Meeting Minutes

November 2023 Baronial Business Meeting

01 November 2023, Time: 7:32 PM EST

Notes submitted by Seong Myeong Su Daesaseong, South Downs Chronicler.

Magister Lorenzo called the November 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.

Officers’ Reports

Seneschal, (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)

  • Meeting Schedule
    • 8th – Virtual project night
    • 15th – In-person dance practice
    • 22nd – no meeting due to Thanksgiving
    • 29th – In- person 5th Wednesday potluck
  • We have a new storage unit!
  • Holding off on scheduling new meetings at the in-person site until we work out new finances
  • HE Ximon and Raven will be doing a site visit at MGT and Crown Lyst site – Bert Adams (?)
    • Looking to host Red Tower 50 there next year
  • We need to start looking at a KLE event for next year to satisfy the Kingdom requirement
  • We still need  Midwinter A&S bids, please contact ASAP so that we can have the bid approved by the December business meeting to make the Popchiv deadline to ensure that we can host court

Herald (Magister Lorenzo Petrucci)     

  • Magister Lorenzo has stepped up as herald 
  • Heraldry
    • Still doing consultations on names and devices, if you need assistance, let Lorenzo know
    • If you’ve done any heraldic displays, please let me know
  • Awards
    • Kindgom of the West 
      • Rhonwyn and Aelia – Queen’s Award of Excellence
    • Coronation
      • Margavati – Argent Lily
      • Lorenzo and Aelia – Bough
      • HE Rhiannon – Order of the Velvet Owl

Knight Marshal (Lord Eiríkr Pálsson)

  • We will have practice this weekend
  • We won’t have practice the weekend of Crown Lyst
  • Then Castle Wars the next weekend, so we’ll just have practice this weekend and the last weekend of the month
    • If you want to be reauthorized before Castle Wars, come out this weekend to get authorized. We will have forms at Castle Wars in case you want to get it done there, too.
  • We do have a combat archery marshal for Castle Wars

Rapier Marshal (Captain Brendan de Hay)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Big shout-out to folks recently giving rapier a try.  Looking forward to seeing more folks having fun!  We did a new Basic Authorization and a re-authorization this past weekend.   We had one brand-new fencer!  
  5. The carpentry on the 4’ high crenelated walls is done.  Each panel is free-standing and promises to be sturdier than the last couple of times we used them.  Sadly, my work schedule got insane, and the painting probably won’t get done this time.  I’ll be setting up the towers & gates for a test run just before loading them into the trailer for transport.
  6. Castle Wars schedule will include a Friday Night Firelit Fighting event,  the Meridian Order of the Blade Invitational tournament Saturday morning, and a new meleé scenario from Ldy. Ogata which draws from a story of St. Martin’s life.
  7. HYDRATE!

Live Weapons (Master Mathias Blackett)

  • Spoke with Isabetta about using her parents’ pasture for archery practice, looking to see if we can get a portapotty for the practices
    • If their pasture doesn’t work, their neighbors’ might, still just waiting to find our
  • Will update as we get more information for our practice location.

Exchequer (La Magnifica Justina di Silvestri)

  • Not much to update, we have $2,091.95 in the bank, with a few deposits pending but reimbursement checks will be sent out this week if you are waiting for Red Tower Checks
  • Keep a look out for a Castle Wars troll volunteer sign-up sheet once a schedule is finalized.
  • Please remember to get any 2024 budgetary requests to me or the financial committee before the last week of November. Barony will be voting on the 2024 budget next month.

Quartermaster (Maestra Isabetta de San Marco) 

  • Getting a new storage unit in Douglasville – $320 a month. 10×30, pretty sure we can fit everything in, including the castle walls. The unit also comes with insurance.
  • Goal will be to get everything in the weekend after Castle Wars.
  • Isabetta has purchased a lock to make sure we can lock stuff.
  • Still need a deputy

Chatelaine (Lady Ogata Mitsuko)

  • First of all Happy After-Halloween everyone!! I hope you all had fun last night and your ‘eens got Hallowed
  • We have some big news about upcoming demos
    • Count Sebastianos Ionnides has started coordinating an SCA panel for ATL Comic Con
    • The dates for our panel at the con are February 9th and 10th, 2024
    • I can put you in touch with Sebastianos about more information on ticketing, parking and staff passes
    • Although I couldn’t be at the last one personally, I heard that the SCA panel went OFF and it was absolutely amazing
    • So, if you were there helping out at the last one, you made it what it was and you’re awesome for it.
  • I’ve been asked to put together a list of classes and arts exhibitions for this next one. If you do arts and/or sciences, and you are available on February 9-10, 2024, please hit me up so we can get you on our class schedule!

Demo Deputy (VACANT)

  • Demos covered by Lady Ogata
  • Lady Ogata is planning on taking over the demo deputy position when Baroness Arnora takes over, but if you’re interested, please let us know!

Arts & Sciences (Lady Maryam)

  • We had a project night! Thanks to everyone that showed up to share what they were working on. 
  • Thank you to everyone who is sharing their work on the Discord server! Our server is a great place to share your current projects and discuss anything A&S related. We’ve also got a channel just for research topics, because sharing your research is fun!
  • Magna Faire is coming up, on December 1-3 at Dalwhinnie Fields, and there will be two faires – the Magna Faire and the Kingdom A&S regional. Registration is open now – you can sign up for one or both of the faires!
  • And thanks everyone for the warm welcome as the new A&S officer.

Provost (Lord Ælfric Hort)

  • This past month we had 8 people show up for our monthly class night – Theodosia Colloquia (Spooky Edition) hosted by La Magnifica Justina di Silvestri.  We will not have A&S Class Nights for November or December due to Holidays and scheduling.  Our next Class night will be January 24, 2024.  I do not currently have a class lined up for that night yet, so please let me know if you have something you would like to teach.
  • Castle Wars is coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Teacher and Salon signups have closed and I am still working on wrangling together a schedule, but at final count we are expecting 6 different salons as well as 15 classes, discussions, or demos. 
  • And finally, on that note, I am looking for a deputy Provost to begin helping me organize and promote A&S Class activities for the coming year, as well as help with coordinating classes for Midwinter Arts and Sciences in February.  Please get in touch with me on Facebook or Discord if you are interested in the position.

Chronicler (Seong Myeong Su Daesaseong)

  • Thank you to all who got your reports sent in early!
  • Behind on October and November’s newsletters, but will post them as soon as I get them done
  • 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.

Social Media Minister  (THLady Agnes Halydaye) 

  • Nothing reported.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Officer (DEIB), (Lady Lily of South Downs)

  • Thanks to Lady Maryam and Lady Ogata for hosting the newcomers session last month for our newcomers!
  • This month there will not be a DEI class; November is a very busy month for me, and I don’t want to try to put the extra pressure of a class on myself. Additionally, the class would be the day before Castle Wars, and while I’m still not sure I’ll be able to make it, I want to try. So, I think it would be easier for everyone if we skip this month. The good news is we will be able to do dance instead!
  • Probably not going to have a class in December either, due to the holidays. If you have any class ideas for January or any month going forward, please let me know!

Webminister (Lord Eiríkr Pálsson)

  • Webpage for Castle Wars is up, making some changes to it
  • If you need stuff updated, just let me know.

Minister of Children (VACANT)

  • Position is still open, if you are interested, please contact Lady Raven.

Their Excellencies, (Maestro Ximon Cordoba de Martillo & HE Rhiannon verch Madyn)

  • Ximon
    • As a brag on our populace, at Danelaw, Alexius was fingerloop braiding and ended up teaching others how to do it too. Kudos to him!
    • Castle Wars court on Saturday is going to be pretty full, so we’re not going to hold baronial court during Kingdom court at Castle Wars.
      • Baronial court will be a short, morning court at 10:30 AM. Come to court if you can to see people get recognized.
    • Jumping to 2024 – next year, South Downs will be 50 years old. Therefore, we should plan something big for our 50th year at Red Tower – Oct. 4th-6th, 2024.
      • Hoping to throw some ideas around to see how we can celebrate next year
    • Send in award recommendations!

SCA Business

  • Castle Wars
    • Lady Hessa
      • Could use help on a couple of things:
        • Fire marshal to monitor fires on site
        • Royal Liaison
        • In the middle of scheduling right now, including a Pelican meeting
        • If you need anything from the storage unit, please contact Maestra Isabetta
        • No children’s activities right now, but we do have a combat archery marshal
        • Will need to contact the financial committee since we need an additional porta potty
        • Master Mathias – Going to check to see if he can get a couple extra trash cans for the food vendor section of the site
          • The site doesn’t have a dumpster on site, so we usually place the trash somewhere so it can be picked up after the event.
          • There are 4 camps that have submitted over 10 reservations, going to need to figure out land layout for camps
        • La Magnifica Justina – Should we look into getting some large trash cans or collapsible ones for the barony to use for future events?
        • Lady Lily – Do we have a list of current food vendors so that we know in advance who will be there so we can plan accordingly.
          • There are currently 4 food vendors.
        • Lord Ælfric – may need one of the large pop ups for classes at Castle Wars, can use one for two classes at once. Need to get tables as well. 
        • La Magnifica Justina – Troll is going to need tables and chairs as well.
  • Knowne Worlds Cooks and Bards – no updates on this yet, plan is still for 2026 and possibly at Bert Adams

Non-SCA Business

  • Next Friday, Nov. 10th is the Fernback After Dark Vikings event.

The business meeting was closed @ 9:17 PM EST

The next business meeting will be held on December 6th, 2023, 7:00 PM EST via Zoom Meeting.