Posted inCommons

Commons Minutes for April 2018

May 3, 2018

The April commons meeting was held April 20 at the home of Arnora and Ragnarr in Brokenbridge. Here are the minutes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attending

  • Suuder Saran, Viceroy
  • Lada Monguligin, Vicereine
  • Alienor Salton, Seneschal, Webminister
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Minister of Arts & Sciences
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Herald, Youth Marshal, Deputy Webminister
  • Ervald LaCoudre, Armored Combat Marshal — Late arrival
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal, Deputy Seneschal
  • Rufina Cambrensis, Chronicler
  • Wilhelm Larsson, Northpass Seneschal
  • Brekke Franksdottir, Lions End Seneschal
  • Apollodora of Delphi, Deputy Chatelaine, Deputy MoAS
  • Arnora Ketilsdottir, Brokenbridge Exchequer
  • Ragnarr Bliskegg, Brokenbridge Herald
  • Buenaventura Miguel Rivera de ponte roto, Northpass Exchequer
  • Francisco de Braga, Northpass Chatelaine and Brokenbridge Chronicler
  • Marion of York, Lions End Lieutenant of Fence

Absent Officers

  • Angelica di Nova Lipa, Exchequer — away caring for family
  • Beatrice della Rocca, Chatelaine — at Lions End for event setup
  • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir, Archery Marshal
  • Erich Guter Muth, Minister of Lists — at Lions End for event setup
  • Ian of Clan Mitchell, Chamberlain
  • Richard the Poor of Ely, Historian, Deputy Exchequer
  • Vika Grigina z Prahy, Whyt Whey Seneschal
  • Brandr Aronsson, Brokenbridge Seneschal — out sick

Opening

  • Meeting called to order at 8:05 PM by Alienor
  • Alienor: Welcome to Apollodora, who is stepping up to new positions with great enthusiasm.

Officer Report Items For Review

Alienor: There are several items from the officers’ reports that I wanted to call to your attention.

  • The provincial loaner mug fund is seeking donations; bring yours to Suuder.
  • The Coronet Committee is soliciting design proposals; send your ideas to Angelica at exchequer@ostgardr.eastkingdom.org.
  • Queen Caoilfhionn has asked the populace to make favors for her; the design available on on our website in pdf format and digitized for machine embroidery.
  • Remember to recommend people for awards, both kingdom and local. (See blog.heraldicart.org/category/awards/ for award information, check op.eastkingdom.org to confirm what awards a person already has.) There are articles online describing how to make a recommendation, or ask an officer for guidance.
  • We are looking for new sites at which we can host future provincial events; suggestions welcome.
    • Please check out the photos of Church of Christ in New Brighton in Suuder’s recent email, render your opinion on its suitability as event site.
  • The EK seneschals’ policies have been updated; all seneschals, please review.
    • Seneschals may not be event stewards.
    • Collect waivers from all combat practices and events and forward a copy to the regional waiver secretary along with sign-in sheets.
  • Please help update the provincial calendar! Anyone involved with scheduling events or activities should speak to a webminister if you don’t have access to update the calendar.
  • We are pursuing new public outreach efforts via social media, including Instagram, Twitter, and a Facebook page; email social.media@ostgardr.eastkingdom.org to contact the relevant officers.
    • There are some rules for official SCA groups’ use of social media that do not apply to individuals posting as themselves.
    • Before we as a group share photographs on social media, we must have a signed photographer’s release on file.
    • Signed model releases are required for portrait shots, but not for group shots in public places.
    • Although not required by society or kingdom law, as an extra step, even in cases where model releases are not required, please do obtain permission from everyone identifiable in a photo before sharing it.
  • New outreach initiatives: LGBT(QPIA) progressing fastest, with coordinator, email address, a Facebook planning group, and plans to participate in Brooklyn Pride festival.
  • Armored combat fighter practice resumes week after next.
    • We need to work out plans for storage and transport of the new loaner armor before we take possession of it. There are five sets of armor, each of which will fill a duffle bag. They could all be stored in one place or in a few separate places, but we need to consider how they will be brought to and from practices and events. Speak to Ervald if you can assist with this.
  • Please enter the A&S championship at Lions End Saturday, or display your work there.
  • Brokenbridge April Commons A&S on Sunday will be a lace class by Mistress Sofya.
  • EK50 efforts are going well; please see Lady Sofya’s report for details. Many hands are on deck; next scribal workshop is Sunday at Alienor’s.
  • When you pre-register for EK50, tell them you are with Østgarðr, even if staying offsite, to ensure we have enough camp space to hang out.
  • Planning for Picnic in the Ruins is going well. There is lots of publicity and media coverage, so it could be a big turnout. Please come enjoy yourself. There will be musicians, fencing & youth combat. Dancemeisters and armored marshals in particular are requested. Talk to Thorfinn or Vika.
  • Viking Day demo is the same day as the half-marathon, so please plan accordingly.
    • Some items may be stored ahead of time at the Viceregals’ home, which is near the park. Other people plan to park loaded vehicles in the neighborhood.
    • Volunteers will be needed to help with setup before the event begins. Speak to Lada and/or Brandr to coordinate.
  • The Cloisters demo is scheduled for Sept. 30th. We anticipate that it will include provincial martial championships.
  • The EK Webministry site now has documentation on how to set up rules that will automatically filter your email into folders, which is particularly useful for those holding more than one office.

Items For Discussion

New Event Ideas

  • Alienor: The viceregals are seeking suggestions for a new hopefully-annual event that could be added to the provincial calendar.
  • Apollodora: How about a Greek theme?
  • Lada: Ryouko’jin suggested we could host a local winter indoor fighting event with a Japanese theme.
    • Suuder: the church we visited recently has a basement gym with enough space for two or three combat rings.
  • Rufina: Having an event where the time/place theme changes every year helps to keep things fresh and interesting, like “John Barleycorn goes to X” and “St. Andrew goes to Y”.

New Outreach Positions

  • Alienor: We have new volunteers stepping forward for outreach and social media work. We should figure out which officers they report to.
    • General agreement that outreach efforts should report to the chatelaine, social media to the webminister.
  • Apollodora: It is surprising that we don’t use social media as an outreach tool.
  • Apollodora: Making diversity visible and welcome will help recruit a new generation of participants.
  • Suuder: we should check for equivalent or parallel kingdom offices, and make sure we offer to coordinate and / or report up to them as appropriate.
    • A new EK deputy webmininster for social media is expected to start in May; let’s coordinate with them.
  • For accessibility, check to see if we should coordinate with EK accessibility office.
    • Wilhelm: Current kingdom accessibility coordinator supports members with physical accessibility requirements, makes people aware of issues at sites so that folks don’t show up to events and then discover they can’t participate; however, they don’t do outreach.
    • Apollodora: Our new volunteer, Alexandra, could play a similar role on the local level, and also provide outreach to people with disabilities, letting them know about our activities.
  • Ragnarr: Should also look at some non-European themes for events, classes, etc.
    • Lada: Someone recently mentioned a historical African martial-arts facebook group; we could reach out to see if there were folks local to us.
    • Mathghamhain: I’m a member of that group and will share a link.
      HAMAA: Historical African Martial Arts Association
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/1559419451037192/

Burnout and Deputies

  • Alienor: It’s a common experience for enthusiastic people to find that you’ve signed up for more positions than you can comfortably handle. If you are overcommitted for too long you will burn out.
    • If you’re in this position, consider stepping down from an office so someone else can step up, and you can focus on your other responsibilities.
    • As Coco Chanel used to say: “before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory; less is more.”
  • For all officers, you should be looking for deputies who can assist you with your current workload, and deputies you can train to be able to take over your job when you step down.
  • Exchequer is an example of an office that needs support, as family obligations mean that our current exchequer is frequently out of the province and might need to stay away for extended periods.
    • Arnora: I am the exchequer for Brokenbridge, and could serve as a deputy exchequer for the province.
    • We can also call on other people who have served as canton or provincial exchequer in the past, including Buenaventura, Ibrahim, and Richard.
  • Sofya: I have a new A&S deputy, would like some more. Might not run again when my term is up.
  • Sofya: Am also holding the gold key; would love to find someone to help with this, or fully take on responsibility for it.
  • Chatelaine is another area that would benefit from having multiple deputies
  • Alienor: We should make a list of volunteer opportunities, publicize it, and encourage new people to step up.

Commons

  • Alienor: Commons meetings should be opportunities for the populace to gather. Østgarđr effectively just has officers meetings, and it’s been like this for years.
    • Ragnarr: Brokenbridge has short meetings and then another activity, like arts, dance, etc.
    • Everyone: Shorter meetings paired with another activity would help draw in other people.
  • Sofya: Ervald’s workpace has extra room, it’s also a central location.
  • Rufina: We have a challenge in that the province is spread out. We mostly need to hold meetings on Friday because someone will have a two-hour commute home after the meeting.
  • John: Neutral space rather than someone’s house might make it less off-putting for outsiders.
    • Alienor: Meetup’s spaces might help.
    • Wilhelm: Our experience with Northpass canton commons was the opposite; meetings in public spaces felt sterile, but meetings in people’s houses felt welcoming.
    • Brekke: Lions End holds commons in a library, but it’s only attended by officers, event organizers, and such.
    • Rufina: New York City public libraries don’t have space available in the evenings.
  • Rufina: Years ago, wherever the provincial meeting was held, local members from that area would show up because it was their opportunity to speak with the officers and hang out with their friends, but nowadays the web/email/social media reduce this need — you already speak to those people regularly and get the latest information online.
  • Sofya: Offering a class on the same night as the commons would help.
  • John: Online meetings would make it easy for people to attend.
  • Rufina: If we didn’t need to have a business meeting, we could do more fun stuff.
  • Alienor: We should investigate larger spaces, both neutral and private, shorter meetings, more food, other activities.

Event Management

  • Alienor: Østgarđr’s event management documents (on the web site) are incomplete; among other things they lack detail on most of the necessary post-event reporting. It would be good to fill in the missing pieces.
    • Wilhelm: Northpass’s procedures are different.
    • Sofya: Master Phillip has taught a good class on running events.
    • Mathghamhain: Does the East Kingdom have a standard event-runner book we could take as the base of our procedures?
    • Wilhelm: I looked at this years ago, and each branch had a different set of policies.
    • Buenaventura: Kingdom Exchequer policy has good documentation of reporting requirements.
    • Lada: true that each area has its own procedures, but there are a bunch of elements that are common across all EK territories… but not sure they’re all written down in one place.
    • Lada: Perhaps we should combine old Østgarđr policy, Northpass manual, Exchequer policy, Philip’s class, other sources and use it to create a new document.
    • Buenaventura: As of 2014 there was a society-level officer who was supposed to be working on this, but I can’t find any output from that effort; maybe it never happened.
    • Alienor: We should recruit people to work on this.

Riverfest

  • Alienor: We don’t have an event steward, and need to decide what we’re going to do.
    • Suuder: Our previous point person for this event was Laurie, but they’ve stepped away. The event organizers seems to assume we’re coning, and would like us to come, add archery, etc.
    • Sofya: Previous years have not generated a significant influx of new members.
    • Suuder: We would be giving up the $600 stipend, and there is a risk that if we skip this year they will not invite us back in the future.
  • Officers vote: majority in favor of not participating this year, a minority abstaining, no objections.
    • Suuder will contact the event organizers to let them know we can’t do it this year.

Upcoming Commons Meetings

May 18

  • To be held in Northpass, at Apollodora and Francisco’s.
  • Note that this location is at the northern edge of Østgarđr, so leave sufficient time for travel, check train ticket costs, and coordinate ride-shares, train pickups, etc

June 15

  • To be held in Whyt Whey, at Alienor and Mathghamhain’s.

July 20

  • To be held at Ervald’s workspace in Long Island City.

Other Business

Coronet Committee

  • Sofya: I know someone who could make the field coronets in leather. The province should be willing to pay for them.
    • Officers: General agreement

Gifts to TRM

  • Suuder: Our presentation at coronation was a great success.
    • Beer to the king, cookies to the queen, art supplies to their daughter, and a horse to their son.

Viking Demo

  • Apollodora: The Viking Day demo will be the first time we do Facebook / Instagram marketing for an event. Can we spend $30 or 40 for social media advertising, which will allow us to reach approximately 2-5K people?
    • Alienor: Bring that up with the finance committee.

Rattan

  • Suuder: We received a bunch of rattan that was donated to the province. We need to measure it and figure out how to use it.
    • Mathghamhain: if it is 1″ or less, or between 1″ and 1.25″ and at least 6′ long, we can use it for youth combat.

Closing

  • Meeting closed at 9:10 PM.

Viceregals • Suuder Saran & Lada Monguligin

The Østgarðr loaner mug fund: We are now accepting donations to the mug fund. We have already started to acquire some.

We are always looking for local award recommendations.

We would like the group to think of ideas for an Østgarðr annual event.

Østgarðr Camp at EK 50: Oliver de Bainbridge is the Østgarðr land agent. Please pre-register with Østgarðr if you plan on camping with us or if you are staying offsite, This way we can make sure there is space for everyone to hang out in camp.

Event promotion: Picnic in the ruins has been submitted to 25 sources: community news organizations, event calendars and blogs. The Brooklyn Paper is offering to add us as an editor’s pick event for that weekend. Lada is confirming with Kingdom what needs to happen for that and to submit some pics (group shots) from last year’s event.

Gifts to Their Majesties at Coronation: At Coronation, we gave Their Majesties some traditional Østgarðr gifts and some un-traditional gifts. There were many of our populace that helped out including some of our champions. They were all awesome as we gave gifts in the style of History of the World Part 1 (giving gifts to the Emperor Caesar scene), sheets and all. As a record we will detail the gifts here. For Their Majesties: 2 types of cheese from Østgarðr. Candles in purple and gold. Also for the whole Royal family, a dozen chocolate chip cookies. For Her Majesty, An entire dozen chocolate chip cookies for herself. For His Majesty, some Brooklyn Defender IPA beer. For Cortney Rose, calligraphy supplies and games with a promise from the Viceregents to play board games if she gets bored at an event. For Brian: A toy horse with saddle baskets(made by the Viceroy). They were all very well received.

New site development: Saw the church of Christ in New Brighton. Facilities: sanctuary, small and medium hang out rooms on 1st floor, kitchen. Large hall upstairs with small room on the side. Gym in the basement with rubber mat flooring. Parking lot in the back plus lots of street parking. (Several site photos are attached to his excellency’s email.)

Seneschal • Alienor Salton

Welcome our new officer — Apollodora of Delphi is stepping up into 2 new offices for the province — LGBTQPIA Outreach and Social Media — as well as Deputy Chatelaine & Deputy MoAS. Question for the officers’ council: are these independent offices, or functions (sub-offices) of the Seneschal or the Chatelaine (or some other officer—Webminister?)?

We have a volunteer to serve as disability outreach coordinator (similar question as above about that office), who has not yet been brought on board. We are recruiting for a PoC outreach coordinator.

The EK seneschal’s handbook has been updated: http://seneschal.eastkingdom.org/docs/EKSeneschalpolicies.pdf There are some items to which we need to pay better attention:

  • Event stewards must be paid members of the SCA throughout the planning & execution of the event.
  • Seneschals are the default backup steward, and therefore MAY NOT be the primary steward for any event.
  • We must file event reports with the corresponding kingdom office(s). Event report forms include the exchequer’s NMS report (http://exchequer.eastkingdom.org/resources/EK_NMS_2017.xls) and the exchequer’s event report (http://exchequer.eastkingdom.org/resources/EventReport2014.xls), along with the waivers and sign-in sheet (see below).
  • Canton officers must notify their provincial supervisor that they have filed their kingdom reports. The province asks that you share the actual report.
  • Waivers must be collected at all events (not demos) and practices, then collated and submitted along with the event sign-in sheets to the regional waiver secretary.
  • It is the seneschal’s job to update the calendar — please help me!! Our province is very large and very active. Our viceregals (and others) use that calendar to coordinate their attendance at activities across our province. Please update it with your local group’s activities!

Media alert! Picnic in the Ruins is being mentioned in Vicereine Lada’s newspapers (Brooklyn Paper, possibly also Park Slope Courier) as an editor’s choice event for that weekend. Her editor has requested pictures from last year’s event. Our vicereine is on it.

Burnout. Some of us are wearing too many hats. Some of us are pressuring others to take on responsibilities for which they are not trained and in which they have little interest. We need a happy medium. There’s more than enough work to go around, and more than enough volunteers — we can all share the load. Please do an honest self-evaluation of how much and what you are doing in service to the dream — and say no to those projects that are not bringing you and those around you joy.

Commons is meant for the populace, not just for the officers. As per the seneschal’s handbook, we (seneschals) are to hold and chair regular meetings of the branch members (at least quarterly). For large groups such as ours, regular meetings of the officers are also recommended. what can we do to make our meetings more accessible and welcoming?

Exchequer • Angelica di Nova Lipa

No report submitted. [Østgarðr Checking: $7,666.19. Østgarðr Savings: $7,063.90. Lady Angelica will not be able to attend the April or May Commons. —ed]

Chatelaine • Beatrice della Rocca

Gold Key is present and accounted for.

My reports to the Southern Region and East Kingdom are up to date.

In addition to Dee, my new deputy is Apollodora Alethes of Delphi. As I cannot attend this meeting due to the Lion’s Awaken event tomorrow, at this meeting, they will vote in my place and represent my office.

There have been a bunch of newcomers attending arts and sciences nights in several of the Cantons, specifically Northpass and Brokenbridge, and this continues to be a lovely ongoing trend.

There have also been several newcomers who have been holding their first events. I admire their dedication and drive, and would like to give them as much support as I can. To that end, I want to make sure there are clear guidelines for the running of events, including how to submit financials, and how events are typically organized. I believe that in the end, this will result in the creation of more events in Ostgardr, as well as allowing us clearer and easier paperwork for our exchequers and those who will audit us.

Deputy Chatelaine for LGBTQ Outreach • Apollodora of Delphi

The demo for June at the Brooklyn pride festival is coming together great. I’ve reached out to some lgbtqia centers in our area to see if we could do some out reach there.

[Email for LGBTQ outreach is lgbt.outreach@ostgardr.eastkingdom.org —ed]

Arts & Sciences • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste

I pleased to announce that Apollodora Alethes of Delphi has agreed to be my Deputy A&S Minister. A special ‘hooray’ and ‘vivat’ to Apollodora for taking on this position! I look forward to working with them to help expand A&S in Østgarðr.

Østgarðr A&S Champions day at Lions Awakens- April 21st- There’s still time to enter! If you’re not entering please consider showcasing your work at our display table.

Queen Caoilfhionn’s favor is available on our Østgarðr website in pdf and digitized for embroidery machines. Her Majesty is going to need quite a number for war so please think about creating a few. A special thanks to Apollodora for digitizing the design!

East Kingdom 50

Work is on-going on our hall of history display:

  • Video interviews: on-going. Three interviews scheduled the weekend of April 21st.
  • Pipe & drape: Pia (from Nordenfjord) will be transporting pipe and drape to EK50 site. Fabric will be purchased next week for draping.
  • Provincial Map: Mathghamhain working on the design and display.
  • Kingdom Geographic History book; Mathghamhain will be working on updating Richard’s ‘Geographic History of the EK’ book for display.
  • Annals: Richard has posted the Annals and will bind them for display. We are working on what cover to use and how to display.
  • Banners and floor cloth: Banners completed. Center design appliqued. Floor cloth is next
  • Arms of the Viceroys and Vicereines: Branamira is half way done. Go Branamira!
  • Scribal work: Our scribal team is hard at work producing a beautiful scroll for display.
  • Music: Judith has been compiling music to be played throughout the day during the entire event.
  • Photos and relics. We have a large number of photos that being copied into a folder and arranged in two photo albums.

June 1st is the goal date for all items to be completed allowing us time for a ‘dress rehearsal/assembly’ prior to the event.

Coronet Committee

We are seeking designs for field coronets for our Viceroy and Vicereine. Please submit designs to myself or Lady Angelica. Prize will be bragging rights and it seems a bottle of my limoncello.

Herald • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

Our heraldry symposium was small but successful. A few people who were not able to attend requested that we re-run this event or something like it, and I hope to do so some time this fall.

Among other things, we worked on some ideas for populace and Barleycorn badges for Northpass, which have just now been shared with other folks in the canton for discussion and review with the populace.

I haven’t heard anything from the principal herald of Atlantia about permission to conflict with their Sea-Urchin award, so I’ve sent them a follow-up message gently inquiring about its progress.

I completed a name submission for a newcomer this month, and assisted with two others. Two other folks have started the process with both names and armory but still need a few loose ends tied up before submission, and I have a couple of more-challenging submissions that have been lingering in my to-do list for a bit too long that I’m going to try to get finalized ASAP.

Armored Combat • Ervald LaCoudre

There has been some discussion between myself, Valgaard, and Ryu about moving fighter practice or holding an additional fighter practice. Proposed locations are Prospect Park and another park in Brooklyn. I plan to visit them next week and work with the two of them to find an optimal schedule.

One way or another, we will start fighter practice the week after next, at the latest.

The indoor fighter practice site is on hold for now. The insurance company is saying no. But the site is available for non-fighting meetings and workshops, (with advance notice, of course).

We may need a storage space for the new loaner armor before we can close the deal on it. We should also build a plan for transporting it. I have neither a car nor storage space. People who are able and willing to aid in this can talk to me at and after the meeting.

Fencing • Alec MacLachlan

Practice resumed last week in Central Park at a new location near Columbus Circle. It’s closer to the subways, and is wide open. But we still have light issues. Some of the fencers are looking at other parks.

The practice in Lion’s End is continuing, though a couple of practices have been canceled.

We are also starting discussions on what loaner gear we have and what we need.

Archery • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir

No report submitted.

Youth Combat • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

The first youth combat event of the season was held at Mudthaw. Two fighters from Whyt Whey showed up and did well.

I’ll be marshaling at a couple of other regional events over the coming month, including Picnic in the Ruins and the Baronial challenge, for which I am attempting to recruit local youth.

Now that it’s finally warm, I’m going to try to get a couple of kids together for some practice sessions in local parks, either on weekends or aligned with the Central Park fencing sessions.

Minister of Lists • Erich Guter Muth

Nothing to report

Webminister • Alienor Salton

Deputy email addresses: do we need any of deputy.historian (Bish), deputy.chamberlain (Katherine), deputy.herald (Mongu, Seònaid), deputy.chatelaine (Seònaid, Apollodora), deputy.moas (Apollodora)? We have deputy.chronicler, deputy.exchequer, deputy.seneschal & deputy.webminister addresses now.

I have reminded 3 of you through separate channels to check your office email. Everyone else, please keep up the good work!

From the webministry, a document on how to automatically filter your email in to folders, particularly for people who hold multiple offices. https://webminister.eastkingdom.org/email/automatically-labeling-your-mail/

Deputy Webminister for Social Media • Apollodora of Delphi

As for our social media campaign. It is on a short pause until the head social media officer of EK can send me the new guidelines and rules but that shouldn’t take very long and we should be up and running very shortly to start advertising for the Viking demo!!

[Instagram & Twitter accounts created, also Østgarðr Facebook page. Email for social media is social.media@ostgardr.eastkingdom.org  —ed]

Chronicler • Rufina Cambrensis

(1) Last week, the EK Chronicler emailed all local Chroniclers, saying “In the past, the Chronicler’s Office has not required warranted chroniclers to complete any paperwork. There is now an easy way of documenting your service. I am asking that all chroniclers please complete the attached form…” So I did 🙂

(2) On a more “meta-” Media-related topic: recently there has been a flurry of solicitations to cross-post photos, funny one-liners, &c from FB to other social media outlets (Instagram, Twitter, &c.).  I have been unable to find any Corporate laws/guidelines for this specific situation, but I suggest that it would be a good idea to treat “sharing” like this as Opt-In, not Opt-Out (particularly for photos/videos).

Chamberlain • Ian of Clan Mitchell

No report submitted.

Historian • Richard the Poor of Ely

People have been taking advantage of my archives to prepare things for EK50. This is good. If anyone needs what I have, they are welcome to contact me.

Northpass • Wilhelm Larsson

Brew U has at long last returned to Northpass and was wonderfully successful…We are proud of Colin and Catlin for their participation in Brew U (and enjoyed the fun they brought for us to drink. The Kitchen was run well by Friederich and his staff…the tripartite event stewardship of Apollodora, Francisco, and Magnus (the EK Brewers Guildmaster) set the stage, and the joy of brewing was shared to one and all. We are already making plans for another instance of this grand event in Northpass… and hope to incorporate Brewing in several other events between now and then.

The A&S in Northpass keeps growing with more activity then can be shared… Beyond Brewing, we are doing several A&S gatherings monthly across the Canton. Archery is becoming very successful with dreams of making other martial pursuits gather and practice soon. We have decided to become patrons of the martial arts by acquiring loaner gear or creating targets. We are restoring a local Gold Key.

We are not just active locally… We polled locals at our last commons and those from Northpass are helping (or even running things) at all of the listed upcoming Østgarðr events and demos… Locals are also attending (and /or helping with) Balfars, Daffodils, Roses, EK 50th and many, many more… Several locals are starting to plan or doing their jobs for Pennsic. We have been trying to create and maintain a dialog with all of our adjacent groups both in accordance with kingdom policy as well as being just good neighbors.

Looking forward we have plans for Blood and Axes in July, Barleycorn in September, Goats Tavern in October, Decameron in April 2019 and will be scheduling River Schola and Northpass Yule soon.

Lions End • Brekke Franksdottir

No report submitted.

Whyt Whey • Vika Grigina z Prahy

Picnic in the Ruins is coming up, Sunday, April 29th! Please come! It was super chill and nice last year.

  • Although we only have a permit for the Peristyle starting from 1pm, the core staff are intending to come early if the weather is at all decent, and do our thing on the verdant lawn surrounding the structure beforehand. We’ll make the determination on the Wed. or Thurs. prior as the weather forecast shapes up.
  • We have musicians, a fencing marshal, and a youth marshal. Would welcome dancemeisters and armored marshals if any are available to do their thing.
  • Still nowhere to change except the nearby public toilets. Sorry.

The date for the Cloisters demo looks to be Sep. 30. It may include one or more provincial martial championships, because Ducal Challenge is stepping on Barleycorn again.

Looking ahead to host a Schola in the fall again; we’ll spend the next couple of months scouting sites.

This month’s Solar was a recorder schola; multi-part harmony of joyful noises occurred. Next month will be “Project Management Techniques for A&S Projects” (if your humble correspondent manages to pull it together in time).

Our Webminister is moving to the Midrealm in a few months so the deputy will step up.

  • We have stepped up most of our office deputies at this point and are eagerly seeking new volunteers.

We are discussing bylaws–not specific ones quite yet, but bylaws as a concept. Discussion to continue via email and then in our next Commons, in July.

Brokenbridge • Brandr Aronsson

Our Commons / A&S days have been a great success, Out March A&S commons saw Sir Edward Zifran of Gendy teaching a standing room only needlepoint class. Much fun and bacon was had by all.

Upcoming April commons A&S day we have Mistress Sofya teaching a lace class, and yes there will be bacon and other comestibles.

Bacon Bridge is in the planning stages, we are still trying to locate a suitable location.

May Commons (TBD) will be our Pennsic 101 class. We have lots of new people coming to Pennsic this year.

Viking Demo is the same day as the half Marathon so plan accordingly. Lada will be coordinating the morning set up.