Posted inCommons

Commons Minutes for May 2018

June 11, 2018

The May commons meeting was held May 18 in Whyt Whey at the home of the Seneschal’s father-in-law. The location of this meeting was shifted at the last minute due a storm in the north of the province. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attending

  • Alienor Salton, Seneschal, Webminister
  • Beatrice della Rocca, Chatelaine
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Herald, Youth Marshal, Deputy Webminister
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal, Deputy Seneschal
  • Erich Guter Muth, Minister of Lists
  • Richard the Poor of Ely, Historian, Deputy Exchequer
  • Buenaventura Miguel Rivera de ponte roto, Northpass Exchequer
  • Luigi Vascili
  • Jacqueline Helene Loisel
  • Branimira of the Isles

Absent Officers

  • Suuder Saran, Viceroy
  • Lada Monguligin, Vicereine
  • Angelica di Nova Lipa, Exchequer
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Minister of Arts & Sciences
  • Ervald LaCoudre, Armored Combat Marshal
  • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir, Archery Marshal
  • Rufina Cambrensis, Chronicler
  • Ian of Clan Mitchell, Chamberlain
  • Wilhelm Larsson, Northpass Seneschal
  • Brekke Franksdottir, Lions End Seneschal
  • Vika Grigina z Prahy, Whyt Whey Seneschal
  • Brandr Aronsson, Brokenbridge Seneschal

Report Highlights

The Seneschal called attention to several items from the submitted reports.

  • Our new provincial champions are Ibrahim Al-Rashid for A&S and Ervald the Optimistic for bardic.
  • Østgarðr  took 4 of the 6 awards at Tournament of the Daffodils: Youth Fighting & Youth Thrown Weapons, Fencing, and Heavy List.
  • The new crown prince and princess of the East are Wilhelm Von Ostenbrucke and Vienna de la Mer.
  • The An Dubh Challenge event was enjoyable and closely-fought. (We lost.)
  • Folks wishing to attend EK 50 should pre-register soon and are welcome to camp in a group with the province.  Deadline is June 16th.
  • Viking Day will go on despite weather.  [Narrator: it did not.]
  • Chatelaine and others would like to hold a newcomer’s weekend.
  • Queen Caoilfhionn needs favors!
  • Please submit designs for field coronets for the viceregals to Mistress Sofya or Lady Angelica.
  • Regularly-scheduled practices continue for fencing in Central Park, armored fighting in Brooklyn, and archery in Northpass, Lions End, and Staten Island.

Events

  • The viceregals are looking at locations for a new event, perhaps for this winter.
    • The church in New Brighton (Staten Island) is nice, but expensive. Looking for other choices.
    • One idea under discussion is to make it a fundraiser, in which each fighter designates a charity they are inspired by and the winner’s selection receives a donation.  “Fight for a Cause.”
    • The fencers would appreciate being included in this structure.
  • Rowan: It would be nice to have a newcomer’s event / weekend, maybe a garb-making event.
  • It would be good to bid on more EK Royal Progress events, and should think about the sites we have and which events they would be appropriate for.
    • The site used for the King’s and Queen’s Championships in February was not very accessible; some people could not get downstairs.
    • Site used for last Crown Tourney also had accessibility problems.
    • We need to do more site development.

Expenditures

  • The province has a fair amount of money saved up, and could spend some if there were items that would be of benefit.
    • Erich: Other baronies operate on principle that should have two years cash on hand.
  • Rowan: Coronets seem like a reasonable purchase.
  • The fencers have said they would like to purchase some loaner gear for newcomers.
    • As with the other martial disciplines, they should put together a budget and we can get this moving forward.
  • Richard: Perhaps we could have regalia for officers, like badges or baldrics?
    • Beatrice & Apollodora made champions’ baldrics, which are lovely.
    • Maybe chains for officers with badges of their position?
  • Ben: The provincial Pennsic encampment could use some improvements.
    • Possible additions: new sheet walls, benches, stakes and lanterns.
    • Or maybe fund a party.
    • On the other hand, there’s a reasonable argument for not using provincial funds for this, as only some people attend Pennsic.
    • Maybe individuals/households could sponsor a sheet wall segment or other item?

Other Discussion

  • Northpass is very active; check out their calendar and web site.
  • Brekke is stepping down as seneschal of Lions End.
    • No letters of intent have been received yet.
    • Folks interested in serving should submit a letter of intent.
  • The Farmingdale demo is on track.
  • Whyt Whey’s picnic was a success.
  • Our heraldic request to Atlantia has gone unanswered; if you have some kind of “pull” with the royal court there that might lead them to look favorably on our request for permission to conflict, please let our herald know; otherwise we’ll need to proceed without it.
  • Richard is stepping down as historian after EK 50.
    • Folks interested in serving should submit a letter of intent.
    • If there are multiple candidates, an election will be held to determine the officeholder.

Next Meeting

  • June 15 in Northern Northpass at Apollodora and Francisco’s
  • July 20 in Long Island City at Ervald’s workplace.
  • August 17 is our scheduled meeting date, but no location has been selected. Perhaps combine a short mid-summer meeting with a post-Pennsic social opportunity?

Viceregals • Suuder Saran & Lada Monguligin

The Ostgardr loaner mug fund: We are now accepting donations to the mug fund.

New Bardic Champion: Ervald the Optimistic.

New A&S Champion: Ibrahim Al-Rashid

At The Tournament of the Daffodils, in the Shire of Midland Vale.  Ostgardr took 4 of the 6 awards for the tournaments.  Both Youth awards (Fighting and Thrown), Fencing, and the Heavy list Tournaments. We are proud of you all.

The An Dubhaigeainn/Ostgardr Challenge:  We lost, but no one seemed to be down about it.  Everyone brought their best and it kept ending in a Tie, so they ran tournaments again, Then it tipped in An Dub’s favor on the re-do.  But it was a great day, lots of fun was had by all. One promised gift and one gift given to Their Excellencies of An Dub. The promised gift is a Decoy Duck for Her Excellency, with the inscription “In Case of uprising or absence, place on Throne”  So she has a decoy to confuse any attackers. For His Excellency since during the day he protects a small portion of his lands for a job (Security) We gave him a plastic 99 cent store police baton, that at least looks menacing. (we couldn’t find one that squeaks like a dog toy). Needless to say it was a good day.

New Royals:  Their Royal Highnesses Wilhelm Von Ostenbrucke and Vienna de la Mer (Of the Blood Guard Household)

Ostgardr Camp at EK 50: Oliver de Bainbridge is the Ostgardr land agent. Deadline to pre-reg is June 16th. Please pre-register with Ostagrdr to ensure everyone has enough space in camp.

New site development: Saw the Church of Christ in New Brighton. We got pricing. It’s a bit out of our price range. See the contract that Alienor has a copy of for details. Going back to negotiate a full day rate.

Seneschal • Alienor Salton

No report submitted.

Exchequer • Angelica di Nova Lipa

Essentially the same as last month.

Rounding the figures, $7 thousand in Savings, $7.5 thousand in checking

$14.5 in total, which includes the funds held in trust for Brokenbridge and Nordenfjord.

I return to Ostgardr in June.

Chatelaine • Beatrice della Rocca

Gold Key: The Gold Key is in good condition, clean, and accounted for.

Chatelaine Kits: I have a prototype of the new Chatelaine’s Kit for demo autocrats, and would like to try it out at the upcoming Farmingdale Demo. Who can I get in touch with to make that happen?

Deputy: I have asked the Webminister to create an email address for my deputy, so I can include her on all Chatelaine correspondence. As she becomes more comfortable and familiar with the processes, I will start delegating more responsibilities to her, allowing me to focus on new projects, such as the chatelaine kits, and the setting up of an updated newcomer’s hand book.

Newcomer Weekends: I want to see if it would be possible to have a newcomer’s weekend. We’ve had a request to assist a local newcomer going to Pennsic. They have never been before, and don’t have garb. I don’t know how feasible this is, and would appreciate advice and help.

Viking Day Demo: It looks like it’s going to rain. Who is the autocrat for this demo?

Newcomers: I’ve had several newcomers asking me about getting involved, and have accessibility needs. I’m trying to get in contact with the Southern Region Accessibility coordinator, and email doesn’t seem to be working. Is there a better way of contacting her?

Arts & Sciences • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste

Ostgardr A&S Champions day was held at Lions Awakens- April 21st- Congratulations to Ibrahim al-Rashid our new A&S Champion and Lord Ervald the Optimistic, our new Bardic champion! Vivat!

Queen Caoilfhionn still needs favors!  The favor design is available on our Ostgardr 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, again, to Lady Apollodora for digitizing the design!

EastKingdom50: We are getting closer to EK50 and Team Ostgardr is hard at work preparing Ostgardr’s Hall of History display. A detailed report will be available for June commons.

Coronet Committee: We are still 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

Apologies for the lateness of this report; this month has been busy.

I followed up with Atlantia regarding permission to conflict with their “Award of the Sea-Urchin” for our proposed youth order, but I have not received a reply. If anyone has connections at the Atlantian court that might encourage them to look favorably on our submission, that might be helpful. Otherwise I recommend that we adjust the name of the new order to clear the conflict.

I’ve processed a couple of submissions for the populace, and assisted with preparing a badge submission for Northpass.

I’m continuing to work on a provincial heraldic history for display at EK 50.

Armored Combat • Ervald LaCoudre

No report submitted.

Fencing • Alec MacLachlan

Fencing continues in Central park on Wednesday night.  We have had 3-5 fencers come. (Usually 3). I have picked up a light weight loaner rapier to help get people started.

The Lion’s End practice on late Sunday afternoons hasn’t been happening lately as people can’t make it.

I have arranged to attended practices in Northpass and Midland Vale.  The Northpass practice will be Thursday, 5/24 in Valhalla.

And we fielded a 3 man melee team at the Challenge event

Archery • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir

No report submitted.

Youth Combat • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

I haven’t had much luck recruiting local kids with interest in showing up for practices and small events here in the city — or to be more precise, there have been a bunch of kids who’ve tried youth combat once and loved it, but when I reach out to their non-SCA parents about bringing their kids to another event or showing up for a practice, they almost never manage to take that next step. I’m going to chat with some other youth marshals elsewhere in the EK to get a better sense of how many of them have been successful at recruiting youth fighters from non-SCA families and see if I can learn how they’ve made that work.

In the meantime, I’ve run youth combat activities at regional events outside the city on three of the four weekends since our last meeting, and am looking forward to public demos at Viking Fest and Farmingdale this coming month.

I’ve started the process for renewing my background check paperwork, which would otherwise expire in August. The rumored change in EK policy to require additional background-checked individuals at events has not materialized, so I’ve held off on seeking background checks for the two people who volunteered to go through that if needed, but I will follow up on that if the situation changes.

Minister of Lists • Erich Guter Muth

I’ll try to keep this brief. I have nothing to report.

Webminister • Alienor Salton

No report submitted.

Chronicler • Rufina Cambrensis

I will be unable to attend Commons this Friday.

After looking at electronic versions of articles for the “Best of the Seahorse” booklet, I pulled out the hardcopies to see how they would look in print.  Some of the articles I had initially selected are too long for inclusion (frex, Ana’s Spain travelogue was serialized over six issues!), but I still have plenty of good material (a nice blend of poetry, cookery, Thing-making, and puzzles/games).  How many copies would you like us to print?

I have examined Chronicler’s Policy at the Kingdom and Corporate level, and do not see any policy specifically addressing a local newsletter reprinting material that was published in an earlier [i.e., pre-Release Form requirements] issue of the same publication, but Better Safe Than Sorry–tonight I will send the authors copies of the SCA Creative Work Copyright Assignment/Grant of Release Form.

Chamberlain • Ian of Clan Mitchell

No report submitted.

Historian • Richard the Poor of Ely

Nothing really new to report. Preparations continue for EK50.

Northpass • Wilhelm Larsson

Greetings from Northpass to the Crown Province of Østgarðr!

We had a month without a local event to speak about…but we are looking forward to the upcoming Blood and Axes and The Knighting of John Barleycorn events as well as a Demo in White Plains… What I mean by this is we have a short break and then we will have constant events (Goats Tavern, Not Just Desserts, River Schola, Games and Dance, and Northpass Yule) throughout the rest of the calendar year. The break is good as we have been focusing otherwise.

Archery is still very active and we have made a financial commitment (of $700) to equip the newest who are learning to shoot with fine equipment as they begin in this activity. We have been seeing 8 bowmen and the activity is an unqualified success. Also in pursuit of furthering this, others are working toward becoming marshals. The kingdom will be well protected with our growing prowess!

The project for creating a local Northpass Gold Key moved forward as the cloth was purchased. We are very grateful to Seònaid inghean Mhic Aoidh for heading this project. She also was instrumental in moving forward our project to get a local populace badge approved. Voting is nearly completed and is actually very competitive at this point! Because things must (in this case at least) come in threes I would share that she has been designated to represent Northpass as my proxy at this month`s Østgarðr commons. (Please accept with apologies that my place is with my youngest as he turns 5 on that day.)

Despite the “break” that we are experiencing between events we do have a few things to keep us busy in the next weeks … We have upcoming a Game Day, Embroidery Circle, and a Pewter Casting session. We are looking to schedule an armoring session and look to start an armored combat practice soon. We have a good amount of excitement for the launch of the Northpass Dance practice… and as mentioned previously the archery practice is continuing…  I should conclude by sharing the exciting news that we will be proudly holding our first fencing practice in memory on May 24th!

For much more detail of our activity, you can read our newsletter at http://northpass.eastkingdom.org/Stronghold/May-2018-newletter.pdf .

Lions End • Brekke Franksdottir

In regard to the seneschalate:  I need to step down as of the end of June; I’m burnt out and really should not do the job again for a while.  We need a new seneschal, and have no qualified candidates. The candidate I had in mind is making arrangements for her retirement and has a lot of other things on her mind.

I am also taking on more responsibility at my local church; I am one of the two wardens, and our rector is stepping down as of 31. I have also agreed to become the new mentor of our Education for Ministry classes, as this has been calling to me for most of the year, and this will take much of my “spare time”.  (Yes, I’m retired, but there are other considerations in my life, as well.)

Our April event garnered a small “profit”; it will probably cover inflation and some of next years’ expenses.  Although attendance was light, it was a delightful day and enjoyed by all attending. Since our event usually conflicts with Balfour’s  Challenge, we consider it a success. Thank you to Friedrich Grimm and Lilli, who came down from Northpass to help us out. With Arnbiorg, and her crew, Friedrich was more than helpful.  (Arriving to coffee and hot water for tea before the event started was a big plus for me.)

Our June 2 demo is on track; please, everybody, come and show your stuff.  We’re “ON” from 10 to 4; setup starts at 8, and I’m hoping we’ll be out of there by 6.  The town is supplying water bottles and reimbursing us for the floral “prizes” we’re hoping to distribute through the audience.  Friedrich can have “open flame” (read “contained fire) for his cooking demonstration, and we should provide fire extinguishers just in case.  (Mine, being over 10 year old, need replacing, and I’ll supply the new ones for the day and take them home afterward.) We need fighters and displays, preferably “hands on”, with informal classes as desired.  It should be a fun day, as well as educational.

Warning; The town’s already talking about “next year”.

We’re also talking about the “when” of next year’s Lions Awaken event; April 2019 is already very full.

Whyt Whey • Vika Grigina z Prahy

We had a Picnic on Apr. 29!  It was well-attended by both SCA folks and interested passers-by*, in spite of unexpectedly chilly and breezy weather and a slightly truncated run-time.  There was fighting, youth fighting, fencing, music, dancing, and fiber arts.

  • (Including local media, which was duly reported to the Kingdom Media Officer.)

May’s Solar last week was “Project Management Techniques for A&S Projects” (you can catch the rerun at Pennsic).  June’s will be a lecture on “Powerful Viking Women”.

We have set up a widget so that posts to the Canton website are auto-reflected to the populace & officer mailing lists both.  It’s not pretty, but it works. Happy to share the process to anyone who’s interested.

Brokenbridge • Brandr Aronsson

Things in the Canton over the Bridge are busy busy busy. Our April commons was the best attended yet with over twenty people learning lace making from the wonderfully amazing Mistress Sofia.

May commons will be a Pennsic 101 primer for all our Pennsic first timers. And yes as always there will be bacon.

Speaking of Bacon we have decided to postpone Bacon Bridge 2 – “The Baconing” until next year in order to secure a more appropriate site. Rondve’ Litle Hammar will be the event Steward.

We have secured our dates for Deck The Halls of Valhalla III – “This Time It’s Personal” –  January 12 2019. Ragnar Blisskegg has graciously volunteered to be the Event Steward.

Last but not least we are looking for a good strong turn out for the Viking Demo on Saturday the 19th.