Meeting Minutes

October 2023 Baronial Business Meeting

04 October 2023, Time: 7:36 PM EST

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

Magister Lorenzo called the October 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)

  • Meetings this month:
    • Next week is virtual meeting project hosted by Baron Ximon via Discord
    • Oct. 18 – in person meeting
    • Spooky Ted Talk with Justina
  • Still looking for storage space, preferably on the east side of town, so if you find something, please let us know.
  • Site reservations, two times a month in person next year until budget gets fixed
  • We’ll need a bid for KLE, we should plan now for next year, start thinking now about it.
  • Midwinter is coming up, Feb. 2nd, 2024. Still need a bid for Midwinter. Usually Sat event, then regional FP on Sunday, but we could consider it being a weekend if we want. Need a bid in December to meet the popchiv deadline.

Herald (Lady Bú Feiyan)     

  • No real submissions recently
  • Awards:
    • Ximon and Rhi – Landed Baron and Baroness
    • Ximon – writ for Master of Defense, happening at MCA.
    • Wistric and Sunneva – Court Baron and Baroness, Fellowship of St. Orion
    • Raven – Argent Comet
    • Mara – Red Raven
    • Aelfic – Swift’s Heart
  •  

Knight Marshal (Lord Eiríkr Pálsson)

  • Practices have been happening. Last weekend was MGT, but the stunt marshal held practice.
  • People should be coming out this weekend, especially more heavy fighters. I will be out for War of the Wings and Gatalop, but we’ll see if we find a stunt marshal..
  • Looking for a combat archery marshal for Castle Wars, if you know someone, please let me know.

Rapier Marshal (Captain Brendan de Hay)

  • 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.
  • This Sunday (9/10) we’ll still be cleaning up and returning from Red Tower.  Sorry, no rapier practice.
  • As my mundane schedule gets even crazier, we’ve started a chat including every rapier marshal who might step in to fill those gaps.  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.
  • Big shout-out to folks recently giving rapier a try.  Looking forward to seeing more folks having fun!
  • Red Tower in the books!  Thanks everyone!  Congrats to M. Nikolaus Hildebrand, Red Tower Rapier Champion and M. Nikoslav Mikolajevich, winner of the Baron & Baroness’s rapier prize.  Huge thanks to M. Lorenzo for administering our lists, Mssrs. Nikoslav & Niccolo for marshaling assistance, and Cpt. Pietro for hard work as Baronial rapier champion.  Also a huge shout out to THLs Eamonn and Alessandra  for field setup help, and to everyone who helped clear the field Sunday AM.
  • Castle Wars is coming up faster than you think.  Castle Wars requires a castle, which we happen to have.  However, it needs work.  If you are interested in helping beautify the castle, please contact me.  Some of the pieces are heavy, some of them need some minor carpentry (mostly done now), and all of them need some paint.  (Insert new calendar info)
  1. Castle Wars schedule will include a Friday Night Firelit Fighting event,  the Meridian Order of the Blade Invitational tournament Saturday morning, and as all the meleé we can pack in around it.  Stay tuned.
  2. HYDRATE!

Live Weapons (Master Mathias Blackett)

  • LW at Red Tower went really well, thanks to Magistra Mara and Tyme for running the range
  • Thanks to all who took the class to learn how to set up the range
  • Still looking for an archery site
  • Might hold a thrown weapons practice and 20 yd archery at my house
  • Also currently setting up LW stuff at Castle Wars, still trying to figure out themes and such for the shoots.
  • We’re in need of new target butts, they’re getting to the point where they may not be safe anymore. They were originally set to last five years, but have lasted longer than that already. This is the main thing I’m looking to get for LW. They cost around $190.

Exchequer (La Magnifica Justina di Silvestri)

  • We have $2016.95 in our account.
  • We are still waiting for Paypal checks from RUM and Red Tower.
  • We are under audit, but the documentation for the auditors is getting prepared.
  • We’ve discussed the need for fundraisers with Kingdom, THL Majda have agreed to be a deputy to focus on fundraising.
  • We’re losing more money that we’re making due to storage, we need to find a solution soon.
  • The financial committee will be meeting to focus on budgets going forward.
  • If you’re on staff or an officer, please stay within budget for your events and offices. Please reach out to me if you want to discuss the process on how to request a budget for your office and how to request purchases for the barony.

Quartermaster (Maestra Isabetta de San Marco) 

  • We still have stuff.
  • Without the castle walls in the storage unit, we may be able to downsize to a 10×20. I’ve been looking at storage units down in Douglas county, the prices are much cheaper. 
  • Justina made a motion for a budget to be established for the storage unit for $350. Motion passed.
  • Baron Ximon made a motion to look at the 10×30 unit in Douglas county

Chatelaine (Lady Ogata Mitsuko)

  • I’d like to give a special shout-out to people who helped me open, close, and maintain Troll as well as Gold Key during Red Tower

Demo Deputy (Lady Bú Feiyan)

  • Nothing reported

Arts & Sciences (Lady Maryam and HE Rhiannon verch Madyn)

  • HE Rhiannon has helped Lady Maryam transition to her office, and after this meeting Lady Maryam will be officially the new officer.
  • We’ve had a few classes and we’ve got people working on stuff. If you have any questions/advice/reports for A&S, please let me know!
  • Nothing much to report this month. Coming out of summer there isn’t a whole lot of A&S focus.
  • I do hope everyone is thinking ahead to Magna Faire and our own Midwinter A&S Faire. I’d really like to see a good showing at both. Remember that if you enter into any or all of the regional A&S Faires and then update your entry as suggested on your judging sheets, you can re-enter the same piece for Kingdom A&S for a final judging. It’s like getting expert advice on your entry before the big event.
  • This is my last report as Baronial A&S Officer. Thank you so much for all of your support. Starting next month you’ll be hearing from Lady Maryam. Please give her all of your support as well!

Provost (Lord Ælfric Hort)

  • This past month we had 7 people show up for our monthly class night – Sumarliði taught us about workouts and exercise culture in the Greco-Roman world.  October’s class night will be October 25 and will be an in person Theodosia Colloquia (Spooky Edition) hosted by La Magnifica Justina di Silvestri. Come out and participate by sharing a short 5 min. talks on a spooky or spooky-adjacent topic of your choosing.  If you do not have a topic you wish to talk about, you are welcome to attend and listen in.
  • This will be our final Monthly Class night for the 2023 calendar year.  We will start up monthly classes again in January.  Currently the full 2024 year is open and I am looking for those interested in teaching.
  • Also, Castle Wars is coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I need teachers and those wishing to host Salons for the event.  If you are a member of a Guild or other interest group in the Kingdom, please encourage them to consider hosting a salon.
  • Links for signups
  • 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.  Please get in touch with me on Facebook or Discord if you are interested in the position.

Chronicler (Seong Myeong Su Daesaseong)

  • Working on September’s issue of The Read Tower right now, will add in the officer’s reports and business from this meeting to add in the newsletter and will hopefully have it posted by Friday this week.
  • 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)

  • I’d like to thank Xander for the class on Tourette Syndrome, it was a great class that was well attended.
  • Sadly, something has come up for my Silk Roads teacher, so I’d like to put out a call to anyone who might be interested in teaching a DEIB class this month! I also want to let everyone know in advance that there won’t be a DEI class in November. My schedule will just be too busy that month. 
  • Please reach out to me if you’d like to teach this month or in the future.

Webminister (Lord Eiríkr Pálsson)

  • Still working on getting updates to the page, so shoot me an email and I’ll get stuff updated.

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)

  • Rhiannon
    • Thank you to everyone who helped out at Red Tower. The event was magical and everyone was very helpful. 
    • We’re looking forward to some things coming up in the future.
    • Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We’re here to help and support.
  • Ximon
    • Thanks to everyone who helped make the event special for us, from helping set up the field to working Check-in to cooking. Thank you.
    • If you have any award recommendations, please reach out to us so we can make sure that we recognize our populace.

SCA Business

  • Red Tower Post Mortem
  • Master Mathias
      • Thanks to everyone who set up things to those who worked Check-in. We were very happy to get all the slots for positions quickly. No literal fires!
      • The bathrooms on site had some issues, but that was out of our control.
      • The feast was amazing, there were lots of good things said about the pre-court feast and the to-go boxes.
    • Capt. Brendan
      • Event went well and we got to learn a few new things. We’ve got a lot of new-to-the-barony people to the barony. Wider communication could have been better to make sure that people could succeed. 
        • Traveler’s fare probably could have needed more support if it was communicated a little bit ahead of time.
    • Lady Lily
      • Just FYI, if anyone shoots archery, wear a finger guard so that you don’t get month-long numbness.
    • La Magnifica Justina
      • Shout out to Lady Ogata for running check-in at Red Tower.
      • Big thing is that the only people who can use barony money are the people on the bank account. Money was removed from the Troll box to pay for the parking passes on site. Cash should only be placed in the box and managed by those working at Troll, not used to pay for things on site.
      • Overall, the budget was under budget, missing some receipts for traveler’s fare. 
      • Send receipts to exchq.southdowns@meridies.
    • Seong Myeong Su Daesaseong
      • Consider putting together guides of how to run certain things at events or offices so that we can help everyone else who’s new in the barony.
      • There’s some interest in hosting or having roundtable discussions on how to be an event steward or officers, etc.
    • Lady Raven
      • Get teams together for setup and teardown to help resources to make sure that everyone else is on the same page.
    • Baron Ximon
      • There were some complaints about mold in dorms 1 and 2, some people had to move. 
      • Might want to see if there’s something that we can do if we want to use the site again for those with sensitivities.
  • Castle Wars
    • Lady Hessa and THLady Ysabel
      • We are getting vendors coming in, about 6 or 7, more might be coming in now that we’re past MGT. Please reach out if you want to be a vendor.
      • Working on layout and making adjustments as needed
      • Classes and salons for Castle Wars: there may be something from the courtesans, fiber, woodworking, herbal. We’ve got two salon sign-ups, which are more like classes. Will need to request one of the pavilions for class space for Castle Wars.
        • Eirikr
          • Looking for a Combat Archery marshal, if we don’t have one, we can’t have combat archery.
      • Waiting to hear from the minister of children, talked to the Kingdom chatelaine to host a newcomers camp. Will need to make sure that we have a camp set aside for camp. Welcome Home may reimburse newcomers, but won’t be hosting a Welcome Home camp or anything like that. 
        • Sumarlidi
          • South Downs camp planning is underway. Make sure that you put South Downs on your reservation to get space for South Downs camp.
          • We’ll have some Trimarians back in South Downs camp again.
      • A class – one/two hours on a specific topic with a teacher talking about or demonstrating something for that time slot. A salon is a space themed around a topic so we can have discussions, watch demonstrations, or try things out even if there’s stuff going on.
      • Mods from the Honorable Clover have offered to host a How to Run Troll class.
      • Please volunteer for Troll for Castle Wars!
      • Can’t confirm youth combat for Castle Wars yet.
      • We have 27 pre registrations currently. Even if you’re supposed to be comped for the event because you’re on staff, please send in your registration via Paypal either way for record keeping.
      • Take a How to Run Troll class even if you don’t want to run a troll just as general information on how paperwork is handled or for general knowledge
      • Event Stewards want hugs!
  • Discussion on Knowne World Cooks and Bards Symposium for 2026 tabled to November business meeting.
  • May need to discuss the budget for fixing the castle walls, see if the financial committee can vote to approve it to make sure we’re in policy. Keep in mind that budgets for officers don’t roll over to the next year.
  • Next week, Their Excellencies will be going to Coronation and will be bringing the baronial pavilion and some seating space, wouldn’t mind some help with set up and some people to volunteer for entourage. Everyone is also welcome to come sit under the pavilion. TRH have decided to set up Coronation as a grand court. They’ve asked each barony to set up a pavilion or activity, and since we’ve got a lot of fiber geeks in the barony, we’d like to have some people volunteer to bring things to work on while hanging out in the space, weaving, embroidery, spinning, etc. We’d love to have you.

Non-SCA Business

  • None reported.

The business meeting was closed @ 9:35 PM EST

The next business meeting will be held on November 1st, 2023, 7:00 PM EST via Zoom Meeting.