Ildhafn Council Meeting Minutes February 2013
In Attendance: Angela Wells (Seneschal), Shannon Wanty (Reeve), Eleanor Hall (Marshal), David Robb (Steward for the Bloth) ,Patrick Bowman (Herald), Katherine Davies (Webwright), Nadia Benton (member of the populace)
Apologies: Chantelle Gerrard (A&S), Wendy Rowsell (Chatelaine)
Absent:
Meeting Opened: 7.35pm
Reports Received Online:
Reeve:
In the mean time, the bank account stands at $8881.64.
I will be advertising for my replacement once I have submitted my quarterly report, as I am due to step down soon after the end of the next financial quarter (31/03/2012) and I would like to be able to take my replacement through the FYE report as part of my handover to them. Please start considering whether this is a role you would be able & willing to do - this is one of the hardest roles to fill, yet actually, it isn't all that stressful, doesn't take very long each month to do, and I'll be handing everything over in really good order so it's an easy time to take this on.
I'd just like to add to this that Katherine scanned and emailed through all the receipts for St Catherine's Faire. As part of the move to storing data online, I'd like to request that going forward all stewards please do this as part of their event wrap up, if they have access to a scanner. This is something that as Reeve I *could* do, however, since there are often delays between the wrap up of an event and the Reeve receiving the receipts I'd really appreciate stewards doing this where possible. This is especially important when there are delays in reporting: some of the receipts from the Collation are already fading significantly, and I only bought everything a fortnight ago!
A&S:
Arts and Sciences 2013 swung back into action last weekend at Al and Mel’s where we
had 18 people around which started at 2pm with fencing – 8 people - four regulars, four
new (we poked them with swords until they stood up and took part….gentle persuasion..)
to which Patrick, Matt Mole and Gregory (visiting from Australia) mixed instruction with
playing. We then went back and sang and then had a lovely pot luck dinner. Overall it was
a lovely afternoon /evening – many more to come!
The personal projects page on the Ildhafn website is continually being used and thank you
for Katherine for making it ever accessible in her new role as webwrite.
Singing has been fantastic over the summer as every time we even got together for
a social bbq…we ended up singing, and kept up regular practices at the Sundays we
continued to do both at Angela’s house and Shannon’s .
Lots of sewing and socialising at the house I was housesitting at took place over the
summer break – with people staying, coming, going and having a great time. We even had
Lizzie (who I convinced to come to St Catherine’s and hasn’t looked back!) come to the
house from Waihi to get her stuff ready for Canty which was lovely – as she is now very
enthusiastic about all aspects, including rapier, and even brought along her son and a new
person Christine who also lives in the Coromandel.
We had council and out of council discussions about moving a and s Sundays to someone
elses house, and all the possibilities surrounding that….read the minutes…too long to
explain in this….
Rapier has been going really well! Patrick, myself and Emrys have been going hard on the
practice before canty – and we are attempting to do every night practice outside my studio
on the north shore from 6.30pm in order to get Emrys ready for his prize and to give us
more mask time.
I am including Rapier in this…as it has been mentioned that it comes under an art – which
it does…so why not!
Regular A&S meetings:
- Dancing, Thursday evenings, split between beginner's and by invitation.
- Sewing, and other projects Sunday afternoons, and at my studio if people want to while
we do rapier
- Rapier as often as we can…and then regularly on Wednesday nights.
Marshal:
As it's a new year and as I'm intending to step down as Marshal at some point soon I thought I'd give a somewhat more in depth report then usual so I have all the information on hand to give to whoever succeeds me as Marshal (also writing one report is easier then multiple)
In short : no one died, no one was injured and everything is just rolling on as usual..
Heavy combat:
Heavy continues in Cluain. No Heavy combat in Ildhafn City
Rapier Combat:
Rapier continues in Ildhafn City. No Rapier combat in Cluain
Archery:
Archery continues in Cluain. No Archery in Ildhafn City.
Herald:
Unto all interested and several disinterested parties does the office of Blue Lymphad Herald present the Blue Lymphad Quarterly Report for Summer, AS 47, being the latest and last in this Award Winning* series.
This quarter saw Blue Lymphad active at St Catherine's Faire, the largest regular event in this Their Majesties' Most Loyal Barony of Ildhafn.
Their Majesties were clearly keen to acknowledge and reward the diverse efforts and achievements of the people of Their Barony with a lavish, yet tasteful, display of awardingness. To that end They did grant:
-
The Rowan unto William de Cameron,
-
Awards of Arms unto Lyulf St George, Hakon de Falcon and Airika Eoganachta Mor,
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Order of the Star and Lily unto Caterine de Vantier and Christine Bess Duvant,
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Order of the Golden Tear unto Maerwynn of Cluain, and
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Order of the Golden Sword unto our good Baron Rudiger Adler.
Their Majesties also took the opportunity to grant an Award of Arms unto Quentin Maclaren, visiting from Southron Gaard.
Of course, the headline attraction for this event was the initiation of Edward Braythwayte into the Order of the Laurel. OMG!
Blue Lymphad would like to thank all those who helped with the shouting, especially Lady Christine, who was Blooded in the
business of running Court in the time honoured manner**. Master William de Wyke was also of particular service in the calling
of the Baronial Rapier Championship.
The other big task for Blue Lymphad this quarter has been arranging for his regeneration. Relevant advertising and announcements
are appended below. Even now, the clerks of the Curia de Hyacintho Navis are poring over the applications, scrutinising them for
any inconsistancy, so that the most useful feedback may be rendered unto Crux. Then, with the assurance of Crucibalic infallibility,
He will decide who will next wear the blue and white lycra.
[Note to successor: Next time, Survivor - Blue Lymphad; might be easier and more entertaining.]
Finally, Blue Lymphad travelled to Southron Gaard for the annual Canterbury Faire, where he did bugger-all heralding, seeing as
his colleague Lady Chunegund Screivogelin clearly had it all well in hand. He was, nonetheless, singularly*** honoured with the award
of the Taillefer for his reports. This both demonstrated the uncommonly good taste and refinement of Their Majesties, and -- being
near the end of the closing court -- provided a fitting climax; or crescendo, if you will; to an excellent event.
Shannon has agreed to be next Baronial Herald. There will also be a Herald appointed in Cluain.
Webwright:
My first quarter in office has been productive and enjoyable. This
office is addictive (for now: I'm sure I'll be happy to pass it on in
a few years) and lots of fun!
You can see what I've been up to, and what I have planned, whenever
you like, here:
http://ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/webwright
The "Notebook of Office" page is proving remarkably useful, as
frequent contributors can check whether something's already there
before telling me about a bug, techily-inclined members can Just Do
Stuff knowing wot stuff I want done, and I don't have to rely on my
faulty memory, but can instead Just Do Something On The List when I
find myself with a free hour, a net connection, and an inclination to
be useful.
Seneshal: Patrick will be taking over as Seneschal, subject to the two week commentary period. Handover will occur at St Sebastian's.
Past Events:
St Cath's: Now that payments have all been finalised Katherine will revisit her report and get final numbers, and also incorporate some more notes about the event. Katherine has posted some extra photos of Camp Sladdin online so that people can refer to these for more info about the site.
Canterbury Faire: Ange said thank you to everyone that was part of the encampment, and that helped out around the encampment to make sure that everything flowed. She'd also like to recommend that we continue inviting people from outside of Ildhafn to camp with us. And she also thanked everyone for their participation in the event, organising and running classes and other things.
Upcoming Events:
May Day: Wendy has suggested 4th May, 11am-4pm at the Wintergardens for this. She's looking at running a picnic, with garland making and hobby horse racing. The bid is online.
Cost of $15 for members including lunch, equipment for garland-making, levies etc. Wendy as steward, Chantelle as deputy steward, they will organise the food in a similar format to the collation.
David commented that it sounded like the event has a break even of zero. Katherine asked about booking deadlines, in terms of deciding whether it goes ahead. Everyone was generally happy with the event concept. The Council accepted the proposal.
May Ball: Katherine would like to run a ball very similar in format to last year's. 18th of May, pending site availability – same site as last year. She would rather not bring a potluck contribution. The proposal for this year is that David and Katherine will pay for hall hire, with $10 event fee covering supper, general expenses, and levies. Bookings will close a week out from the event, and will be required this year due to food being provided. No break even as there is no cost to the barony without attendees. Of note is the fact that hall hire for this hall is now done through the Community Centre. Everyone accepted this proposal.
Chest making: The advance for the cost of nails has been given to Dave for this. Numbers are looking to be lower than expected. All other info on the website.
The Bloth: The event proposal has changed slightly – the updated version is on the website. The new event site looks awesome. Wendy pointed out a minor typo in the food costs in the proposal – it's out by $0.50c. This won't affect overall event pricing.
As mentioned in the proposal, there is no profit built into the event – it all scales with the number of people. Laundry and petrol costs are about the only place that we might make more money, also possibly late tax. David is keen to see us run the event even if we don't quite meet break even (40 people) as it would be good to try the site out. There have been expressions of interest in attending from outside the group as well.
Patrick asked what the loss would be if we got 30 people. David said it would be $400, i.e. 10 people x 2 nights' accommodation at $20. For pricing David has said that he has split the $40 per person for the weekend as $10 Friday night, $20 Saturday, $10 Sunday.
Someone asked if there should be discounts for families and children. David is reluctant because there is no slack in the pricing. Someone online had asked about bumping up the pricing for adults to bring the cost for children down. However, on looking at this, for someone with no children it becomes more expensive. For a couple with one child, it is more expensive. For a couple with two children, it evens out the same. It would only be of benefit to families with three or more children. It also makes accounting much more difficult. The charge for the children is only covering the actual cost from having them at the events.
The site needs an $800 deposit soon, followed by the other $800 two weeks before the event. David doesn't yet know what the terms of the $800 deposit & what their cancellation policy is, but he will forward this information to Council as soon as he knows. Nicola checked online and it says that for cancellations less than four months out we will lose the full $800 deposit. Shannon pointed out that given this scenario, we then end up no worse off if we run the event with only 20 people attending as the loss to the group would be the same.
Council accepted the proposal.
David is looking for people to help, most especially with food for the event (except the feast).
St Cath's 2013: Katherine would like to pencil in Camp Sladdin for St Cath's this year, although she does not want to steward it. She suggested it would be good to get the dates and site booked in early to make it easier for someone putting together a proposal to run this event. Everyone thought this was a good idea. Patrick suggested putting out a general advertisement in case there was anyone planning to put in a proposal using a different site. Katherine will send out a notice to the Ildhafn list and let people know that unless there are any other things in the pipeline, she will pencil book in the last weekend in November. If that weekend isn't free she'll check the weekends either side of this and pencil book one of these.
November Crown 2014: David would like to suggest putting in a proposal for this event. Bids can be presented up to 18 months ahead of the event. Katherine and David are looking at putting a bid together, with an early St Cath's (second week of November) at the Hunua Falls camp site. The only part of St Cath's that wouldn't fit well into a Crown Tourney would be the Baronial Rapier Championship, so the suggestion is to shift it to a separate event for that year. The site has the advantage that we could even hold the tourney inside in the event of rain. The site will need to be booked about nine months in advance; they don't want bookings much sooner than that but if they're much later then it gets booked out.
Ange recommended getting help from Cluain – they are already planning to do so. David would like to look at getting a nice list field made for this, if we got accepted.
Katherine suggested that if we aren't accepted for this, we keep a rolling bid in place until we get one, assuming the timing is right and with minor updates as needed to figures. :-)
Council is happy for them to look at putting together a proposal for this.
General Business:
Minutes: Shannon would like to resign. Shannon suggested that it should be revisited along with the A&S dates. Everyone thought this was a good idea. Anyone who would like to volunteer for the role please feel free to talk to Patrick. He'll advertise on the list.
March Council meeting: Is due to fall in Easter. Ange suggests that either we have it the weekend before Easter, or do a combined March/April Council meeting. Patrick requested that it be brought forward to the weekend before Easter, on Sunday 24th, 7.30pm, at Patrick & Katherine's house.
A&S Sundays: We haven't yet had a discussion about the rotations. Ange can't hold it more than once a month. We need to see what Wendy's keen to do. The current possibility is to rotate alternate weekends between Shannon's house, and Ange's or Wendy's house. Katherine said that she can set something up on the website if we have a defined rotation. Although the rotation will be complex, it should be okay if we have reminders on the website and regular emails on Thursdays going out to the list about the location. There isn't currently an option to get the website to automatically send an email. However, it is possible to arrange it to send you your own reminder about what's happening. The group was keener on the four week rotation. If someone cancels the weekend at their place, even if someone else hosts instead, the scheduled four weeks will continue on as planned so that it doesn't screw up people's memories or the website update. Ange will email the list again to confirm that no-one else would like to be involved in hosting currently, then we'll determine the rotation. However, Sunday next week will be at Shannon's, and the following week will be cancelled due to St Sebastian's.
Recruitment:
When we get students coming along regularly, we should mention the possibility of a College. Katherine suggested putting up posters/fliers around the campuses at the start of the year. Patrick wondered about the possibility of doing demos at university – however, this is difficult to organise mid-week, and midday.
May Day will fulfil the in public visibility function. Nicola suggested having a table set up specifically at the event, for people to approach and ask questions. This will be put on the agenda as a suggestion at the next event, when hopefully Wendy is here.
We haven't done so much in Cornwall Park in terms of practice lately, but this is sometimes a good way of introducing people to the group.
Military Exhibitions and Tattoos are sometimes good places for demos – Chantelle had mentioned on the list that the other reenactment groups sometimes take part in the military exhibitions, Nicola said the same things happen at Tattoos – she's going to find some more out about these.
Shannon said she was willing to approach the library about putting up posters. Shannon will ask about putting bookmarks into books – or having them on the counter as well.
Katherine would like to revisit the idea of putting bookmarks into secondhand bookshops as well.
For Canterbury Faire to make it more known that the encampment is generally open, we might look at putting up a sign to welcome people in. Also Katherine is keen to get some evening singing on the schedule as open to everyone.
Shannon suggested handing out membership forms – or a link to the website – when we hand out fliers. Katherine suggested that we could possibly arrange to have some sort of online access available at demos for people to join up at a demo or an event. Even being able to just show them the process might help.
We currently have A3 posters, bookmarks, and business cards available. The flier is corrupt and needs to be redone. Shannon has thought of some cheesy slogans, Council will consider them if she actually puts something together.
Ange would like to have physically printed bookmarks, posters, & business cards by the April meeting, with a strategy for distributing them.
Katherine has been talking to other groups about cross-advertising on our website.
We'd like to make a showing at NAAMA this year as well, have a few tents set up and talk to people about what we do.
Council Meeting closed: 9.06pm
Shannon is signing off as Minutes Taker. :-)