Meeting Minutes

October 2018 Baronial Business Meeting Minutes

South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

3 October 2018, 7:30pm

Doraville Civic Center – NEW LOCATION! 3744 Central Ave., Doraville GA

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.

Herald (THL Lucien d’Artois) called the meeting to order. Master Wistric sez “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in! And – how do you like the new digs?”

Officer Reports

  • Herald (THL Lucien d’Artois)
    • Events – Tournament of the Foxes
      • Argent Comet – Master Wistric Oftun
      • Writ of Elevation to the Order of Defense – Captain Davio de la Rouge
  • Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
    • No practice this Sunday due to Red Tower
    • Our monthly regional melee training practice will take place the following Sunday (14 October)
  • Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
    • Practices. We are still having them (even without Brendan) Sunday afternoons at Brook Run Park, concurrent with armored. Tuesday evening practices at 7pm have gone back to Blackburn Park in Brookhaven. We’re averaging 2-12 people. For updates regarding rapier practices, go to the Atlanta SCA Fighting Facebook group.
    • We will also not have practice this coming Sunday, due to Red Tower
    • Brendan thanked all those who stepped up to run practices when he (Brendan) had work conflicts.
  • Chatelaine (Lady Justina di Silvestri)
    • We have had two newcomers join us at recent meetings or events
    • Justina mentioned that she encountered another group who opened their meeting to the general community, essentially an open house. She suggested that this could be a good idea for us, especially since our new meeting space is a promising spot to hold an open house.
    • Gold Key – we won’t be able to host a excess Gold Key yard sale at Red Tower, but she’d still like to host it sometime this month, or perhaps at Castle Wars? She’d like to hold it soon, so she can get it out of her house. She’d like to offer first dibs for new people who come to meetings.
      • Would like pricing advice on all items
      • Yard sale will also include unclaimed lost and found from past events
      • Justina emphasized that we are keeping the higher quality Gold Key – she really has an enormous amount of donated garb that she can sell off some of it
      • Details for the yard sale will be announced after Red Tower
      • Armored- and rapier-relevant lost and found will be given first to group marshals to see if they need it for loaner gear; remaining will be sold at the yard sale
    • Gold Key database is now available
  • Arts & Sciences (Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
    • Mistress Sunneva was out sick, Master Wistric reporting
    • We have arts *and* sciences, and that is good
    • Lady Alisandre taught last month’s class on Research Tools and Methods
    • This month’s class, Voice Heraldry in Court, will be taught by THL Andreva
    • 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)
    • We have money! Yay!
    • Quarterly report is done and ready to submit
    • We have just over $4,000 in our account right now, and waiting to get PayPal funds deposited from Red Tower
    • Mistress Alessandra will be her new deputy reeve – yay!
  • Quartermaster (THL Lucien d’Artois)
    • We have stuff! Yay!
    • We completed the baronial inventory this past weekend
    • We will load up the trailer for Red Tower this coming Friday (5 October) at 8:00am. If interested in helping, please contact Lucien
    • Lucien thanked THL Mariana for her help researching and acquiring kitchen supplies for the baronial camp kitchen – yay!
  • Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
    • We have a website!
    • Updates to Red tower web site
      • Pricing
      • Directions
      • Revel
      • Rapier schedule
      • Armored schedule
      • Live weapons schedule
    • Adjusted column width of text on desktop view of website
    • Added Tumblr to the social media buttons on the website
    • Updated meeting location
    • Added Andreva’s class to the October A&S class schedule
    • Updates to profile pages
      • Lady Myndee of South Downs: added as Minister of Children
      • Lady Roisin McAlister: added as Deputy Chatelaine (Gold Key)
      • Lord Jarec Markov: added as Deputy Armored Marshal (replacing Baron Robert)
      • Mistress Allesandra Giovanna Fioravnti: added as Deputy Reeve, also added a link from her profile page to her shop, Tied to History
      • Lord Mark de Wytteney: added as Deputy Seneschal
      • Lady Justina di Silvestri: added device, and a link to her blog
      • Sir Iastreb Desislavich: added device
      • Lady Alisandre: added class notes to her profile page
    • If you don’t want your photo on your profile page, or if you have a different picture for you or your device that you’d prefer, let me know!
  • Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
    • Nothing to report for now, other than things in the works including acquiring a deputy
  • Minister of Children (Lady Myndee of South Downs, Lord Mark reporting)
    • We have a Minister of Children! Yay!
    • All of Myndee’s paperwork is done
    • Jenny’s is in the works
    • Myndee is at home right now working on stuff
  • Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
    • We have a barony! Yay!
    • 91 people have signed in to meetings since May – yay!
    • We will have our Red Tower post-mortem report and meeting on 17 October at the Cathedral of St. Philip’s
  • Their Excellencies
    • Her Excellency has reauthorized as an armored fighter; to celebrate, the baronial armored champion tournament will feature all fighters having to fight her to sort out the combatants
    • His Excellency has also authorized as in rapier, and will also fight all combatants in the baronial rapier champion tournament at Red Tower
    • Baronial archery champion will be determined at Sunday’s live weapons practice
    • Someone asked about where to get arrows – they can be purchased locally, you need to specify
        • Wood shaft
        • Feather fletching
        • Weight of your bow pull and draw length

Upcoming Events

  • Red Tower (5-7 October 2018), Lord Mark reporting
    • Needs to contact portapotty company to arrange for fieldside portapotties
    • What do different groups (martial, A&S, etc) need for supplies – do we have a list from last year’s Red Tower for reference?
    • Mark has a minion! (Nikon)
    • We are pretty set in general, things are coming along or being wrapped up
    • Iazzie asked to confirm if we have poles and rope for the lyst fields and offered to bring netting for live weapons field if needed – he’s got a supply of netting already for Castle Wars
    • Do we need tiki torches> We have propane torches, but we’ll need extra propane tanks to cover both nights
    • We have 70 beds and 72 feast spaces sold already. 24 feast spaces still available at the door. We have already reached break-even (yay!)
    • His Excellency asked about the pre-registration rate compared to last year – it is pretty low, and it’s expected that this is mostly due to large events surrounding Red Tower (MGT and Coronation), as well as it not being on Royal Progress. We do expect a lot of daytrippers, so we’re not worried.
    • Lady Veronica asked if everyone who is playing a god knows *who* they are portraying and if they have their garb set up
    • Raven is not doing the flyer – gah!
    • Where can we hold classes? There are some popups and people can bring chairs, and the hall is available during the day. Since the hall has ceiling fans, people may find it more comfortable.
  • Castle Wars (15-18 November 2018), Lady Juliane reporting
    • She has backed off from advertising about Castle Wars so it won’t interfere with Red Tower – but once Red Tower is in the books, it is ON!
    • Trying to get the FB staff group set up, but having technical issues; once these are fixed, all staff will be added
    • Volunteers still needed:
      • Hall steward (Duchess Ysmay is organizing the Rose Ball)
      • Saturday breakfast
      • Sunday breakfast – do we even need it?
      • Friday travelers’ fare
      • Site herald – Lord Mark volunteered, as he will be mostly done with landcrat duties by then
      • Fundraiser lunch Friday and Saturday – maybe Sol Haven or other local groups might be interested? Most of our barony will already be busy with the event, so we should try to get someone else to do the fundraiser lunches
      • Revel organizer for Saturday night
      • Other A&S competition-related volunteers needed, but will be handled separately
    • Currently, 45 paid weekend – 14 child (12 are William Scrivener’s), 1 daytripper and 16 feast
    • Bam will have the menu ready shortly
    • Iazzie has all the fighting scenarios ready, will release them individually every few days
    • Needs SCA names for all staff, so please confirm with Lady Juliane
    • We should check with the Honorable Clover group – they recently hosted a class on SCA and disabilities issues so we can make sure we address these issues adequately
    • Juliane would like to have everyone work on assembling tokens at the next project night
  • Midwinter A+S (9 February 2019), Lady Alisandre reporting
    • Received confirmation that we can have the ballroom in the student center for evening court
    • Still waiting for confirmation that we can have the classroom space for the event – the reservation person is away at a conference right now, but everyone is confident there won’t be any problems
    • Andreva needs the reservationist’s name for PayPal

Other SCA Business

  • Master Ximon showed the populace the four small towers that Sawyer brought in, which will be used to light the baronial banner poles – SO SPIFF! They cost $10 each to 3D print, so the question “how many do we want?” After discussion, it was agreed that we’d ultimately like 8 for the banner poles and 12 for feast tables, perhaps a total of 25? It was also agreed that Sawyer could provide 8 (for banner poles) for Castle Wars, and we can pay him upon receipt.
  • Ximon also proposed that the baronial encampment have a gate – he already has designed one, and can work on pricing for it. Everyone thought this was a great idea, and one of the ladies of the populace volunteered access to a maker space to help build the gate.
  • His Excellency talked about all the things they had wanted to do and have accomplished during their tenure as Baron and Baroness… then announced that they will be stepping down and will get the polling process going. If you are interested in putting your name in, please check out the rules and if you meet the qualifications, please contact His Excellency, Master Lorenzo.
  • Mistress Margavati recommended that if you want to nominate someone, *check with them FIRST*
  • Iazzie reminded everyone of the ZIP code database online, but we’re not sure how current it is
  • We now have a faculty rep at GA Tech!
  • In November, Justina will be taking over as a kingdom-level A&S rep (will provide more info)
  • MGT (Meridian Grand Tournament) was last weekend, and the Barony showed well! It was great to see the baronial arms on the lyst tree. Futhermore, Iazzie won the Rose Tourney – yay!
  • The Knowne Worlde Courtesans Guild podcast is live, baby! Justina is one of the podcast’s field reporters. She said 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!

Non-SCA Business

  • None

PLEASE NOTE: Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 7 November 2018, at the Doraville Civic Center, 3770 Central Avenue, Doraville, GA. We will meet at the usual time, Wednesday 7-9pm.

Also – our 17 October meeting will be held at the Cathedral of St. Philip’s in Buckhead, 2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305. We will have our Red Tower post-mortem meeting, then our monthly dance practice – see you then!

–Raven