Officers – Page 24 – Stórfréttir

12th Night Top 10 from the Baroness

We had a wonderful time this past Saturday at 12th Night! Thank you to the autocrats, THL Elss and THL Muirgheal, and all your staff. It was a day of merriment and laughter! Here are some of out favorite moments, in no particular order:

The Court of Misrule, administered skillfully and with maximum ridiculousness by the incomparable I Genesii. The King (Lord Kuma), and the Queen (Lady Aine) of Misrule declared many silly things, including calling all Peers “Monster” or “Monstress”, and voguing instead of bowing, among other silliness. It was fun!
Our beautiful new red wool garb, made in just a week by Mistress Ts’vee’a. Thank you!
The ball! An amazing time dancing, with so many dancers! One of the best balls in the Kingdom every year. Thank you to Lord Pavel and all the musicians! And thank you for allowing the Baron and Baroness a dance to ourselves (Rosiboli Gioioso) to end the night. It was lovely!
The Amazing Auction of Highly Desirable Items. Always so much cool stuff, and again, raised enough to cover the cost of the event, so our yearly revel can remain free! Thank you for running it again, Baroness Elizabeth. And, uh, sorry about Otto and Carl bidding on everything… I’ll make sure to explain to them what a “minimum bid” is next time….
The Baronial Bard competition was superb! You made me laugh so hard! Vivat to our new champ, THL Silence!
The Pillow fights! The kids just kept going and going – so much fun! Thanks to THL Jorundr and Mistress Arianna for running it, and Lady Arthes for MOLing, plus THL Muirgheal stepping in to marshal when the kids wanted to keep going after time was up.
Cookies! Thank you Meistari Urho for running the cookie competition again. They were tasty, tasty things! I picked Snickertangles as my favorite. Snickerdoodles and Tang!! Lady Luceta plays to the audience. 🙂
Court. Small and fun, and always a favorite, to recognize folks that give so much to our beloved Barony! A privilege and honor. And…ummm…. I’m really sorry about throwing the kisses so hard. Baronessing lesson #243: largesse tossing… always underhand!
The wonderful A&S entries. Thanks to all that entered, and congratulations to the new champ, THL Bugga, for her beautiful knitted socks.
The amazing rubbings activity run by Lady Maire. Just beautiful artwork! And thank you for providing an extra prize for Court!
(What, so I can’t count…) The Brewers’ Tap Room. Mmmmmmm. ‘Nuff said.

And of course, the very best thing…all of you! A beautiful day of laughter and eating and drinking and frolicking and fun. Exactly what a 12th Night should be! Thank you all so much!

~Baroness Hilda

Winter Missive from the Baron & Baroness

Hello Debatable Lands!

As we write this, the weather is cold, but the days will soon be getting longer, and we are all enjoying the warmth of our hearths and homes. As our King and Queen have said, we know that this season can be difficult for some. Know that our thoughts are with you, you are valued, and you have friends to lean on; please do, if you need to.

Thanks to all our retainers, champions, scribes, those who make tokens, and everyone who has helped make our Courts this year fun and easy, particularly Lady Rivka, THL Rachel, and THL Jorundr. THL Jorundr has stepped down as Comet Pursuivant (Herald), and we thank him deeply for his years of fruitful service to the Barony. Welcome to Master Kieran, new Comet Pursuivant!

We are now looking forward to Baronial 12th Night on January 21st. The day is full of revelry, joy, fun activities and it is FREE! Ever wanted to introduce a friend or coworker to the SCA? Baronial 12th Night is the ideal event to bring them to! Read more here.

We are very excited to say that our new A&S Champion will be chosen at 12th Night. No theme, but bring your best! The Debatable Lands A&S Champs is a point of pride for us, as we do have the best artisans in the Knowne World after all…. All levels are encouraged to enter, and works-in-progress are welcome. There will be a display area for those not wishing to enter and thereby de-virginize their projects (Ice Dragon, it’s a thing…).

We’ll also be choosing the new Baronial Bardic Champion that fine day. The theme for the Bardic Champs is “Make Us Laugh, Make Us Cry, or Both!” Songs, stories and all bardic forms welcome!

Steltonwald 12th Night is coming up soon, too, on January 28th. A fun and unique event, a party at a restaurant. Read more here.

Additionally, we are very low on Comet award tokens. If anyone would like to donate some, we would appreciate it very much. We would very much prefer to give pouches as tokens, or other usable items, but medallions or belt favors are welcomed with gratitude. We also do need medallion/pouch strings. Let us know if you’d be able to help us with this, and we can give you more details.

Thank you all so much for being vibrant and integral to this amazing hobby of ours, that is so much more than a hobby. If you ever have and questions or comments, please do contact us by phone (See the Dark Pages) or email (baron@debatablelands.org, and baroness@debatablelands.org), or by social media (Hilda on Facebook, Brandubh on G+). We will see you soon!

In Levitate et Caritate, and Cheers,
Baron Brandubh, and Baroness Hilda

A and S at Washington Blvd NOT on Nov 13th

As this Sunday is the Barony Meeting and Practices with PIE at the Castle in Wexford, there will be no A&S at Washington Blvd. Make PIE, eat PIE, vote for PIE!

Also, I am looking for an indoor location for us to meet, so please keep your eyes open and let me know if you find anything around. Examples of places on my list so far: Panera (but no privacy or reservations); Stoke’s Bar on McKnight Rd (private room available); JoAnne Fabrics (unused classrooms, reservations needed); Tech Shop (East Liberty (on bus routes, probably free).

So, looking for: anywhere central, easily accessible by bus, and free or low cost. Let me know of any ideas!

Thanks, Elss Augsburg
BMDL Minister of A&S

Autumn Letter from the Baron & Baroness (Thanks, Champs, PIE, and Recommendations!)

Hello Debatable Lands!

It’s been a busy fall season so far, with both Archers to the Wald and Agincourt in October, and of course the practices and meetings we’ve all been enjoying. We want to thank the autocrats of our events, THL Aaliz and Baroness Constance, and their amazing staff members for putting on impressive events. Not only did the people of the Debatable Lands enjoy the days, but you showed the entire Kingdom what this Barony can do, as it hosted four of the Kingdom Championships. Vivant to you all!

Speaking of Champions… Congratulations to our new Baronial Champions this fall! Lord Ronan O’Connal is our Archery Champion, with Duncan MacCoulagh as second, Carl MacBranduibh is our Youth Archery Champion, and Lord Kuma is our new Thrown Weapons Champion, with Eorl Byron as his second. Vivant to you all, and we hope many Debatable Landers will join us in Endless Hills on Sept 9th, 2017, to cheer them on as they compete in the Seven Pearls Championships.

Thanks, too, to all our retainers, champions, scribes, those who make tokens, and everyone who has helped make our Courts fun and easy, particularly Lady Rivka, THL Jorundr, and THL Rachel.

We’re very much looking forward to our annual Harvest Revel and Barony Meeting coming up in November. Don’t forget to bring your PIE! For in PIE there, is GLORY!

As the weather cools, we are now looking forward to Baronial 12th Night on January 21st. We will be holding Court then, and we need Comet Recommendations! If you see someone working and playing here in the Debatable Lands, and you think they should be recognized in Baronial Court, don’t hesitate to write to us to let us know! baron@debatablelands.org, and baroness@debatablelands.org. Additionally, we are very low on Comet award tokens. If anyone would like to donate some, we would appreciate it very much. We prefer to give pouches as tokens, but other ideas are medallions or belt favors. Let us know if you’d be able to help us with this, and we can give you more details.

Thank you all so much for being vibrant and integral to this amazing hobby of ours, that is so much more than a hobby. If you ever have and questions or comments, please do contact us by phone or email (See the Dark Pages), or by social media (Hilda on Facebook, Brandubh on G+). We will see you soon!

In Levitate et Cartitate, and Cheers,

Baron Brandubh and Baroness Hilda

Calling All Throwers! Champs This Saturday!

Hello Debatable Lands!

Our Baronial Thrown Weapons Championship Throw is this Saturday at Agincourt! We hope to see throwers of all ages compete! Our outgoing Champion, Master Clewin has prepared a fun time for you all.

The Championship throw will be at 2pm. Loaner gear is available. The range will be open earlier for warm ups, courtesy of our industrious marshal, Lord Kuma. Thanks!

All are invited to throw, but only Debatable Landers are eligible to be Baronial Champion. We ask that the new Champion be available to throw in the Seven Pearls competition on Sept 9, 2017.

In Levitate et Caritate, and Cheers,
Baron Brandubh and Baroness Hilda

And don’t forget, both Queen’s Rapier Champs (10:15 am) and Kingdom Youth Fighting Champs (1 pm) are that day as well…. let’s show the Kingdom what Debatable Landers can do! Can’t wait!

Calling All Archers! Champs This Saturday!

Hello Archers of the Debatable Lands, from Baron Brandubh and Baroness Hilda!

This Saturday is Archers to the Wald, in our Canton of Steltonwald. In addition to hosting the Kingdom Archery and Thrown Weapons Championships, it was also host the Debatable Lands Archery Championship and the Debatable Lands Youth Archery Championship!

We’d like to invite all archers to come and participate!

Master Urho, our outgoing Archery Champion, has a short and fun shoot planned for 11 am. All may participate, but only Debatable Landers are eligible to be Champion. (There will be other ranges open, too – it’s Archers to the Wald!) We ask that the new Champion be available on September 9th, 2017, to shoot for the 7 Pearls Championship against the other Baronies’ champs.

Baron Brandubh will be running the Youth Archery Championship at 1pm. This championship is open to youths 16 and under from the Debatable Lands and surrounding groups as well, as there are less opportunities for our region’s youth to participate in champs shoots.

We can’t wait to see you at the Baronial Champs shoots! And let’s show the Kingdom what our archers and throwers can do, too!

From the Kingdom Seneschal — SCA Insurance

Good Gentles:

Below is an official announcement from the Society Seneschal regarding the SCA Insurance. Event autocrats and local seneschals should be familiar with this and the limitations outlined in this message.

If you have any questions please drop me a line.

Yours,

Duke Christopher
Seneschal, Aethelmearc

———-

Greetings to all Kingdom Seneschals,

Questions about the SCA’s insurance coverage have come up over the past year and I would like to clarify matters.

1. An officially sanctioned event conveys “coverage” of officers and the Society against litigation and does not provide medical insurance to attendees. (A participant was recently injured at an event and while the individual had sufficient health insurance, someone had a question regarding our insurance and if it applied to our participants. The answer is no, our insurance does not cover injuries sustained during SCA activities at SCA events.)

2. Our insurance does not cover stolen property. This is especially true if we rent something with wheels, like a golf cart; it is incumbent upon the group renting the item (vehicle, trailer et al.) to obtain insurance for the item with wheels from the company that rents the item. (We recently had golf carts stolen from an event and the group was out of pocket for the golf cart.)

3. The SCA’s insurance does not cover the intentional damage to event sites inflicted by our participants. (Within the last year or so, someone came upon a locked gate at an event and then drove through the gate; this intentional tort is not covered by our insurance and the group was forced to compensate the site owner.)

Our insurance over the past ten years has become increasingly more expensive and there is no way for our organization to cover the insuring our participants, rented property or intentional damage to a site.

Please pass this down to your local group seneschals.

Best regards,

A.J. Pongratz
Vice President of Operations, SCA Inc.
Society Seneschal

Subscribe to the Official BMDL Facebook Page by going to https://www.facebook.com/BMDLOfficial/

Subscribe to the Official BMDL G+ Page by going to https://plus.google.com/b/113124989304184885338/113124989304184885338/posts?gmbpt=true&hl=en

Follow the Official BMDL Twitter feed by going to https://twitter.com/the_bmdl and using the official hashtag #DebatableLands

September Letter from the Seneschal

The September letter is delayed to allow the Althing to publish the letter first. This will happen every month that coincides with the publication of the Althing. Otherwise, look for the letter from the Senschal during the first week of the month.

Greetings to the Most Excellent Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands!

Pennsic has come and gone and the one thing that stayed strongest with me is seeing how many Barony people were not only enjoying the event but how many people donated their time to making Pennsic happen. Everywhere I looked there was someone from Our Barony making it possible for everyone to enjoy themselves. I extend my thanks and appreciation for your taking some time out of your vacation so that others may enjoy theirs.

If you weren’t able to volunteer this year, there are still so many opportunities for you to share what you learned at Pennsic now that it’s over.

If you attended a class at Pennsic, please consider sharing what you learned at one of the weekly A&S classes being held by our A&S Minister, Elss. She will be hosting a variety of classes at the Washington Blvd practice site on Sundays and is looking for teachers. If you would like to teach a class, please contact her via email at ansminister@debatablelands.org. If you’ve never taught a class before and would like to share what you’ve learned, Elss or I can guide you to some resources to help you do that.

If you aren’t comfortable teaching a class, consider submitting an article to either the Althing or the Debatable Blog. The Chronicler and Webminister are always looking for articles and can be reached at chronicler@debatablelands.org and webminister@debatablelands.org. The Althing is published quarterly and the Debatable Blog publishes on an as-needed basis, so you can work on your schedule and still be able to share your knowledge with the Barony. Articles are not restricted to the Arts and Sciences, if you have a martial bent, an article about how to get started in Heavy Weapons, Fencing, Thrown Weapons, Equestrian, Youth Fighting, and Archery would be very welcome, particularly by our new participants who may be curious about what the Arts Martial are all about. If you would like to share new techniques or information about your Martial Art, please share those as well.

That’s not all – on the 28th through the 30th of October, we have our yearly Agincourt event. It will be at Camp Bucoco and there will be a little something for everyone. Head over to the event page for details.

We are also very proud to unveil two new social media accounts for Official information from the Barony – An Official BMDL Facebook page and a BMDL Twitter feed. The facebook feed augments the already very active unofficial group and will be regularly updated with posts from the Debatable Blog, official news, and event announcements. There is no reason to unsubscribe from the unofficial group and it will continue to be a place for conversation and information. The Twitter feed will feature the same information and is provided for those who are on one platform but not the other.

To subscribe to the Official BMDL Social Media Accounts —

The Official BMDL Facebook Page

The Official BMDL G+ Page

The Official BMDL Twitter The official hashtag is #DebatableLands

If you prefer to get this Official information via email, you can subscribe to the blog via email, just look for “Subscribe to the Blog via Email” on the right-hand side of the blog page. The Barony’s email list will continue to exist as there are still so many people that get their information that way. This is just another way to access information about things happening in and around the Barony.

There is so much going on and we are providing as many ways as possible to share this information in a way that people can access easily. We don’t want you to miss anything!

As always, if you have any ideas about how to improve anything in the Barony or have concerns, I am available via email (seneschal@debatablelands.org) or in person at events and meetings.

In Service to the Barony,

Odriana, Seneschal

New Social Media Accounts – What to Expect

As you may have seen in the September Althing, we are adding some Official Social Media accounts. These accounts were created in order to provide Official information and updates from the Officers, Guild Masters, etc. directly from the Althing Blog. This is only possible with Facebook and G+ “Pages”. The current, unofficial, groups are classified as “Groups” and can not be posted to directly using the blog.

These groups were not created to displace these unofficial groups, but entirely as a supplement to them. I was quite disappointed that we were unable to post directly to the unofficial groups as that would be far easier for everyone, but, having a central point of information distribution means that we don’t accidentally forget to post something somewhere and leave people out of the loop. I want to be sure that everyone has lots of time before we fully transition announcements and updates to the Official pages, so, starting on 15 September 2016, official announcements will appear in both the Official and the Unofficial Facebook and G+ groups for a period of two months (ending on 15 November 2016). At the end of each announcement will be the following:

Subscribe to the Official BMDL Facebook Page by going to https://www.facebook.com/BMDLOfficial/

Subscribe to the Official BMDL G+ Page by going to https://plus.google.com/b/113124989304184885338/113124989304184885338/posts?gmbpt=true&hl=en

Follow the Official BMDL Twitter feed by going to https://twitter.com/the_bmdl and using the official hashtag #DebatableLands

This will happen until 15 November 2016 at which point all announcements will only appear on the Official Pages. I have blocked out those dates on the Baronial Calendar with the same information above in the details of the event as an additional point of information. Every effort will be made to ensure that this information is distributed in as many places as possible so that no one is unaware of this change.

For those of you who rely on the BMDL email list for information, that will not be changing. Announcements and official information will continue to be posted on the email list as they have in the past. We do encourage people to subscribe to the Blog via email but are not eliminating the email list at this time.

The Blog is also in search of content. Do you have an article that you’ve been thinking about writing? Are you of a poetic bent and would like to share your talent with the Barony? Are you making something and want to share how you did it with others? Please consider sharing that with the Blog. If you have something that you’d like to share or just an idea that you think would be good to put on the Blog, please send email to either the Webminister, Ishiyama, or the Seneschal, Odriana.

Officers Meeting Minutes

Starting with the June 2016 Meeting, the minutes for Officer’s Meeting will be made available here on the Blog by the end of the month of that Officer’s Meeting. If you have any questions, please contact the Seneschal, Odriana vander Brugghe.

Meeting Date: 17 August 2016
Minutes Recorded by: Odriana vander Brugghe

Officers in attendance: Brandubh, Hilderun, Odriana, Jorundr, Isenwulf, Elss, Hara, Anna, Ishiyama.

Others in attendance: Elizabeth, Bataar, Kieran, Lijsbet (visiting from Delftwood), Liam

The meeting was opened and the previous meeting’s minutes were approved by the Officers.

Officer Reports:

Baron and Baroness
We hope everyone had a wonderful Pennsic. We certainly did, and many folks from our Most Excellent Barony. We’d specifically like to thank Mistress Arianna for land-o-cratting, Master Emrys (Broom) for acting as our camp Reeve, and Master Antonio and THL Renata as his assistants, who did much of the set up. Also, Lady Rivka, our head retainer, was incredible and there for us, arranging retainers and whatever else we needed, every step of the way, and joining Her Excellency in the ice towel adventures! Also, THL Muirgheal, who helped Rivka significantly. Also Baron William and Mistress Irene, who supported the camp and us in every way. And the folks at their first Pennsic who were ready to jump in wherever they were needed, for Court set-up, retaining, opening ceremonies, feeding us, and more: Lady Katerra, Eleanora, Ronan, and Dorothea. Special shout out to Lady Elizabeth of the Debatable Lands, who help muchly with tear down and stayed to the very end.

Thank you also to Master Liam for putting on a wonderful Baronial Party on Sunday, along with his staff, Baroness Constance, Lady Arthes, Lord Alistair, Lady Katheryn, Lord Yoshi, and I’m sure more I’m forgetting (with apologies).

We’d also like to call out the Kingdom Officers in this Most Excellent Barony who worked hard for the Kingdom and the War. Their Majesties Byron and Ariella (Being Royal at War is no small service), Duke Christopher as Seneschal, Baron Tofi as Exchequer, and Baroness Gwendolyn as Jewel Herald, as well as Master Janos as War Chamberlain, Duchess Tessa as Earl Marshal, and Kameshima-kyo as Silver Buccle Herald. And all of their staff, a good deal of whom were Debatable Landers. Also to Lady Anaya, who served on Land Staff.

We will send more thank yous to the lists – there were so many who contributed so much.

Coming up, please do send us recommendation letters for Comets for Archers to the Wald, Agincourt, and 12th Night, all of which will have Baronial Courts. Additionally, we will be holding our Archery and Youth Archery Champs at Archers to the Wald, and Thrown Weapons and Youth Fighting Champs at Agincourt. We look forward to seeing the prowess of our archers, throwers and youth fighters, for the glory of our Barony!

Also, we hoped everyone is enjoying the Excellent Towels. If you didn’t get one, never fear, we will be making more!

As always, we are available to discuss anything Barony with anyone. We are available in person, by phone, by email, and on social media (Hilda on Facebook, Brandubh on G+)

–Additional – The Baronage wanted to highlight the service of the following gentles at Pennsic: Baroness Soteria with her work with Sylvan Army Support. Baroness Anna was at the inspection point on the Battlefield every day. Lady Adeliz was second in charge of DART (she was DART2).

Seneschal
The July Barony Meeting was very successful. Nearly everything that was offered in the garb exchange was taken and Sylvan Army Support raised $200 in the auction. We had a fantastic turnout and folks seemed to have a good time.

I am sure that Their Excellencies have an extensive list of folks that contributed at Pennsic and who were recognized for their skills, prowess, and service both at the Baronial and Kingdom level. The thing that I was proudest of was seeing folks from the BMDL pretty much everywhere doing basically everything. So very proud of us.

I communicated with Byron & Ariella about the November Harvest Revel Barony Meeting and they said that either Nov. 6th or 13th work. I was going to go with the 13th. To avoid conflict with King’s Crossing’s Birthday B(r)all event, this was agreed to by the officers.

Starting with September, I will be putting out a Seneschal’s letter on the first of the month on the BMDL Blog. The letter for the Althing will be delayed until after the quarterly publication to give them priority in publication months. I encourage everyone to consider doing the same to increase communication with the Barony.

Exchequer
There was an increase in the trailer storage costs at Cooper’s Lake so a new check needed to be written. As the increase was under $75, this was approved by the Seneschal and the Exchequer.

The Baronial Dinner was $100.87 under budget.

The Exchequer’s Quarterly report was submitted on time.

A&S Minister
The A&S Minister intends to have meetings at the Washington Blvd site and then they will move to the indoor site (The Environmental Charter School) when practices move indoors.

Herald
Three courts at Pennsic. Those court reports will go out later this week. The quarterly report is in on time. A call for Letters of Intent will be going out soon as Jorundr’s term is ending and he is seeking a replacement as Persuivant.

Chatelaine
— I’ve spoken to about 8-10 newcomers in the past 2 months and that I’m still considering ideas about newcomer tokens. Also, Ruffina has agreed to be my drop dead deputy. Ronan has agreed to also deputy (not drop dead) and spread the word to the younger people out there.

Webminister
The Quarterly Webminister’s report was submitted on time.

The Webminister is seeking contributions for the Debatable Blog — anything is welcome — anyone can submit an article to the webminister using his email address webminister@debatablelands.org

Earlier on that day it was brought to the Webminister’s attention that Pharmacy ads were appearing in place of the website. The error was only occurring if you clicked a search engine link to get to the website. The website hosting company was contacted and the webminister sought other solutions until he found the source of the problem and corrected it. This still needs to be addressed from a security angle and the webminister is moving forward with that process.

Special mention was given to Ishiyama by the Seneschal for the speed of his response once he was aware of the depth of the problem. His response time from discovery to solution was within about an hour and a half. This kind of quick thinking and action ensured that we maintain 24×7 uptime for the website, which is crucial for the Barony.

Other Business
Event Bids
Event Bids for Iron Comet Challenge 2017 and Kingdom Twelfthnight 2017. Both bids were approved by the Officers and the Kingdom bid was submitted to the Kingdom after the meeting.

Revision to August Schedule
As the August Officer’s meeting always falls during Pennsic, the Officers agreed to move the August Officers Meeting to the first Wednesday after Pennsic from this point forward.

Baronial Policy Revisions
Proposed changes to Baronial Policy were distributed via email for discussion. Thank you to Pavel and Ceindrich for helping with the review.

20th Anniversary event + Fall Crown in 2017
An event bid is in the works in BMDL. Speaking with Herontir about co-hosting with them. Looking for input and co-conspirators. Want someone from every region on my staff. Financials will be running through the BMDL.

The meeting was adjourned.