The meeting minutes for the June Baronial Meeting

 

South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

3  June 2015

 

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

 

Lord Mathias Blackett, Seneschal, called the meeting to order.

 

Officer reports

o    Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)

• Nothing to report

o    Webminister (Lord Wistric Oftun)

• Asked the populace what they would like to see on the website

o    A&S Minister (Lady Tryggva Ingvarsdóttir)

• This month’s class (24 June) is on patterning Viking garb (not too soon to plan for Red Tower!) July’s class (22 July) is TBD, and August’s “class” (26 August) will be stringing tokens for Red Tower
• Lady Maren has asked that anyone with linen lint to save it for her – she would like to make paper from it

o    Group Rapier Marshal (Lord Brendan de Hay)

• Practices are going well – we have had from 2-8 people regularly attending Tuesday evenings and/or Sunday afternoons at Blackburn Park, even though Brendan has been out of town a lot lately
• Shameless plug: Lady Raven Helmsplitter is co-hosting the next Regional Rapier Practice, here in South Downs
  • Sunday, June 7, at 12:30pm
  • Blackburn Park
  • Hope to have fencers from all over the kingdom for the practice; the last regional practice in Vulpine Reach had 27 fencers from all over northern Meridies
  • Morgan Griffin will be organizing an SCA/geek garage sale – please contact her if you’d like to participate

o    Herald (Lord Bjorn Gullharr)

• One new name submission sent to Kingdom, “Marcellus Carpentarius” for Matthew York
• One name submission advanced from Kingdom to Laurel, “Emelina Le Morreys” for Laura Trehune

o    Exchequer (Lady Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain)

• Read a letter from kingdom (society?) regarding new rules in how group bank accounts are handled. Am hoping to get copy of letter for reference

o    Chatelaine (Lady Wilhemina)

• Has been contacted by three new people in the past month
• Gold key garb kits have been distributed and volunteers are sewing loaner garb

o    Seneschal (Lord Mathias)

• Nothing to report

o    Knight Marshal (Lord Bram Halfdannarson)

• Nothing to report

o    His Excellency (Baron Lorenzo)

• Loves the test sheep for Red Tower
• Travelled to Windmaster’s Hill, Kingdom of Atlantia for the Cooks and Performers Symposium
  • Enjoyed the event
  • Feast was cooked over the course of the day by the various culinary classes offered at the symposium

Other Baronial Business – events, etc.

o    Kingdom-level Event TBD

• We still need to put in a bid for a kingdom-level event as part of our baronial duties. After much discussion, it was decided that Fighters Collegium (September 11–13) would be the best event to bid on. Conversation was had with contacts in Depedale, and they agreed to co-autocrat. Kynric and Lady Wilhemina would co-autocrat
  • Iron Mountain had previously submitted a bid, but they lost the site so it’s available again. However, if they do come up with an alternate site, they will have dibs on the event. We will put in a bid anyway, just in case
  • If we get the bid, the event will take place at Little Tallapoosa Park, same site as Red Tower

o    Lochlann lives nearby, has offered to store event supplies during the week in between the two events

• Considering a BBQ feast – Lord Bram is an official BBQ judge, and may be able to teach a class on BBQ for events (and have the class provide part of the feast, as was done at Cooks and Performers Symposium)
• Event staff will only be responsible for the feast and any site issues; the chivalry will coordinate all the classes, etc.

• Still looking at putting in a bid for RUM 2016. If interested, please submit a bid for consideration by the December 2015 business meeting (2 December 2015)

o    Meridian Scribal and Heraldic Symposium, June 5–7, 2015

• Will be held in conjunction with Black Axe (http://ironmountain.meridies.org/conc/index.php/events/events/black-axe-2015/)

o    RUM, July 18, 2015

• Will be hosted by the Shire of Flintmarsh, and held at Troy University, Dothan campus (http://flintmarsh.meridies.org/wp/?page_id=149)

o    Red Tower, September 18–20, 2015

• Event website will be up soon
• NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR EVERY CATEGORY – please contact Amaris or Bam if interested
• Feast will be headed up by Marianne/Mathilda
  • Two sections: Above the salt (limit 80 people)
  • Below the salt (more flexible with number of people, would be served BBQ from class taught earlier in the day
• Tourneys
  • 3 heavy tourneys
  • 3 rapier tourneys
    • Stella needs help making sheep for this

• Duke John will be celebrating 40 years of being in the SCA/squiring/becoming a knight. To commemorate this, he will set up a pavilion on the field and fight the first 40 people to request fights (take first 40 comers)
• Equestrian
• Archery
• Live weapons
• Hound coursing

• Viking revel after feast
• Bardic competition
• Skaldic (voice heralding) competition
• Mead competition
• Viking sewing solar showing items made from the Viking garb class
• Dirty half dozen largess contest
  • To enter, make 6 items to be added to the largess basket
  • Winner gets one item from each set entered, the Crown gets the rest

o    Castle Wars, November 19–22, 2015

• Autocrat will be Isabelle Nugent
• Deadline has passed for submitting bids for Castle Wars
• Budgeting discussion
  • Do we need to rent more (handicapped) port-a-potties?
    • Issue tabled until more info on costs, etc. can be collected

• In order to have access to park bathrooms, we would need to rent the pavilion (costs?)

o    Midwinter Arts + Sciences, January, 2016

• Baronial deadline for bids (so bids can be presented at business meeting) Is the October business meeting
• Wistric is collecting info for alternate sites

Non-SCA Business

o    Makers Faire ATL 2015

• Mistress Sunneva suggested that we as a barony take part in this year’s Makers Faire (3-4 October 2015) in Decatur.
  • Makers faire is a event that showcases all sorts of handmade goods, skills, etc.
  • Good opportunity for outreach/demo activities
  • A booth at the faire is free but requires a $50 deposit (refundable)
  • Makers Faire website, for more info: http://makerfaireatl.com/
  • Sunneva will coordinate – if interested, please contact her

o    DragonCon, 4-7 September, 2015

• What needs to be done? We weren’t sure who the contacts were last year
  • Parade – Duke John works with someone who helps coordinate the parade, will see if it’s not to late to get in. Deadline may have been 13 April.
    • Cracking down on numbers for the parade, since it’s getting really big

• Baronial info table
  • Need to find out who handled this in the past

• Would like to acquire a room for demos; Bam mentioned that in past years, there had been big communication problems with the dagohair demos
• DragonCon website: http://www.dragoncon.org/

At this point, the last piece of business for the meeting was determining where everyone wanted to go to dinner. Meeting came to a close, and the next business meeting date was announced for July 1, 2015.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Raven

South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

6 May 2015

 

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

 

Lord Mathias Blackett, Seneschal, called the meeting to order.

Officer reports

o    Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)

• Nothing to report

o    Chatelaine (Lady Wilhemina)

• Needs volunteers to help sew gold key garb; has fabric and supplies organized into bags, just needs help sewing simple tunics
• Has compiled a Newcomers’ folder, with all sorts of information about the SCA, Meridies, and South Downs, and has begun to distribute it at events.
  • Tryggva will make color copies of the materials for future distribution
  • Goal is to have 20 folders available at all times
• Wants to do more demos
  • Lady Allesandra has a potential site for demos at child’s new school in Buford
  • We’ve been invited back to ConjurationCON (Halloween weekend); Wilhemina is working on getting us set up in a larger space where we can do more
  • DragonCon – His Excellency has been contacted about doing an SCA/LARP fighting track

o    Exchequer (Lady Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain)

• Quarterly reports went out
• We have $8000 in the bank, but we have a lot of expenses to take care of in the near future (site deposits, etc), and things are getting more and more expensive. Would like us to consider doing fundraisers at events (lunches, etc)

o    Seneschal (Lord Mathias)

• At the last baronial meeting, Master Ximon officially stepped down as seneschal and Lord Mathias officially became our new seneschal.

o    A&S Minister (Lady Maren Andersdatter)

• Her tenure is coming to an end, and transferred her office to Lady Tryggva
• Their Excellencies presented Lady Maren with salt and pepper mills in gratitude to all the work she had done for the Barony.

o    Group Rapier Marshal (Master Ximon de Córdoba)

• Master Ximon is stepping down as GRM, and has named Lord Brendan de Hay as his replacement
• Shameless plug: Lady Raven Helmsplitter is co-hosting the next Regional Rapier Practice, here in South Downs
  • Sunday, June 7, at 12:30pm
  • Blackburn Park
  • Hope to have fencers from all over the kingdom for the practice; the last regional practice in Vulpine Reach had 27 fencers from all over northern Meridies
  • Morgan Griffin will be organizing an SCA/geek garage sale – please contact her if you’d like to participate

o    Webminister (Lord Wistric Oftun)

• Updating databases?
• Is setting up places to host A+S and other relevant info on the baronial website (need more info from Wistric)

o    Knight Marshal (Lord Bram Halfdannarson)

• Had nothing to report for himself
• Lady Alessandra is interested in getting a target archery practice going; please contact her directly if you’re interested

 

Other Baronial Business – events, etc.

o    Meridian Scribal and Heraldic Symposium, June 5–7, 2015

• Will be held in conjunction with Black Axe (http://ironmountain.meridies.org/conc/index.php/events/events/black-axe-2015/)

o    RUM, July 18, 2015

• Will be hosted by the Shire of Flintmarsh, and held at Troy University, Dothan campus (http://flintmarsh.meridies.org/wp/?page_id=149)

o    Red Tower, September 18–20, 2015

• Amaris secured a site – Little Tallapoosa Park, Carrollton, where Lusty Month of May will be held (http://talmere.org/pages/lmom-xiv/)
• Tenting only
• Feast will be limited to 80 (Mariana will be feastcrat)
• Viking theme
• 3 heavy tourneys, 2 rapier tourneys
• There will be a need for heralds – plans for having a skaldic herald(s) to announce each fighter (a la A Knight’s Tale) are in the works
• If you are interested in helping with the event, contact Amaris and you’ll get an invite for the staff group list

o    Castle Wars, November 19–22, 2015

• Autocrat will be Isabelle Nugent
• Have budget numbers to hold event at McIntosh Reserve Park, Whitesburg, GA (same site as last year)
• Theme will be the Trojan War (various and sundry references to Trojans were made by the populace)
• Once the numbers are finalized, Isabelle wants to get moving along with planning asap
• Other bids are still welcome for the event – deadline will be next business meeting (June 3)

o    Kingdom-level Event TBD

• We still need to put in a bid for a kingdom-level event as part of our baronial duties. Options are:
  • Fighters Collegium (September 11–13)
  • MGT (September 25–27)
  • Fall Coronation (October 9–11)
  • Fall Crown List (November 13–15)
• Suggestions were made to possibly contact Depedale to co-host either Fighters Collegium or Fall Coronation
• Given how busy the fall will be, Fighters Collegium would be a good option – simple event, weekend before Red Tower
• Coronation is a very complex event, with balls, meetings, feast, etc.
• Fall Crown is the weekend before Castle Wars
• Perhaps Fighters Collegium at Little Tallapoosa Park?
• Twelfth Night
  • Bam asked if there were any reason we couldn’t host a kingdom-level Twelfth Night, as other kingdoms do – perhaps we could make it a thing
  • Debate was held as to whether it should be a kingdom-level event at all, or just make ours a bigger event, or leave Bryn Madoc’s event as the big regional Twelfth Night
• Mathias suggested that we start thinking now about kingdom-level event bids for next year
  • Spring Coronation?
  • RUM? Iazzie and Mariana are interested in doing RUM

o    His Excellency was pleased that we already have Castle Wars and Red Tower bids in

o    His Excellency also asked everyone what they thought of the 5^th Wednesday in-garb social that we held last week. Everyone enjoyed it and agreed we should do it the next 5^th Wednesday

o    Duke John asked about the possibility of finding another place for our meetings, as parking at the rec center is difficult

• Options
  • Friends Meeting House in Decatur (where Midwinter A+S was held)
  • The church where this year’s South Downs Twelfth Night was held
• Primary problem is that we have paid for the rec center site thru the rest of the year – and that payment is non-refundable. It was agreed that we should revisit this issue in September

 

Non-SCA Business

o    Lady Andreva mentioned that the Festival Singers of Atlanta (with which she sings) will hold a concert on May 17. The theme is “the many languages of love,” and many of the pieces are period. Please contact her if interested.

o    Lord Bam announced that he will be participating in a live steel fighting demo at the GA Renaissance Festival, May 16 at 1:30 and 3:00pm. Please let him know if interested in attending.

o    Living Social (among several places) is offering 50% tickets to the GA Renaissance Festival

o    May 16 is also the date of the Spring Sale at Museum Replicas in Conyers.

 

At this point, the last piece of business for the meeting was determining where everyone wanted to go to dinner. Meeting came to a close, and the next business meeting date was announced for June 3, 2015.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Raven

South Downs Baronial Business Meeting

1 April 2015

 

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

 

Lord Bjorn Gullhar called the meeting to order.

Greetings from Master Ximon and His Excellency, Master Lorenzo

 

Officer reports

o    Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)

• Introduced herself, due to new people present. Nothing new to report.
• Asked if anyone wanted to see any specific projects from the Chronicler (newsletter? Directory?) to please let her know
• Until the website is updated, please contact me via Facebook or at hbrethertonhay@mac.com

o    Exchequer (Lady Maire Dhocair Inghean Chiarain)

• Introduced herself, due to new people present. Had nothing to report, other than quarterly reports are coming due

o    A&S Minister (deputy, Lady Tryggva)

• Tryggva, deputy A&S Minister, gave the report and introduced herself.
• Is gathering info from those who want to teach classes and those who have ideas for classes
• Upcoming class (April) – SCA for newcomers
• 29 April – in garb 5^th Wednesday social

o    Seneschal (deputy, Lord Mattias)

• Mattias is running the meeting tonight
• Transition from current seneschal (Master Ximon) to new seneschal (Lord Mattias) is in progress

o    Herald (Lord Bjorn Gullhar)

• Two submissions (1 device, 1 name)
  • Master Ximon is now Captain Master Ximon, having been inducted into the Meridian Order of the Blade at Gulf Wars
  • Amaris has received her protégé belt at Gulf Wars

o    Knight Marshal (Lord Bram Halfdannarson)

• Master Lorenzo reported on Lord Bram’s behalf
• Joint practice (heavy and rapier) was held last Sunday at Blackburn park, during the Cherry Blossom Festival

o    Chatelaine (Lady Wilhemina)

• Nothing to report

 

Baronial Business – events, etc.

o    Fool’s War

• If you are interested in camping with South Downs, please contact Her Excellency
• Mistress Margavati is coordinating war drumming for the armies at Fool’s War – volunteers welcome!
• Captains Ximon, David, and Jean-Michel are all rapier warlords for Fool’s War

 

o    Demos

• July 25, at the Smyrna library
• Potential opportunity to demo at Atlanta Streets Alive, September 27 in Virginia-Highlands. Route goes past a couple parks good for demos.
  http://www.atlantastreetsalive.com/2015-routes/highland-september-27/ (Mistress Margavati)
• We’ve been invited back to demo at next year’s CONjuration Con (Harry Potter Con) – http://www.conjurationcon.com/ (Lady Wilhemina)

o    RUM (Royal University of Meridies)

• As a Barony, we need to submit a bid for one kingdom-level event per year; we should really consider putting in a bid for RUM
• Mistress Sybilla has suggested University of West Georgia for a site
• A motion to vote on submitting a bid to host RUM was offered. Motion approved by acclamation.

o    Gulf Wars

• Everyone had fun! Temps were warmer than expected, and for the most part, weather was drier than expected (except for the last night)
• Lady Veronica did at least five scrolls for Gulf Wars court – huzzah!

o    Coronation

• Scribal challenge will be held at coronation
  UPDATED INFORMATION for the Coronation Scribal Challenge (per Lady Mara Palmer, Parchment)
• Please enter all scrolls by 9:30am as judging will be open from 10am to 4pm. All scrolls submitted will be added to the Kingdom case at the end of the day unless further work is required on the piece (added calligraphy, etc.)–if this is the case, please say so when the scroll is submitted and pick up your piece at 4:15pm. Winners will be announced at the ball.
• For the Challenge, you may submit any non-peerage scroll to add to the Kingdom case (such as AoAs, GoAs, Argent Comets, etc.). Scrolls may be entered in multiple categories and will be judged on a category-by-category basis.

o    Crown’s Choice

• Best Rus Scroll
• Complete scrolls only
• Teams allowed
• Tracing allowed if noted
• Preferrence for 11th c Kievan Rus

o    Parchment’s Choice

• Completed scrolls only
• Teams allowed
• Tracing allowed if noted

o    Best Depiction of the Human Form (Baron Thomas Paumer)

• Incomplete allowed, illumination will be judged
• Teams allowed, prize for illumination
• Tracing allowed
• Image of the original is preferred, but not required
• Grotesques allowed, but only the human half will be judged

o    Best Novice Calligraphy (Lady Mara Palmer)

• Incomplete allowed, calligraphy will be judged
• Teams allowed, prize for calligraphy
• Tracing allowed, but if tracing the letters, it must be noted. Tracing for lines/lettering guides allowed without note.
• Novice is defined as someone who has been doing calligraphy for less than 2 years and has not won any kingdom-level competitions for calligraphy.

o    Best Novice Illumination (Baroness Catriona the Blind)

• Incomplete allowed, illumination will be judged
• Teams allowed, prize for illumination
• Tracing allowed if noted
• Novice is defined as someone who has been doing illumination for less than 2 years and has not won any kingdom-level competitions for illumination.

o    Best Incomplete Scroll (Baroness Catriona the Blind)

• Incomplete only
• Single entrant only
• Tracing allowed

o    Best Scroll with Flowers (Duquessa Elisenda de Luna)

• Incomplete allowed, illumination will be judged
• Teams allowed, prize for illumination
• Tracing allowed
• Image of the original is preferred, but not required

o    Best “Selfie” (Baronness Adela Scrijver van Brugge)

• Must include depiction of a scribe
• Incomplete allowed, bonus points for completion, illuminatino will be judged
• Single entrant only
• Documentation not required, but an image appreciated
• The scribe depicted does not have to be you, but an attempt at depicting yourself will earn bonus points.
• PRIZE: 16th century Italian folding table

o    Best Bird (Order of the Pelican)

• Completed scrolls only
• Teams allowed, prize for illumination
• Tracing allowed

o    Best Period Correction (Mistress Graidhne ni Ruaidh)

• Incomplete scrolls allowed
• Teams allowed, prize for person making the correction
• Must be an honest mistake, not intended
• Calligraphy or Illumination

o    Best Diapering (Lady Julianna of Empingham)

• Incomplete scrolls allowed, illumination will be judged
• Teams allowed, prize for illumination
• Tracing allowed

o    Best Faux Hand (Mistress Moreg Cochrane)

• Runes, Cyrillic, Persian, etc. styled scripts, but legibly English
• Incomplete scrolls allowed, calligraphy will be judged
• Teams allowed, prize for calligraphy
• Image of the inspiration appreciated, but not required
• Tracing allowed, but should be noted if tracing letters

o    Best Use of Period Materials (Order of the Velvet Owl)

• Completed scrolls recommended, but not required
• Teams allowed
• Tracing allowed (Bonus for period tracing techniques)
• Min 3×5 index card explaining what period materials and techniques were used to make the piece.

o    Volume Challenge (Order of the Bough)

• On ANY scroll submitted, points will be given per aspect contributed by each artisan: 1 point for lining, 1 point for illumination, 1 point for calligraphy. The person with the most points wins.
• Incomplete scrolls allowed
• Tracing allowed

o    Dreamstone

• Baronial investiture for their Excellencies Bryn Madoc. We will be giving new silk banners to them.

 

o    Gulf Wars

• Kudos to Lady Maire, Lady Tryggva, and Lord Bram (as well as all the others!) who volunteered at Gulf Wars
• The barony will get a check for volunteering

 

o    Red Tower

• Lady Maire and Lord Bram are finalizing site options. Discussion was held regarding tenting vs. cabins, tenting options at cabined sites
• Currently, the site we have lined up is WoW in Gainesville, but it is somewhat expensive
• Priorities are cost, kitchen/feast space
• His Excellency has access to an additional camping database he is offering
• Maire is allowing herself one more week to find options, then will move forward with securing site

 

o    Castle Wars

• VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Both for onsite, if you’re attending as well as off-site, if you can’t make it (helping with putting together presents and prizes for the volunteer raffle, for example)
• The armored fighters want to to do a Friday Night Fight Club
• His Excellency has thanked everyone who has submitted bids so far in advance

 

Other Baronial Business

o    There was some debate as to when the baronial meetings should start. Getting to the Rec Center by 7:00pm is difficult for many, but if we start it at 7:30pm, would people be prompt, or will it still run on SCA time. Nothing was really decided.

o    There was discussion about how to maximize communication within the Barony. Not everyone is on Facebook – but what options are there to reach the most people? Expand the website? Twitter? Yahoo Groups? We were reminded that the baronial Yahoo group (southdowns@yahoogroups.com) is available to everyone, you just need to sign up. It is rarely used any more except for automated announcements for practices and meetings.

o    Lady Wilhemina reported that Fabric World is selling untreated canvas at $2/yard; good for baronial dayshades! She also has access to pieces of leather, suitable for molding into armor, etc.

o    Lady Andreva invited everyone to come to her spring choral concert, featuring period music, on May 17. Contact her for more info.

o    Sawyer mentioned that the upcoming Atlanta Streets Alive will take place in the West End on April 19, should be lots of fun http://www.atlantastreetsalive.com/2015-routes/west-end-april-19/

o    Amaris will be working in the kilt shop at the Georgia Renaissance Festival (April 18–Memorial Day weekend)

o    Indian music workshops will take place in Huntsville this spring – please contact Mistress Margavati if interested

o    Did you miss the Viking clothing workshop and presentation out at University of West Georgia in March? Nille Glaesel will be offering it again in Nashville and Atlanta, dates TBD.

 

Next Baronial business meeting: 6 May 2015

 

 

Thanks!

 

Raven