End of Year Letter

With the end of one year and the beginning of another, it is the traditional time to reflect on the year past and the year to come. I am always pressed to find the words to express just how highly I think of everyone in this Barony. I am honored to serve as your Seneschal and proud of what we as a Barony accomplish every year. The kindness, talent, generosity, enthusiasm, knowledge, and volunteerism shown by all of you is inspiring.
From gathering items for gift baskets for the Royalty to sharing your expertise to train new martial participants you are all amazing volunteers. The countless hours that you put towards helping make the Barony, the Kingdom, and the SCA a vibrant organization is truly a gift to each of us. Your efforts are seen and appreciated.

Here are some highlights from the last year:

January
This year started with a lovely, smallish Baronial Twelfth Night, run by THL Elss and Lady Kathryn, where so many people received recognition from our Baron and Baroness, including the The Royal Livery Company (the first time they were recognized). It was also where we got to see Mistress Graidhne elevated to the Order of the Laurel.

February
Lady Zianna generously donated new list ropes for our use in indoor combat. They were immediately used for the Carnegie Science Center Demo where we had over 100 people join us to make this Demo so successful we are invited back and in a leading role. The William Blackfox awards were announced and the BMDL took home six awards. We also had a very successful Tavern in the Park event autocratted by THL Elss and Lady Elsa.

April
Baron Leonard passed away mid-month, which was a significant blow to the Barony as a whole. We had a demo at CCAC South that was very successful. The Comet Persuivant began a project to make Baldrics for everyone participating in a martial activity at Pennsic. The Brewers Guild came out of dormancy and set their first meeting date.

June
We hosted the Known World Heralds and Scribes event, coordinated by Master Alaric and THL The baldrics for martial activities at Pennsic were finished and handed out to as many people as possible, the rest to be distributed at Pennsic. We also had an Iron Comet event, autocratted by Don Jorundr and the Barony got new Champions.

July/August
PENNSIC – As always, the BMDL was everywhere – volunteering, coordinating,

September
The Barony hosted the first ever Known World Commedia gathering. We had the pleasure of hosting so many talented visitors and rumor has it that it’s going to be held again.

October
Agincourt, now in its 12th year, was held during its traditional weekend and was autocratted by Baroness Constance and Meesteres Odriana.

November
We had our traditional Harvest Revel Barony Meeting at the Castle – there was pie, GLORY!!!, singing, pumpkin launching, and fellowship.

December
We had our first joint fencing practice with Broken Plow, which will now be held the first Sunday of the month at the Broken Plow studios in Creighton, PA. We also had end-of-year retrospectives from quite a few people published on Stórfréttir. We also saw the untimely passing of Lady Amanda and Jamie MacMichael, over which most of us are still processing our grief and our hearts are with their families.

The coming year is starting out just as full as last year —
Kingdom Twelfth Night on 5 January.
Baronial Twelfth Night a week later, 12 January, where we will also have our Barony Meeting.
Aethelmearc Grand Tournament on 2 February.

There was a recent call for letters for the Office of Baronial Minister of Arts and Sciences, those letters are due at our February Business Meeting on Wednesday, 6 February. If you are interested in the position or serving as a Deputy to learn more about the realities of the office, please check out the call for letters on Stórfréttir. We welcome new people to put in letters and become part of the Barony’s Leadership.

We also have a call for letters for the Office of the Comet Persuivant. While the current Persuivant is interested in serving another two-year term, if you are interested in the position or would like to serve as a Deputy Herald to get an idea of what that job entails, please read the call for letters on Stórfréttir. Those letters are also due at our February Business Meeting.

We have the most amazing Barony in the Known World and I am perpetually impressed by the breadth and depth of opportunities that we have here, not only in knowledge but also in service and martial skill.

aude aliqid dignum*,

Odriana, Senschal

*dare something worthy

September Letter from the Seneschal

BMDL_Seneschal_Official

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