Southron Gaard Council Meeting - Tues 16th November 2004

PRESENT: Adele, Roheisa, Richard, Ethelind, Bartholomew, katherine, Iuliana, Sinech, Teres, Callum, Guinevere

LATE: Matilda, Veronica  APOLOGIES: Eleanora, Peregrin, Chrettiene.  MEETING OPENED: 7:30pm

LAST MEETING'S MINUTES: Accepted

OFFICER REPORTS:

B&B:
Went to Beowulf and Crown. There was correspondence. No details mentioned at council.

SENESHAL:
Lots of correspondence in.
- SCA INC. is up and running, selling memberships. Sent copies of Insurance, IRD, tax free info, incorporation paperwork and certification etc. Along with new forms to be used. The bank account name will have to be changed to include SCA NZ INC.
- At all events there will be sign in sheets for everyone attending, this is for insurance purposes and will be sent to the Corporate Office. Minors will be signed in by their parents (or guardians on the day).
ACTION : ROHEISA Standard forms will be made available through the website and copies have been made of them.
- Kingdom Surcharge ($1): Will be collected at all events where there is a fee. Also day memberships of ($2) for all non members not under the age of 18.
- Breakdown of cost for membership (approx.): 1/4 to operational costs. 1/4 affiliation cost to the US. A little under 1/4 to insurance. remaining 1/4 (ish) to operational buffer to be kept in bank account until required.  These are interim costs. Once things settle down operational costs might be less than estimated. In which case cost of membership will go down slightly.
- When Stewards are booking halls etc. both the Steward and the Seneschal are required to sign any contracts. Stewards must still be members.
- We now have enough members (27 as of Crown) to retain Baronial status.

CHATELAINE: Received stuff. It's in the garage. Will get it organised by Canterbury Faire, hope to inventory it.
ACTION: CHARLENE check for List Officer's stuff (in a box) and pass on to IULIANA.
ACTION: CHARLENE get (and correct) details to SINECH for Chatelaine and newcomers evenings.

REEVE: Went to Crown Tourney. No financial report this month. Correspondence: got tax and insurance details from SCA INC.

HERALD: Nothing to report.

MARSHAL: No Apology, No Report. Did get a Quarterly report. A tourney happened, no injuries, need replacement, have an offer from Bartholomew but he needs to become a marshal first. Roheisa has asked the Marshal to publish a request for a new Marshal in FTT again. Callum has discussed this with Crown and if we can't get a Marshal we can appeal to Crown for an exception, would still need someone to send in quarterly reports.

LISTS: We had the Beowulf tourney. Lists were run by Deoradhan and Alexandra. We had ten fighters and the winner was King Draco.

A&S: Written Report.
Correspondence: Notified Kingdom A&S, Baron and Baroness and Seneschal of decision to step down early 2005. Sent notice to FTT as per above. In from Sinech - she has Phoenix Rising material to add to library or to be disposed of. Activities: A&S Sundays held in October poorly attended. Nov 28th currently scheduled. Symposia: trying to organise fibre arts symposium: have approached two people (embroidery and dyeing) and will test interest at Seamsters on Thursday: probably looking at January at this point. Running A&S at Canterbury Faire - would love offers of classes ASAP: either to me or to Richard please. CF web site: Library: Stepping down as soon as a replacement can be found. Probably time to reassess location as per library document.

CHRONICLER: Correspondence in: Folia Roani. Updates for FTT regnum, mailing list etc. Articles for "Alchemist".  FTT subscription. Correspondence out: FTTs for November Reminders about FTT and "Alchemist" deadlines. Other: Dec. FTT may be late, as B&B are waiting for Baronial Poll  information from Lochac Seneschal. "Alchemist" should be out late November. FTT to electronic: nothing done yet.
ACTION: KATHERINE and SINECH will sort it out. Will be done in time for CF.

WEBWRIGHT: Site updated a couple of times (Regnum and Calendar)
ACTION: KATHERINE as PEREGRIN for information on Baronial Awards for website.
ACTION: ROHEISA to get links for new paperwork for KATHERINE

CHIRURGEON: No Apology, No Report

CONSTABLE: No Apology, No Report

QUARTERMASTER: Written Report, Received the Baronial property from the previous quartermaster. Everything seems to be in order, although a thorough sorting is still in order. I understand Arabella made an excellent inventory of the Baronial property, a copy of which would probably help the sorting process. Have noticed some deterioration of gear - a thorough examination will allow me to detail this in full. Also received the hire-garb from the Seneschal, and have passed it on to the new Chatelaine. Gear went out for the Beowulf event and returned in beautiful condition, thanks to Madeline for updating the box lists, and generally tidying up while it was in her care. A vote of thanks to Madeline for her fine job at the feast. Note: Baronial supplies has lots of flour and barley.
ACTION: ROHEISA to get copies of the inventory to CAT.

EVENT REPORTS:
Entertainment Symposium: 10 people attended. It was fun and useful. Tips from it are being written up and will be published. There will be one specifically on quests at some point. There is interested in a 1/2 circle theatre at CF. This will be organised by KATHERINE and the BASKINS as a private venture.

Subtlety Workshop: 6-8 people attended and had fun. The subtleties were a success.

Beowulf Event: Happened, was a good event, made a slight profit. Many thanks to all who helped.

UP COMING EVENTS:
Xmas Revel: Notice in FTT. Gold coin donation to cover cost of Baronial Tarts. By the Band Rotunda in Hagley Park. Bring Picnic and games etc.
ACTION: CHARLENE please bring paperwork to hand out to any interested members of the public on the day.

Canterbury Faire: Progress continues to be made. Budget has been approved and ticket price is set at $41/adult for whole event, this is excluding kingdom surcharges and day memberships. There will be a Royal Presence at CF. They have requested an emphasis on entertainment. The Marquee: is being hired from Hire Quip who will be selling it for around  $3000. Idea: the site has an old Marquee that needs replacing. Perhaps the owners would be interested in sharing the cost of purchasing it and them storing it. Main reservations in purchasing are the hassle of storage and transport. This way they wouldn't be a problem. They are expensive to hire, so it's cost effective. Catering: nothing formal, people will be expected to make their own  arrangements. If this isn't possible for some out of towners they need to talk to the Stewards. Further advertising will happen, emphasising the date changed (mentioned in last minutes). Timetable change: shifting Bardic Auction earlier so there is time for the bards to work on their pieces. 
ACTION: RICHARD will talk to Bardic Auction SUBSTEWARD about it.
Question was raised about feeding Royals. ACTION: BARON and BARONESS will take care of arrangements.

Par d'Arm: a self sponsored event from Richard. Sat 15 January. Will be with full pageantry, Pavilions, Heralds etc. Site yet to be decided, will be advertised.

Baronial Anniversary Bid: From Teres for 19 March 2005. Possible Sites St Barnabas and Te Waipanamu Trust on Ferry Rd. Propose a ticket price of $17, excluding kingdom surcharge etc. Steward  Teres, Sub-steward Adele, cooked by Roheisa. Tourney and archery will be held to find champions. Propose selling tickets at CF Market. Later in council meeting bid was ACCEPTED pending budget etc.

GENERAL BUSINESS:
Baronial Organisational Document - Two options have been suggested:
1) A survey that is read by both B&B and Seneschal
2) A survey that is only read by B&B
Propose: put a poll in FTT with these two options. Note: heraldry description also needs updating ACTION: ROHEISA will do this. Query about definition of lands held by SG. ACTION: ROHEISA will query with BOD. ACTION: Changes and polling forms will be in FTT. Baronial Poll will be conducted over December, with results announced at 12th Night. Suggestion of changing name of Baronial Organisational Document to Baronial Charter DONE. ACTION: will be included in changes.

Royal Etiquette: The Royals were uncomfortable with the reception at Beowulf. They found us stand offish, and overly formal. People didn't approach and introduce themselves much. Please take the initiative. Get someone to introduce you or introduce yourself. If you want to talk with them and they are already in conversation stand 15 feet away and wait for them to acknowledge you before approaching. They might be conducting confidential business, but be patient they do want to meet you. It is appropriate to bow or curtsy when ever crossing the Royal Presence (in front of the thrones). Comment: People had problems finding the opportunity to speak with them. Perhaps if more people were aware of introducing others. Those of rank should take the lead in this.
Note: At every Royal Visit, fealty will be called for (standard practice in Lochac) Peers will be called, but the officers and populace maybe. If you have a specific preference for swearing fealty or not please let the Herald, or the B&B know before court so that the appropriate call can be made.
ACTION : ROHESIA will write up something re: this for the Seneschal's column.
ACTION: RICHARD will find an old article he remembers in FTT archives re Etiquette.

Event bid cut off dates: currently 3 months before for major event bids (such as Baronial Anniversary). Suggest 6 months. This allows more time for the Stewards to arrange for hall hire, advertising etc. Roheisa mentioned that this is an old policy from when it was common to have multiple bids. Possible wording: Competing bids are considered up to 6 months prior to a major event. After which reasonable bids will be accepted at council. AYE to the idea. Discussed  timing of 12th Night. By kingdom rules this cannot be held at usual time as would conflict with Coronation. Suggest transferring focus to another event, such as Yule. We could do some of our traditional things then instead.
ACTION: ROHEISA will get event forms to TERES. The Baronial Anniversary bid will be accepted once forms are completed.

Spring Tourney: CCC is failing to reply to requests for bill of site hire. Will stop asking them for the bill now. (This seems to happen a bit with the CCC)


MEETING CLOSED: 9:10pm