Corporeally Present: Gudrun, Thomas, Lily, Cat, Leo.
Via Zoom: Marieke, Dafydd, Dietrich, Carys, Katherine, Aethelwulf

We jumped right into Officer Reports –

Fencing Marshal

  • Cat has taken over the office of Fencing Marshal from Lily. Practices will continue as before. Cat and Lily will be unavailable for a month in June/July, but Leo can run practices in their absence. We now have a pair of fencing spears, which will be fun to poke people with.
  • Thomas has found two pairs of gloves, one for children and one for adults.
  • Dietrich spoke with a student in the UVM HEMA club. They practice on Wednesdays and Saturdays at UVM. There’s a possibility for collaboration and cross-pollenization.

Chatelain

  • Leo reminded us that the Winter Renaissance Faire is in three weeks. Our insurance is approved. He’ll submit a budget for incidental expenses (printing, etc.). Friday Feb. 3 is set-up, and then the Faire is open from 8-6 on Saturday and Sunday. He needs three types of volunteers: 1) fighters and fencers to demo those skills; 2) garbed SCAdians circulating in the crowd to draw people to our table; and 3) subject-area experts to sit at the table for four-hour shifts, to discuss an area of their particular passion.
  • Leo has obtained some sample vinyl stickers with the Freehold Arms. They are 3×3 but the next batch will be 4×4. They come to about $1.75 each if we get a batch of 50 printed; we can sell them for $2
    Gudrun is editing and captioning the recording of the Freehold History Panel we held virtually, covering our shire’s beginnings up to the mid-80’s. There may be another in March or April to cover through the 90’s.
  • Leo is continuing to publish the monthly Spotlights for individual Freeholders (or couples!). If you would like to be interviewed, let him know. This helps our community grow and connect.
  • Leo is seeking assistance to help with developing the Siege Weapons and Thrown Weapons programs.

Seneschal

  • Kingdom Curia will be held virtually in early February.
  • If you’re an officer, be sure to send Thomas copies of your reports when you submit to Kingdom.
  • Officers, please check your Office Gmail accounts at least once a week.

Arts and Sciences

  • Gudrun held a rubric class recently. The rubric is for judging entries in our Shire A&S Champion competition in the spring. The rubric is modified and simplified from the version used by the Kingdom. The competition’s theme, “Anachronism,” is set by our current Champion, Lily.
  • Gudrun is working on adding an Arts and Sciences calendar to our website, so people can keep track of classes and other opportunities.
    Next month’s A&S class (Sunday, Feb 12) will be hosted by the Soothsayers Guild.
  • The Cook’s Guild, led by Katherine, will start holding meetings on the Fourth Sunday of each month, starting at 1 pm. We are allowed to use the home ec room in our usual Sunday meeting site if we keep it clean.

Web Minister

  • The shire website will be down, for Kingdom maintenance, on Monday, Feb. 20 (apologies, I said January in the meeting.)

Exchequer

  • Dietrich has taken over from Katherine as our Exchequer. He is exploring the details of switching our bank account to the M&T Bank. The officers voted to allow him the authority to make the switch if it makes sense, after further investigation and consultation with the shire’s Finance Committee.
  • The all-important year-end report will be done by Katherine in collaboration with Dietrich.
  • As a normal part of transitioning Exchequers, the shire will undergo a financial audit.
  • Yule Feast made a profit,and our bank account balance was announced.
  • Thomas noted that Kingdom rules allow us to purchase a trailer to hold our shire’s belongings, if we so wish.

Gold Key

  • Leo has received a donation of Gold Key garb and will meet with Carys to assimilate it.
  • Dafydd thanked Carys and Rhodri for their skilful assistance with Gold Key and Gate at Yule.

Pursuivant

  • Findabhair is the new Deputy Pursuivant, and Dafydd will be showing her the ropes.
  • Dafydd and Edouard (the Panther Vale pursuivant) talked at Twelfth Night about collaboration and cross-training.
  • Thomas asked about his submission from six months ago. Dafydd said it can take up to a year for these to go through.

Heavy List

  • Heavy list fighting has been on a break because of the holidays. Practices have been small but steady for the last few months. Aethelwulf has received a set of large-size loaner armor from Dietrich and it’s already in use. They’ll be switching out the elbows for a roomier set.

Awards at Twelfth Night

  • We congratulated the folk who received awards from Their Majesties at Twelfth Night: Awards of Arms for Gotar and Kastana; Silver Crescents for Aethelwulf and Thomas; a Maunche for Gudrun; a Silver Brooch for Dafydd, and a triple whammy for Svanr – Order of the Tygers Combattant, Consort’s Order of Courtesy, and a Silver Brooch!

Upcoming Freehold Events

  • It seems we do not have anybody lined up to organize Mimir’s Well. This is a day of classes, usually with a dayboard. It’s usually held in early spring. (Needed: a site, an autocrat, a dayboard cook, a class coordinator)
  • We also usually hold Fool’s Feast in April. This event usually has a sit-down feast. It also hosts our “silly A&S” contest. If Mimir’s Well doesn’t happen, then our Shire A&S Championship Competition will also be held at this event. (Needed: a site, an autocrat, and a feast cook or pot-luck organizer.)
    If you are interested in running either of these events, let Thomas know!

Archery

  • Smitty has a connection to the Pelkey’s Archery Range in St. Albans. We can practice there if we’re not in garb. It’s a 20-yard indoor range for the winter. There would be a $30 group fee for each practice session. Smitty is willing to front that, and participants would reimburse her to the extent that they are able. We need to consider whether this is an “official” practice, in which case we’d need an archery marshal; or if it’s unofficial.

We adjourned after about an hour.