South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

4 October 2017, 7:30pm

Atlanta Friends Meeting House

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter (mka Helena Bretherton Hay), South Downs Chronicler.

Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois) called the meeting to order.

Officer Reports

• Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
  • Practices are going well, especially Sundays at Liane Levetan Park
  • Tuesdays have been hit and miss, Owl’s Nest fighters don’t come out consistently

• Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
  • Practices. Nothing new. Sunday afternoons, concurrent with armored. Tuesday evening practices at 7pm, temporarily moved to Blackburn Park due to the lighting situation at Liane Levetan. We did hear back from the folks at Liane Levetan Park – they have put in a work order for the lights, so we’re hoping things will be fixed soon.
  • Brendan thanked everyone who has helped cover marshalling practices when he’s had work conflicts
  • There are lots of rapier activity planned for the fall event season – come out to events and get your stab on!

• Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer – THL Mathias reporting)
  • Lady Stella, Master Lorenzo, and THL Mathias got their tassels
  • The October practice has to be moved to Sunday, 15 October (the Sunday of Coronation weekend)
  • Come on out to Red Tower! It will be fun for everyone, even new archers – loaner gear will be available if you’d like to try target archery
    • One of the shoots at Red Tower will be a stuffed animal shoot; Lady Justina suggested that she (or someone) could play teddy bear doctor to repair the shot stuffed animals,
      so the kids won’t be upset at shooting stuffed animals
  • Mara has not gone over budget, and is almost done buying all the things
  • For more information about archery in Meridies, please check out their website

• Chatelaine (Lady Stella di Silvestri – His Excellency reporting)
  • Lady Stella will be taking on 2 deputies:
    • Demo deputy is Lord Piers
    • Gold key is Lady Justina
  • Donations have been made to the Barony – a range of things that will be useful in general
  • Do you have suggestions for future demos? Stella is setting up a Google Doc that will make it easy to submit your idea and send it on to Piers and Stella
  • Speaking of demos, ConjurationCon will happen the weekend of 4 November – come on out! Touch base with Stella or Piers if you are planning to help out, so they can know who to expect.

• Arts & Sciences (Lady Veronica da Lucca)
  • A+S quarterly report to kingdom is due soon – Lady Veronica passed around a sheet so everyone could list what they’ve worked on this past quarter
  • This month’s class is a surprise! (ETA: Lady Alisandre taught a class on making fencing shirts

• Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
  • Nothing to report

• Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
  • Nothing to report

• Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
  • Mini-business meeting last week happened – $1,000 was approved for upcoming expenses for Castle Wars,
    including propane tanks, torches, etc.

• Reeve (THL Lady Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain)
  • Distributed several checks, per the previous week’s meeting
  • Maire reminded everyone working on upcoming events that it is preferred to submit your expense receipts as much all together as possible, so that fewer checks are written

• Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois)
  • Submissions
    • Five baronial badge submissions have advanced to Society
  • Court Report
    • Tourney of the Foxes:
      • Veronica da Lucca – Order of the Velvet Owl
    • Meridian Grand Tournament (MGT)
      • Master Wistric Oftun received the Stallion’s Blood

• Their Excellencies
  • Red Tower is coming up! Come out! Have fun!
    Help out!
    • Justina will be teaching a class with Their Excellencies on how to be a courtier – this will be a great class for newcomers!
  • Castle Wars is coming up! If you haven’t written an award recommendation for someone in time for Red Tower and are thinking of doing so, do it now so it can be considered in time for Castle Wars. Their Excellencies love giving out awards!

Upcoming Events

• Red Tower (30 September – 2 October 2017)
  • Everything is going well – Lady Julianna was nervous, but she met with Her Excellency and they put together lists of things that need to be done
    • We need people for set up (Friday @ 3:00pm), and tear down (Saturday night and Sunday morning); several volunteers offered
    • Still need a volunteer as pottycrat – easier than most events, since there’s a bathhouse and cabins,just the 3 portapotties on the field. Stella volunteered.
    • Need help with site heralding – Don Scott?
    • Mattias will herald the rapier tournament – Wistric wants to find out what’s being planned
    • Do we have popup tents available for the list mistresses?
    • Mattias was had ideas about hall decorations – will try to drape it in curtains to make it look like a Roman hall, then will put the South Downs banners
    • Can we set up a lounge long enough for His Highness Tim to lounge on?
    • Lucien has sign up sheet for troll – Friday 5-Midnight, Sat 7am – 1pm. Weather permitting, troll will be at main pavilion near field instead of main hall – need to put on the Red Tower FB page
    • Mairghread asked if we have enough ropes/stakes/etc to mark off fighting fields. If not, a good option would be flour to mark off the edges of the fields
    • Juliana needs a check to get things taken care of on site; she also needs cash advance check for cash for troll.
    • Question about portapotties – would it be possible to have hand sanitizer supplied in each of them?

• Fall Crown List (10-12 November 2017)
  • Co-hosting with the shire of Depedale and the Barony of Bryn Madoc
  • Will take place at Little Talapoosa park, with Bryn Madoc and Depedale
  • Mattias doesn’t have much new to report
  • There was a small discussion about non-feast meals
  • Planning will get into high gear after Red Tower

• Castle Wars (17 – 19 November 2017)
  • There was a problem with site tokens that were ordered – they turned out to be way too small. Piers is sending them back, and will get refund eventually.
  • He has already found an alternative token (with help from Wistric and Iazzie). This is within the existing budget, so no vote needed

• Midwinter Arts + Sciences (2-4 February 2018)
  • Alisandre still waiting to hear from Sibella to confirm site availability (University of West Georgia)

SCA Business

• As part of what was recently donated to the Barony, we now have a wrought iron cooking tripod and 2 portable holes, and an iron rose the was donated. Could we use it as a prize at (Midwinter A+S?) cooking competition? We could also use feast gear that was donated for volunteer raffles at upcoming events
• Ximon thanked Lorenzo and Adela on behalf of the Meridian Order of the Blad for loaning them water coolers, and Veronica for providing a scroll last minute
• Lorenzo told a story about having a runic scroll translated at MGT

Non-SCA Business

• Nothing new to report

Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 1 November 2017, at the Atlanta Friends Meeting House.

–Raven

South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

6 September 2017, 7:30pm

Atlanta Friends Meeting House

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter (mka Helena Bretherton Hay), South Downs Chronicler.

Stunt Herald (Master Wistric Oftun) called the meeting to order.

Officer Reports

• Armored and Youth Marshal (Lady Mairghread)
  • We may have a new armored fighter from Trimaris
  • Practices are continuing Tuesday evenings with Owls Nest at Swift Cantrell Park, Sunday afternoons at Liane Levetan Park in Dunwoody.

• Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)
  • Practices. Sunday afternoons, concurrent with armored. Tuesday evenings around 7pm. We are seeking new practice sites. Levetan Park has disabled the field lighting at our practice site, and it’s getting dark earlier. Short-term, maybe we return to Blackburn for Tuesdays? Please contact Brendan if you have a suggestion.
  • Recent past rapier stuff:
    • Elements of Adela’s Gilded Companie journeyed north, leading the Meridian Rapier Expeditionary Force—Pennsic Theater.
    • Adela’s Gilded Companie fielded three squads at Tourney of the Foxes. One of those squads, led by Master Wistric, won the 5-person melee tourney.

• Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer – THL Mathias reporting)
  • Stella got her tassel in court at Foxes
  • Royal rounds held again at practice
  • For more information about archery in Meridies, please check out their website

• Herald (Lord Lucien d’Artois)
  • Submissions
    • 2 personal badges for Lucien d’Artois advanced to Society level.
    • 1 name submission for Konrad Windhorn advanced to Society level.
    • 5 baronial badges submitted, items pended awaiting petition, which was subsequently provided, items to be added on a second ILOI at Kingdom
  • Court Report
    • Tourney of the Foxes:
      • Veronica da Lucca – Order of the Velvet Owl

• Chatelaine (Lady Stella di Silvestri – His Excellency reporting)
  • There was a parade at DragonCon – great turnout from several kingdoms
  • Rapier fighters fought in parade
  • One heavy fighter from Calontir took part
  • Had chariot and two pullers (needed 4)
    • Duke John thanked those who helped, and reiterated that we need to have 4 people (at least) to pull

• Arts & Sciences (Lady Veronica da Lucca)
  • The August A+S class night, “Beyond Running Stitch: Hand Sewing Techniques,” was taught by Mistress Allesandra.
  • This month’s class, on “Dante’s Inferno,” will be taught by Sir Iazzie.

• Webminister (Lord Pietro di Conti)
  • Event pages have been updated
  • Live Weapons page has been added
  • Added Order of the Velvet Owl to Lady Veronica’s profile
  • Updated site with pictures from DragonCon

• Their Excellencies
  • South Downs will host the fundraiser lunch at Crossroads;
    volunteers needed! Funds will go towards the Castle Wars discretionary fund
  • Her Excellency thanked everyone who represented her on the field at Foxes

• Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
  • Nothing to report

• Seneschal (Master Wistric Oftun)
  • DragonCon was this pas weekend – it rocked!
  • Per Lady Stella – if you are on the DragonCon Facebook group, please let us know what recommendations you may have for improvements for next year’s DragonCon

Upcoming Events

• Red Tower (30 September – 2 October 2017)
  • We have only 17 registrations so far
  • A pre-registration form and a Google doc for a signup list are in the works
  • Concerns were voiced about signage for the site, since it is relatively new – where should the signs go? Do we have enough signs?
    • Lorenzo has signs/banners from castle wars a couple of years ago that may be useful for the event site.
  • Charmone said that she has a prize that is being donated by dal raven(?) forge; needs to confirm with Tristram
  • Pietro has box of binders and clipboards that can be used for Red Tower
  • Juliana wants to create a laminated cheat sheet for all volunteer roles
  • Will there be a South Downs encampment? There are cabins and tenting available, but no specific baronial campsite.
  • Mariana discussed the menu for feast; menu will be posted both on the Facebook event site and baronial website Red Tower page
  • Need to make sure that there are volunteers to help clean up Sunday so we can all leave at a reasonable time
  • Also need volunteers to serve feast and clean up kitchen after feast

• Fall Crown List (10-12 November 2017)
  • Co-hosting with the shire of Depedale and the Barony of Bryn Madoc
  • Will take place at Little Tallapoosa Park in Carrollton
  • As soon as we have the schedule approved by the Crown,
    it will be posted

• Castle Wars (17 – 19 November 2017)
  • Need more volunteers – please see the signup sheet to see what is still needed
    • In particular,
      • Class coordinator (working with Duke Thomas)
      • Revel coordinator
      • Heralds
      • Volunteer raffle coordinator (Lady Alisandre volunteered)
      • Site herald
      • Troll
  • Piers may be facing shoulder surgery soon, may be limited mobility
  • South Downs encampment – Alisandre will set up group for encampment, and will need volunteers to take meal / clean up duty
  • Their Highnesses will camp with House Excelsior; the South Downs encampment site has been established as well; 10 people = camp
  • Landcrat – Maire?

• Midwinter Arts + Sciences (2-4 February 2018)
  • Alisandre says well know in a couple of weeks before we can confirm site at University of West Georgia

• Artsy Crown (25-27 May, 2018)
  • Iazzie heard promising things from previous autocrat
  • Approximately 85% done with budget

SCA Business

• Would love to find a different meeting site – recommendations and ideas are needed! Please check with Their Excellencies if you have any suggestions
• Iazzie is working on getting castle walls replaced and expanded
• Ximon had offered a six-pack of beverage of choice for anyone who helped pull the chariot at DragonCon; he made good on his payment at the meeting

Non-SCA Business

• There will be a viking festival in Roswell the same weekend as Red Tower
• The Fernbank museum is hosting a gladiator exhibit this month

All the business issues having been addressed, the lords and ladies of the populace adjourned to vote on candidates for the Heart of South Downs and Chivalry awards for business meeting. Once the voting was held, the meeting was closed.

Next South Downs business meeting will be held Wednesday, 4 October 2017, at the Atlanta Friends Meeting House.

–Raven