Present: Tómas, Leo, Marieke, Kastana, Æthelwulf, Miles, Seamus, Lily, Cat, Wigcliff, Robert, Sean, Rudth. Via Zoom: Nickolai, Guðrún , Stefania, Vindiorix, Lavina, William.
Seneschal: It’s been a busy quarter, and it’s gratifying to see so much engagement. Crown Tourney is coming up soon, and Leo will be the sole Freehold fighter in it. Also at Crown Tourney, Lisabetta will be elevated to the Order of the Laurel.
– On a different note, Tómas let us peek behind the seneschal’s curtain, when he explained that he intervened in a situation, where a Facebook posting on the Freehold page went awry, causing somebody to become upset, and he helped to straighten things out. He reminded us that it’s his job to deal with this sort of thing, and if he misses something, please bring it to his attention.
Election: As the year winds down, we come to another shire election season. Offices up for confirmation or re-election are: Seneschal, Minister of Arts and Sciences, Pursuivant, Archivist, Knight Marshal, and Fencing Marshal. Deputy positions are available as well. If you are thinking about running for an office, please reach out to the current office-holder, the Seneschal, or the corresponding regional officer for more information. Our election policy is here: https://mountainfreehold.eastkingdom.org/who-we-are/policies-and-procedures/branch-election-and-moot-procedures/.
Chatelain: Leo reports that the shire is in excellent health, we’re utilizing our resources well, and the officers are doing a great job. Just as one metric, the shire had 45 paid members in 2021, and this year we have 68. (Of course we treasure our non-members too!) – Leo can help people set up their Wiki pages. – Our deputy chatelaine for Gold Key, Carys, and her husband Rhodri, who have been very helpful at past Freehold events, have had to step back for a while. Nickolai will be our new Deputy Chatelain, and he will take over the Gold Key, starting at Crown Tourney. – There’s a plan afoot to have another online Shire History Discussion. – The Winter Renfaire in Essex will be on Feb. 2-3, and we’ll have a table as usual. Last year we held Mimir’s Well two weeks after, so interested folk could see us in action, and it was great for recruitment. Hopefully we can make a similar arrangement again this time. – We’ll need to print up some more “Ask me abou the SCA” buttons. – Leo is considering offering a Yule Feast bid, with Kastana as deputy autocrat, for Sat. Jan. 11, in the Barre Hall where 12th Night was last year. It’s our turn to host the event, and Leo has cleared use of the site with Panther Vale. Perhaps the Kelpie Cooks would consider doing the feast?
Crown Tourney: Marieke explained the logistics. Depending on the weather, it might be inside or outdoors. Set-up on Friday is strictly noon until 5 (which should be plenty of time.) The first few hours on Saturday will be chaotic, especially with parking and at the Gate/Troll – feel free to jump in and help out if you can. Later, stop by and visit Lisabetta while she’s on Vigil (she will have a special tent for that purpose) and Freeholders can help escort her into Court at the end of the day.
Social Media: At this meeting, we voted unanimously to create a Social Media Office for the shire, and to let Kastana become our first Social Media Officer. (She’s actually been on the job for several months.) Kastana, is working on the final touches to get a Freehold Discord Channel set up. Discord allows the possibility of recording meetings.
Other Doings: Seamus is hand-sewing a linen shirt with gussets. Wigcliff is crafting a hat of fur and wool. The Foresters had a bog walk earlier in the day, with 5 adults and several four-legged friends. Miles expressed how much fun he had at Pennsic, and he stayed in the Stonemarche camp because he’s their current Rapier Champion. He’s enjoying Forester activities as well.
Knight Marshal: Fighter practices have been ongoing, but a bit slow. We do have two new fighters that we picked up at Birthday Bash. Æthelwulf has the key to the school.
Fencing: Adult fencing has resumed, and youth fencing is expected to return in January. The current equipment is sufficient for needs. Nickolai and Sylvain are marshals-in-training. Cat apologized for cancelling on short notice last week, and all who are afflicted by migraines were in complete sympathy!
Arts and Sciences: Our next Shire A&S Champion will be selected at Mimir’s Well next spring. The Kingdom has put out a simplified judging rubric for local competitions. Guðrún had the same idea two years ago and came up a simplified rubric for our shire to use. At some future date we’ll have an A&S session dedicated to going over both of those versions, as well as a discussion of how to use rubrics when judging and being judged.
Nickolai: Nickolai is crafting rubber band guns for the fencers to play with; he’s also producing leather and wood board games. He is making inquiries with the Ethan Allen Homestead about using their Tavern for an as-yet-undisclosed purpose…
Archery: As our final business – a commendation to our Archery Marshals, Lavina and William, for enabling shire archers to play again! Their backyard range is convenient and well-appointed (not to mention, very safe!!) and we hope to shoot there on occasional weekends, well into the fall season.
The meeting lasted an hour, and adjourned on a spectacular autumn afternoon.