina di Silvestri)
  • We had many newcomers at the 5th Wednesday potluck! yay!
  • The demo at the History Bee went really well, and we’ve been invited back for next year.
  • Gold Key has been completely itemized and organized, and Lady Roisin will help repair any items that need work (w00t!)
  • Gold Key database is now available

• Arts & Sciences (Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
  • We have arts *and* sciences, and that is good
  • We had arts *and* sciences at artsy crown and it was good
  • Master Mathias taught last month’s class on commedia and we had a great turnout
  • Lady Justina will teach this month’s class, “Intro to Poisons and the Macabre”
  • There was a cheesecake throwdown at the potluck and everyone won!
  • Reminder: Caterina will be teaching a Paypal class for the Barony in July. THL Andreva encouraged everyone to consider taking the class, because the more people who are approved to handle the new Paypal registration/payment system, the easier it will be for those running troll at events.
  • Reminder: Sunneva has made a schedule for all of 2018 as a Google Docs spreadsheet so you (yes, you!) 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 most of the rest of the year; there is also a list in development for alternate/back up classes, so even if there are no specific dates available, please sign up!

• Reeve (THL Andreva Rigaldi)
  • Still digging through receipts, etc. due to Artsy Crown and quarterly report due at the same time
  • If you have receipts from Artsy Crown, please submit them ASAP if you want to get reimbursed
  • Even though reports aren’t yet finalized, things are looking good financially this quarter for the Barony
  • Payments for site fees, etc., are starting to come due for Red Tower

• Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
  • We have a website!
  • Updates
    • Several updates to Artsy Crown 2018 event page.
    • Posted “Which will you choose?” graphic on Castle Wars 2018 page, updated site to Al-Sihah Shrine.
    • Added profile page for Mistress Molli Rose Kekilpenny
    • Updated event listings (removed Summer Collegia and Panhandle Skirmishes)
    • Facebook changed API so that content from Facebook groups can no longer be displayed. Changed all facebook feeds to a link to the facebook page.
    • Updated Fighter Practice page to make WHEN practices are held more visible (in response to someone who showed up at the practice site who said he could not find the time the practice is scheduled)
    • Added June/July/August dates for Live Weapons and Archery practices.

• Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
  • Nothing to report

• Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
  • Thanks to everyone for all the hard work over the past few weeks for events
  • We are planning a project night to Find All The Sites on Monday and perhaps Wednesday at next week’s meeting? This will be an ongoing project
  • Currently working on finalizing our bid for Red Tower – we will present the bid in two weeks to discuss and vote
  • Received a list of Baronial kitchen supplies of what we have and what we need, from THL Mariana; she will put together an estimate and we’ll see if we can fund the purchase of new supplies
  • This year, ConjurationCON is the same weekend as Castle Wars, so we will need to find an alternate con to participate in this fall
  • A high school teacher from Coweta County who attended the History Bee is interested in having us come do a demo at their school

• Their Excellencies
  • There’s still a lot of events on the schedule!
    • Pennsic
      • Who’s going to Pennsic? Who’s planning on camping with Meridies? If you are planning on going and camping with Meridies, please get in touch with Her Excellency and get your registration in ASAP! Deadline is 16 June.
    • Giant’s Dance
      • Who’s going? We are putting together a South Downs team
    • Royal University of Meridies (RUM) / Fighters’ Collegium
      • Will be held in Murfreesboro in July – come on out!
    • Tournament of the Foxes
      • We have sponsored Baronial teams for rapier and archery; we would love to also have an all-South Downs armored combat team as well! Represent!
  • We will host the Baronial archery championship at the July live weapons practice

Artsy Crown Post-Mortem

• THL Piers thanked everyone for their help with the event
• Lyst had to be held indoors, due to bad weather leading up to the event which left the fighting field a bog
• We need to go through inventory and create packing lists for each baronial supply box so we can keep track of what goes where
• Kitchen issues at the shrine
  • Feastcrat needs to be aware that fridge is very very small.
  • The walk-in was broken, which caused a problem. Can we follow up with the site to see if that can be fixed?
• Need to put mowing in the contract since the farmer doesn’t have control of the mowing schedule
• Attendee count: 297 adult members, 37 adult non-members, 26 children. Based on these numbers, we made approximately $1548.47 (50% of which goes to the Kingdom); this wasn’t as much as we had hoped (numbers were depressed due to the storms) but more than we expected 🙂
• Andreva thanked everyone who worked troll (Saturday troll ran through feast), especially Stella, Wistric, Juliane, and others. Artsy Crown was the first real stress test on the PayPal system, and it went well.
• We own our own 2 sliders for PayPal
• Andreva reminded us of the upcoming PayPal class + registration in July (A+S). This is important because Caterina has been doing registrations for all events in Meridies, which is a lot of work. Being able to take care of registrations ourselves will be helpful to everyone.
• Castle Wars revel fundraiser went really well – a total of $300+ raised
• Need one giant bottle of hand sanitizer, because the little bottles get knocked over easily inside the portapotties
• The Period Heroes supplies disappeared Sunday night – please keep an eye out for it! Wilhemina has offered several cigar boxes to donate to the cause
• Lucien says everything in the storage unit will be re-inventoried before the Fall event season so everything will be ready. Every box will also be labeled with contents, as well as a list inside the storage unit. Autocrats will get a copy to help determine what they need in advance. It was suggested that sheet protectors and/or laminators for lists will make it easier to check things off
• Lots of comments about how nice the site book looked
• Both feasts went really well
• For future events, we need a timeline for when things need to be due – these timelines will naturally be different for each event and site. Plan in advance so things don’t get rushed.
  • Insurance, event site fee, PayPal, etc.
  • Require/strongly encourage autocrats to use the checklist
• Potential autocrat class for a future class night?

Upcoming Events

• Red Tower (5-7 October 2018)
  • News! FB group has been created for planning, just let Mark know if you want to join
  • Still working out some details on bid – expected # attendees, etc.
  • Mark has contract to review with Wistric for site – Hard Labor Creek @ Camp Rutledge
  • There are several references in the contract that say we can’t move the beds in the cabins, as well as charges if the site has to remove staples/nails/etc
  • Co-autocrat (Lady Veronica) has contacted the site about doing live weapons. There is an archery site already there, but there are strict rules about it. She will need to research further, but it looks promising
  • Still need some volunteers for most positions – check with Mark about specifics
  • Recommend getting another local group to do fundraiser lunch – takes pressure off of Baronial staff
  • Theme – the (Greek) Gods Among Us
  • Dionysian revel – have a group other than South Downs host?
  • Site tokens? we have M A N Y – they’ll be brought to the mtg next week

• Castle Wars (15-18 November 2018)
  • Lady Juliane asked if everyone like the first meme for the event? Stay tuned for the next ones!
  • Baroness Sibella has offered to do embroidered site tokens
  • Revel theme – Now is the winter of our Disco Tent 😀
  • Still working on bid – wants to have bid ready by next business meeting
  • A list of volunteers is being developed – if you are interested in helping with the event, please contact Juliane
  • All the memes will be collected and published in the event booklet
  • We are considering holding a warlord tourney to choose captains – either Friday night of Castle Wars or beforehand (perhaps at Red Tower?)
  • How can we include a non-martial activity in with the martial aspects of the event – perhaps something like assassin? Juliane has chatted with Her Majesty and Countess Ysmay to represent the red and white roses

Other SCA Business

• The July business meeting will not be held on its usual 1st Wednesday, since that is 4 July; it will be moved to the following Wednesday (11 July)
• Next Saturday (9 June) is Legends, and they could really use the love; a really high caliber of fighter tends to show up, so it’s a great opportunity to fight experienced fighters you may not regularly get to fight. Legends will be held at the same site as Golden Lily
• The Knowne Worlde Courtesans Guild
  • Justina announced that the Knowne World Courtesans Guild is starting a podcast and she will a field reporter! They are looking for interviews, stories, poetry and other cultural aspects of SCA life. The podcast will be a digital salon hosted by the courtesans of the Knowne World Courtesans Guild and featuring artisans of historical arts from across the world. Tune in for intelligent discussion of history, re-enacting the pre-1600s world, and news of the Society. If you are interested in talking about your art, please contact Justina and she will be happy to chat with you!
  • In local courtesan news, the Courtesans of Meridies are sponsoring an adult-themed scribal challenge at Meridies Fall Coronation 2018! They want to see your naughty scribal side…
    • Prize: Replica Roman brothel coins (spintriae) and more!
    • Rules: Teams allowed, tracing allowed, incomplete allowed, documentation encouraged but not required.
    • Due to the nature of the subject, ONLY AGES 18+ may enter this challenge.
• Justina is also sponsoring a category in the Meridies Scribal Challenge for Fall Coronation!
  • Best use of Poisonous Pigment in a Scroll
  • Prize: Historic poisonous plant seeds for the garden
  • Teams allowed, tracing allowed, documentation encouraged. Please include a description of materials used. Have fun!!!
• Ca d’Oro has teamed up with the Sable and Gules Theater at Gulf Wars 2019. Lady Þýri’s fashion show was incredibly inspiring, so they are going to host a fashion show Monday of Gulf and will process to the Ca d’Oro department for a salon to discuss what each of them are wearing. They are looking for models – show off your garb of all eras and inspire newcomers! If you are interested, please contact Justina, or Sable and Gules directly
• Lord Konrad announced he is a regional rapier practice at his home in Jasper, tentative scheduled for 12 August. Stay tuned!

Non-SCA Business

• Andreva’s choir has a concert coming up on 23 June, to benefit the American Red Cross. Please contact her for details and tickets
• Lady Wilhemina brought a bunch of fabric for sale and/or delivery!

Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 11 July 2018, at Little Tree Art Studios.

–Raven