South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

1 May 2019, 7:30pm

Meeting site for May (temporary) Forest Fleming Arena – 3037 Pleasant Valley Dr, Doraville, GA 30340

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.

THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. Our Seneschal, THL Mark de Wytteney, sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”

Sir Iastreb introduced a newcomer to the meeting – this meeting was Rachel’s first SCA experience, so Mark gave her a quick summary of what was going on at the meeting.

Officers Reports

• Herald (THL Lucien d’Artois)
  • Awards at Coronation (6 April 2019):
    • THL Lucien d’Artois – Burning Trumpet
    • THL Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain – Argent Comet
    • Captain Nikoslav Mikolaevich – Master of Defense
    • Mistress Mara Palmer – Sable Quill
    • Lady Justina di Silvestri – Order of the Velvet Owl
  • Awards at Fools’ War (20 April 2019):
    • Agnes Halydaye – Meridian Cross
    • THL Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain – Argent Comet

• Knight Marshal (Lady Mairghread Wilson)
  • Mairghread announced that her marshal warrant expires in July, and although she has two deputies, they don’t come to meetings often. She said she is willing to continue serving as Knight Marshal and have her warrant renewed if the populace would like her to continue doing so.
  • Mark asked if she might want to get a deputy that would be interested in stepping up eventually. As Lord Nikon walked in, he was “nominated.”

• Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
  • Weather is improving, so practices are more frequent and back at Liane Levetan/Brook Run Park. Practices continue to take place on Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, weather and event schedules permitting.
  • There have been anywhere from three to 15 people showing up at any given practice.

• Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer)
  • Mara described that Live Weapons in the SCA include target archery and thrown weapons (knives, axes, etc. that are also thrown at targets.
  • Mara said that practices have been going well – they’ve been able to hold two Royal Rounds at practices.
  • She mentioned that she is running low on loaner arrows; given that she still has available funds in her budget, she will move forward with purchasing additional arrows.
  • With the large number of children who have been attending practices, she will need to add to the supply of child-sized bows. Everyone was pleased with the enthusiasm of the participation of the children at these practices.
  • This June marks the second anniversary of the live weapons program in South Downs! Yay!
  • At last June’s (first anniversary) practice, the Baronial Live Weapons Championship was held. She suggested that this championship could be held each June as an annual event.
  • Mara also announced that due to her baby being due in the fall, she will be at Red Tower but not at Castle Wars.
  • South Downs has been asked to help out with live weapons at Arabian Nights in July, hosted by the shire of Arenal.
  • Practices for the next several months have been scheduled and are posted on the South Downs and Owl’s Nest Live Weapons Facebook group. Current averages for Royal Rounds and tassels can also be found here.
  • The live weapons marshallate has been revamped and she is now only one of two marshals in the Barony (the other doesn’t go to meetings).

• Chatelaine (Lady Justina di Silvestri)
  • In addition to newcomer Rachel, we also had visitors from the Midrealm who were passing through our lands: Lady Aeffe Thorsdottir and Lady Godhit of Cynnabar, who presented Their Excellencies and THL Mark with a penny as a token to allow them to pass through our kingdom
  • Justina welcomed back Owen and Caroline, and welcomed (back) Lady Agnes, who has officially moved back into the Barony. Yay!
  • She also announced she has a new deputy in charge of demos, Bú Feiyan – yay!
  • We (the Barony) have been invited to present panels at DragonCon this year; this would be a great and fun opportunity for us! If you are interested, please contact Justina or Bú (who will follow up with our contacts at DragonCon about this)
  • Mark mentioned that we should try to get involved with some of the events (Lemonade Days, Cherry Blossom Festival, etc.) at the park(s) where we practice to see if we could do demos.

• Arts & Sciences (Lady Alisandre de la Chapelle)
  • We have A&S in the Barony, and it is good! Yay!
  • Kingdom Arts & Sciences, aka Artsy Crown is coming up! There will be classes to take, and opportunities to teach! The signup sheet is available on the event website. Classes include martial topics, dance, a Courtesans track, and more!
  • Mark has a friend who is interested in teaching a blacksmithing class, perhaps on making tent stakes. This class would need to be offered on a weekend.
  • This month’s baronial A&S class will be a class on the Spanish Inquisition in May, taught by Zhelana Vovkivna, followed in June by a class on the Introduction to Middle English, taught by The Honorable Lady Wenyeva atte grene. This class counts as RUM class HIS-2110, toward the Literature HIS requirement, so if you’re working on getting your RUM credits done, you won’t want to miss this.
  • Thanks to the response from the populace, Baronial Arts & Sciences classes are nearly completely scheduled for 2019, 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.

• Quartermaster (THL Lucien d’Artois)
  • We have stuff! The Quartermaster manages all the stuff!
  • Lucien started by thanking everyone who helped move to the new storage space and re-inventory everything
  • He will set up a Google doc with a supplies list so anyone who needs to access the baronial supplies for an event will know what is available and can sign out what they need.
  • Mark added that the Minister of Children still has all her supplies and will reinventory her own supplies. She will also be donating wheeled bins that will make things easier at events for the kids’ activities.
  • The Barony has collected a large lost & found inventory over many past events; Lucien will bring it all to the next project night and it will be available to whoever wants the items. There had been discussion about holding a Baronial Yard Sale at an event or practice to sell off the lost and found and excess Gold Key, but there are questions about whether it would be worth it for the group (the Barony or another local group) to run such a yard sale, so we might also just offer it to anyone who wants the items, or donate it to Welcome Home or for kingdom largesse.
  • Juliane offered that she has photos of all the lost & found items, and will post them soon.

• Reeve (THL Andreva Rigaldi)
  • We have money! yay!
  • Coronation was much more profitable than we expected, our profit total was just under $2,000 ($982 went back to Kingdom, and the remaining $982 was deposited to the Baronial bank account)
    • The site was more expensive than others we’ve used, but we over-budgeted on other items so it worked out really well
  • The monthly report is not yet ready, as today is the first of the month
  • Andreva reminded everyone that before an event flyer is submitted to Popular Chivalry (the monthly kingdom newsletter), it needs to go to her and Their Excellencies for approval and to allow Andreva to get PayPal set up for the event.
  • Speaking of PayPal, there will be a class on PayPal offered at Artsy Crown. Anyone who might be interested in running Troll (to run credit cards) and help with reservations needs to take this class.

• Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
  • We have a website!
  • Added new page for:
    • Baroness Isabetta de San Marco
  • Updated awards for:
    • Lady Agnes Halydaye
    • Master Nikoslav Mikolaevich
  • Posted change in meeting site for the month of May

• Minister of Children (Lady Melusine of South Downs, THL Mark de Wytteney reporting)
  • Lady Melusine mentioned she has two deputies, Svala and Una
  • Melusine described how she would like to split children’s activities into two groups, based on age: Melusine would take the older kids (9+ years old), Una taking care of the younger kids (8 and under), and Svala will float between the two groups as needed.
  • She is looking for volunteers to teach classes for the kids at events; she is particularly interested in classes that reflect on the event theme and not just busy work.
  • We have been getting great feedback from people about our children’s activities, and Melusine had been asked to run children’s activities at Fools’ War and Artsy Crown.
  • Bú mentioned that she registered her child in Page School, and suggested that if the classes Melusine wants to offer are approved by the Page School, the children taking the classes will get credit.

• Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
  • Lady Raven is beginning to work on the next issue of the baronial newsletter, The Read Tower and has received a couple of articles.
    • Raven is always looking for more material – articles, photos, artwork, etc., so if you have something you’d like to contribute, please contact Raven directly.

• Seneschal (THL Mark de Wytteney)
  • Mark thanked Brendan, Lucien, Lorenzo, Ximon, and everyone who helped with Coronaton and moving all the baronial gear to the new storage unit. Tir Briste was also very thankful for what they did to help set up Fools War.

• Their Excellencies, Master Wistric and Mistress Sunneva
  • Her Excellency wants to get baronial beautification projects going for upcoming events – projects that will help spiff up the baronial campsite and the baronial (and that of its populace) presence at events.
  • Most of the new baronial silk banners have gone missing – it is most likely that they accidentally got packed in with something else and the person who has them doesn’t realize they have them.Their Excellencies have asked for everyone to go through their camping kits to see if anyone has them. They would love to get them back, please!
  • His Excellency mentioned that are a lot of jobs, in all categories, that need to get done in the barony throughout the year and at events we host; please consider volunteering for even an hour or two if you can. He also noted that it’s been a while since he’s heard Iazzie say “it’s embarrassing!” Find something you find interesting, that you are already participating in, and look into how you can help.
  • Adding on to what His Excellency said, Andreva pointed out that there are people who volunteer for an entire event and who need help covering for things/taking a short break, etc. Taking a few moments, even without “officially volunteering” to check in with those who have been working all day, is greatly appreciated. She said that, for herself, she “goes to ‘my’ events to work, [and] goes to other event to have fun.”

Upcoming Events

• Red Tower (4-6 October, 2019)
  • Lady Justina and Isabella Parr presented a bid, with an event theme of Labyrinth (with history).
  • Hard Labor Creek State Park has already been booked for the event.
  • They do not yet have a feastcrat lined up yet, so the final costs may varya little depending on the feastcrat. However, feast pays for itself, so any variation should be minor.
  • Breakeven numbers compared to last year’s turnout are pretty close, but there is some wiggle room that would allow us to turn a small profit.
  • Motion to vote made, seconded and voted on with unanimous approval. Yay!
  • For details about the event bid, click here.

• Castle Wars (21-24 November 2019)
  • Four bids by two parties (each party presented a bid for two different sites options)
    • The Al-Sihah Shriners site, where we’ve held several events over the past couple of years
    • Camp Benjamin Hawkins in Byron, where Coronation and Fools’ War were held this year
  • Andreva mentioned the Shriner site is $2900 (with deposit back), but we need to rent portapotties, ant killers, dumpsters, etc. and totals roughly $5K. People we talk to there are great, but the person who’s been onsite is difficult to work with. When we first started working with the site, it was pretty empty, but over the years they’ve expanded to allow short-term tenants living there (construction workers, etc), which has led to non-event attendees wandering into our campsites.
  • Camp Benjamin Hawkins has offered us a flat rate of $5,000, but portapotties and a lot of other things are included in the price. From what we’ve learned from Coronation and Fools’ War, we may need to rent additional portapotties (as well as reconsider their placement around the site). The site areas are more spread out than the Shriners’ site, and parking is more of an issue at Camp Benjamin Hawkins.
  • The populace was asked to narrow down the submitted bids based on site preference. Camp Benjamin Hawkins was selected by a clear preference.
  • Based on time constraints at the meeting, each event bid will be presented, but discussion will take place online and questions can be taken by email. A final vote on the Castle Wars bid will take place at the June business meeting.
  • Bid #1: Co-autocrats: Baronessa Isabetta de San Marco and Lady Angharat merch Morcant
    • Baronessa Isabetta has autocratted 2 coronations, 3 Meridian Challenge of Arms, and several other events
    • Event theme: The Battle of Agincourt
    • Breakeven numbers are 115 day trip, 200 weekend
    • Proposed feastcrat is Countess Thorkatla
      • Feast will be a traditional above and below the salt, sitdown feast for both
      • Feast will feature French and English dishes, reflecting the theme
      • 3 or 4 courses for each feast, and the menus will be complementary: similar dishes but with more extravagant ingredients for the above the salt feast
      • There will be two kitchen teams, each cooking one feast
    • For further details about the bid, click here
  • Bid #2: Co-autocrats: Baron Piers Simmons and THL Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain
    • Event theme: War at the End of Time (Dr. Who)
      • For the armored fighting, this will be represented as Rome vs. Gaul
      • For rapier fighting, this will be represented as France vs. England
      • There has been an offer of having siege engines at the proposed event, depending on approvals from site management
    • Proposed feastcrat is Mistress Marianna Cristina Tirado de Aragon
    • For further details about the bid, click here

Other SCA Business

• Iazzie put on his hat as Deputy Seneschal for northern Meridies, and announced that there will be an open meeting with the SCA Board of Directors at Black Axe (7-9 June at Dalwhinnie Fields)
• THL Juliane announced that she will be hosting monthly garb nights at her home on the second Thursday of each month; the first garb night will focus on viking aprons. For further information, please contact her directly.
• Maire announced that this year’s Knowne World Costume and Fiber Arts Symposium will take place this June at the University of West Georgia. She is serving as class coordinator, and there are still spaces available to teach. Baronessa Isabetta is serving as troll coordinator, and they both encouraged anyone who could to volunteer.

Non-SCA Business

• THL Andreva has a spring chamber music concert on 3 May in Decatur, 5 May at Northside Drive Baptist Church. The concert will feature music by women composers, and although the program is not entirely period, there will be several pieces by Hildegard of Bingen. Contact her if interested.
• Master Mathias and Roís O’Shannon will hold their handfasting in 2020 – stay tuned!
• This month will have a fifth Wednesday – that means, it’s time for another Baronial Fifth Wednesday Potluck! As always, it will be garb-encouraged, but not required. We’ll look into whether we can hold it here at the temporary meeting site.
• This location will be our meeting site for all our meetings this month, because the Mayor outranks us 😀

 
Next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 5 June 2019, at the Doraville Civic Center.

Thanks!

–Raven