Minutes and Newsletters from 2007
Minutes of Beltaine Planning Meeting, 3/24/07
Meeting called to order at 1:55PM
at the home of Comyn and Sabha
Brogan offered the Druidic blessing
Members Attending:
Colin
Eberwulf
Faellon
Brogan
Comyn
Sabha
Finnoula
Momus
Anoghus
Guthrum (listening over phone)
Guests
Tess
What News:
Momus: Has been steadily jamming with Comyn, Guthrum and Finnoula. Has some new songs they have been working on
Aonghus: Officially announced that he will be taking a leave of absence due to health, work and family reasons
Sabha: Has been brewing cyser, mead and stout. Did some weaving on an inkle loom and is starting to take a spinning class in Sayville
Comyn: Bought a new tent, a center pole marquee. Has a bunch of new tunes and has been doing a ton of work on the new website
Finnoula: Saw Dervish in Hartford. Getting 3 hives of bees on April 15 and is STILL trying to quit her job.
Brogan: Brogan and Vollund are rebuilding the walls to their yurts. Offering up old walls in anyone wants them. Is planning to build a shed to store all his gear.
Faellon: Is busily planning his wedding and a major landscaping project. Sat night was his last night working the 2nd job to pay for the wedding!
Eberwulf: Not too much medievally. Julian is good, new house is good. Work has been really busy. He and Helska were in a story in Newsday about buying a house on LI.
Colin: Cleaning up his shop. Work has been nuts and he is still travelling a lot.
tess: Verbally beat down a drunk on St Patricks day. Has been working a lot and is enjoying living with her daughters since her son moved out. Got a new pet rabbit (that Brogan hasn't cooked yet)
Treasury Report
Nothing to report as Guthrum was not at meeting. Finnoula confirmed that no, we are not broke!
Old Business
Coins still need to be struck. There are a number of blanks still waiting to go.
We still are in need of a real anvil. Brogan appointed to acquire one.
Website - Comyn is on it and has been doing an excellent job
Trailer Cleanup - There will be a trailer cleanup day at Aonghus' shop this coming Saturday, the 31st, at 1PM
At this point, after hearing of Aonghus' issues with his father, Comyn suggested his assasination
New Business
Beltaine will be held the weekend of May 4-6 at Cathedral Pines, in our Ancestral spot.
Feast: This years feast will feature game birds and Salmon as the main course
Brogan - smoked and fresh cooked game birds
Comyn & Sabha - salmon
Eberwulf - Pottage
Finnoula & Guthrum - Barley
Colin - Green salad
Vollund - Bread & Butter
Momus - 5 gallons beer
Brogan - Cider
Finnoula & Guthrum - Welcome stew
Firewood - Finnoula & Guthrum
Trailer transport - Brogan
Hose hookup - Colin
Hose breakdown - Fiachra
Jockey Box setup - Brogan
Jockey Box breakdown - Comyn
Feasocrat - Eberwulf
Cooking Fire prep - Colin
Dayboard - Comyn
Tiki Torches - Faichra
Dishes - Valarian (if present), Finnoula & Colin
Ceremony - Vollund
Events:
Axe & Knife throwing run by Brogan
Clan Championship Battle run by Guthrum
Invitations will be created by Finnoula
T-Shirts - Colin to spearhead creation for Samhain
Finnoula and Guthrum have joined the Irish Cultural Center of LI
Personal Business
Aonghus will be taking a temporary leave of absense
Guthrum - membership to the SCA is now on an 18 month term. Wanted to point out that Pennsic is nw a week earlier this year.
Aonghus suggested that wil his leave of absense that he can no longer be the Clann Feni. Brogan was nominated for Feni and his comments on the nomination were "My assbone hurts". Brogan votes in as Feni.
Recruitment - Brogan mentioned going to an SCA event in order to get new members. Aonghus posted information about local events on our site.
Brogan will be the Pennsic land agent this year
Presentations
Brogan brought a set of video tapes of various Celtic subjects but Comyn & Sabha's VCR is broken.
Probate Review
Maeve - no news
Meeting adjourned at 4:12PM
[ed note: this is a post from May, but was entered as a book page directly. It has been moved to the forums (which is our current procedure) so that folks may comment. Corrections or additions to this Newsletter post are heartily encouraged]
The event started unofficially on Thursday night as Brogan, Tess, Momus, Fjord, and Sean pitched their tents for some pre-event festivities. Brogan was already two hours behind on time after performing emergency surgery on his steed due to an altercation with the fire pit, but luckily his van is basically a hardware store on wheels and the driver watched a lot of MacGyver. Comyn stopped by that night as well to clear a spot for his new tent, and although he was soundly heckled the entire time by Fjord and Momus, managed to clear some new land of sticker bushes, but didn't set up that night.
Folks poured into the site relatively early on Friday and enjoyed an excellent welcome chili prepared by Guthrum. Brogan and Aonghus' attention to Nomad paid off handsomely as hot water began to flow from the tap. In fact, it's likely that Nomad has never worked better! Comyn, Momus, Aonghus, and Sean (now Salmon?) provided some (lubricated) musical accompaniment around the fire before an angry tree decided to block Momus' tent door and permanently brand the Bard with it's loving mark. Our anti-hero thus laid low, Vollund's late-night feast of meaty, bacony, steak goodness was left for others to devour. Comyn believes it possible that he consumed more red meat that night than over the entire previous several months. Bacon and Steak *definitely* go well together despite evil rumors to the contrary.
Saturday dawned another glorious day of Good TimesTM. Brogan was victorious at the axe throwing contest after a tie-breaker with Guthrum, and the Champion's battle was postponed for lack of formal challenge. Rhiannon brought a box of excellent games that kids of all ages enjoyed. The feast of Salmon and game birds was supplemented by steak brought by Colin, Pottage by Eberwulf, garden salad, barley, and breads, all washed down with some really Good Ale brought by Momus. TdB Bardic Circle (Momus, Comyn, Guthrum, Finnoula) presented 6 songs that had been worked up for the occasion, though they stayed and played more songs all night around the fire aided now and again by Sean and the voices of the entire gathered Clann, many songs right from the Book of Song. The Druid led the Clann between the Bel Fires and delivered his blessings for fertility of mind, body, and spirit for the rest of the year. A camp potty provided by Brogan made it possible for little tykes and inebriated ladies to stay on site longer, but getting that genie back in the bottle wasn't easy!
Sunday morning dawned cloudy and wet, but cleared out by mid morning. Clean up went exceedingly well, as there were many hands to make light work. The Clann trailer left the site at 2:30pm - a new record!
Bhudnahai!
Summer Solstice 2007 Meeting, 6/23/07
Meeting opened at 1:55 PM with a blessing on the Clann by Brogan
Members Attending:
Faellon
Colin
Comyn
Brogan
Aonghus
Momus
Eberwulf
Fiachra
Friends of the Clann Attending:
Helska
Fjord Vambrace
Guests:
Tess
What News:
Comyn - Has been playing a lot of music with Momus and Sean. Hoping to make a table soon and is looking for a guitar lute.
Brogan - is building a shed for his camping gear and going to put the blacksmith stuff into the garage and get his forge going. Has also gotten a lot of new tools and cleaned up the yard and replaced the fence.
Eberwulf - has been doing a lot of outside work on his house and garage
Aonghus - has been feling much better but is still on a leave of absence due to medical reasons. Currently has a .1% chance of going to Pennsic
Momus - playing lots of music with Comyn, Guthrum, Finnoula and Bosh (Sean)
Faellon - finally got a yard and has a good lawn growing
Fiachra - didn't get the house he was looking at. Is looking to sell books at Pennsic through Chirstianna. Has registered for Pennsic but is probably not going to make it.
Colin - has been planning his upcoming wedding. Will not be making it to Pennsic this year due to the wedding. Work has been going great. He was asked to run the US office of his company and is now going to be the CEO.
Fjord - has been training for Pennsic
Helksa - found a couple of cool necklaces at work. Has been working on the house. Julian just had his first haricut and swimming lesson
Tess - has been helping Brogan with working on his house. Needs a new transmission on her car.
Fiscal Business:
Members not wearing Torcs:
Colin
Brogan
Eberwulf
Fiachra
As the treasurer and the treasury were not present, no fines were collect and this concludes Fiscal Business.
Old Business:
New Business:
Pennsic - July 27
Brogan is the land agent
The first week at Pennsic will be an informal "fend for yourself"
The trailer needs to be repacked and the cast iron needs to be distributed
among the people going. Fjord volunteered to take some of it but more
volunteers are needed.
Work on the trailer will take place on the weekend 2 weeks before Pennsic, on the 14th or 15th. Brogan will post a confirmation
Colin Motioned that the Clann buys a spare tire for the trailer if it is needed
Motion Passes
Pennsic Beer - beer will be bought at the site this year
Camp fee - the camp fee this year will be $130
Brogan will fill out the camp chore list and all will have a chance to trade jobs with others camping with the clann this year.
Faellon asks the clann to borrow the dining flys for a bbq. He aggreed to replace a broken pole on one of the flys in exchange for borrowing them.
Fundraising:
Comyn was supposed to offer ideas at this meeting but he didnt come up with anything. He will have ideas at the next meeting.
Probate Review:
Maeve - nothing to report. Faellon will reach out to her.
Personal Business:
Brogan is tired.
Colin motions to close meeting at 3:15
Momus seconds
We believe that is is a new record by completing a Pennsic planning meeting in 1 hour 20 minutes.
Members Present:
Comyn
Guthrum
Colin
Aonghus
Eberwulf
Brogan
Faellon
Probates Present:
Maeve
Meeting opened at 2:00 PM with a blessing by Comyn
What News:
EW - not too much medievally. Finally cleaned out his garage and should be at Samhain sometime on Saturday
Faellon - went to the NY Renaissance Faire and just redid his kitchen
Comyn - made a new table with Brogan's help. Thiking of making metal jogs to make table production easier. Got a guitar lute that was made in Germany in 1910
Brogan - been making a table with Comyn. Still hasnt unloaded the van from Pennsic. Has been very busy at work and is taking some college classes tis semester.
Guthrum - Summer vacation is over and is back to working normal hours. Went to Ireland and saw some amazing sites. Ordered a new 10x8 wall tent for the kids. Finnoula still working a lot and still hasnt been able to quit her job.
Colin - work has been crazy. His boss is 8 months pregnant and is a raving lunatic. He is getting married in 2 weeks and is looking forward to his honeymoon and the event.
Aonghus - still out of out it. Latest round of medical tests are not showing any reason for the muscle & joint pain he is going through. Still hasnt finished moving to his new house yet.
Maeve - working a lot, going to school and just moved. Will be at Samhain with her son Patrick
Fiscal Business:
Guthrum has not gone through the treasury since Pennsic. He is pretty sure we broke even though
EW, Brogan and Colin fined for not wearing torcs
Dues for the year ($80) will be due at Samhain
Old Business:
Coin dyes were to be given to Brogan to drill out. Colin has them but forgot to bring them.
Trailer - Comyn has someone to do the welding that needs to be done to shorten the axles
Funraising - etsy.com - online site to auction off crafts. Comyn suggested merchanting at local events and the promoting of gambling more at local events.
All members should please be on the lookout for anything that could be used in the building of the new trailer
New Business:
Samhain:
Firewood - Guthrum
Pig - Brogan with Colin assisting
Beer - Faellon & Guthrum
Vegetables - Vollund
Barley - Guthrum
Pottage - EW
Dayboard - Faellon
WelcomeStew - Maeve
Deserts - Sabha & Aislinn
Breads - Maeve
Cider - Colin
Trailer - Brogan
Hose hookup - Colin
Hose breakdown - Comyn
Tiki torches - Guthrum
Dishes - Fiachra, Momus
Jockey Box setup - Faellon
Jockey Box cleanup - EW
Feastocrat - Colin
Rake path - Guthrum
Wicker Man - Guthrum in case Greycloak does not come
Axe throwing contest with 3 coin entry fee - Colin providing mead as a prize - saturday at 2PM
Gambling Saturday night
Champions Battle saturday afternoon after axe throwing
Imbolc will potentially be at a new hall near Aonghus' new house. He will check it out.
T Shirts - Colin is working on it. Will try to have them for Samhain but it may be for Imbolc
Personal Business:
None
Probate Review:
Maeve is back! She will be trying to make it to the meetings and events moving forward.
Presentations:
Brogan passed around some books.
Comyn - he and Momus looking into joining LITMA - The Long Island Traditional Music Association
Colin moves to close meeting at 4PM. Seconded by Faellon
Samhain is our most popular event, regularly drawing participants from local reenactment groups as well as from upstate NY (and recently from as far away as Alabama!).
Event Details
Tentative schedule of events
The Feast of the Dead will be held Saturday evening and will consist of a roasted pig, mixed vegetables, pottage, assorted breads, and desert. As always fine brews will be available. A wicker-man will be burned during the ceremony, and there will be room inside it for you to place gifts or notes you wish to send to those in the other-world. Samhain is a dangerous time to be out of doors, as the dead walk the land. As is the tradition, many of us disguise ourselves with masks or face-paint so that we may venture out of doors unmolested by the spirits, so remember to bring materials to fashion a disguise!
As this is a camping event, please remember to bring any gear conducive
to your medieval-ness and survival. Amennites include water faucets, bathrooms and showers. The site is discretely wet so please bring period drinkware (i.e. keep all hard stuff well out of sight). We are shooting for a strong medieval atmoshphere so please help us by concealing all mundania and remaining in
This thread will be set for TdB members only.
It's that time of year, folks! We've been informed that the Chieftan will not run again for the office due to personal concerns. He gave us all fair warning and I haven't heard a peep from anyone about who might wish to replace him. If you're thinking about running for Chiefftan, thinking about nominating someone for the job, or just have some issues to voice that whoever fills that office should be aware of, this forum thread is the place to announce! Let the people know your platform, or why so-and-so should be the next Chief, or what the next Chief should know to be the best he or she can be.
from Clann Law, Clan Positions, Officers
1) Chieftain: The Chieftain is responsible for holding and conducting meetings, making alliances, the clan's fighting unit, the safety of the clan, upholding the law, justice in matters of state."
Informal discussion about this topic on this site is NOT required by Clann law, but I have provided this forum anyway since we only have a few days left and perhaps it will kickstart people to think about it. If you cannot attend the event, and are a voting member in good standing - you can submit a proxy vote, but without discussion here how will you even know who to vote for? You can still show up at the event and be nominated without any discussion whatsoever. The Clann has prospered under Colin, but we need a new Chieftan!
Clann Law bearing on elections
[note: Event post created here]
Fall 2007 Planning Meeting
Meeting called to order at 1:25 PM with a blessing by Comyn
Dues collected by Sabha
What News:
Eberwulf: not much medievally. Has been busy with work and the family. Hopes to camp out for the weekend at Beltaine.
Colin. Nothing medievally. Needs to replace his groundcloth but hopefully not his tent after being put away wet at Beltaine 06. Bought 120 lbs of honey
and brewed 10 gallons of mead. Has bee very busy with his transition at work
Momus: Still jamming with Comyn, Finnoula, Guthrum and Bosh. Has been working at a cigar lounge
Aonghus: has no news
Sabha: announced that her sister just had twins. PTA has been keeping her busy.
Comyn - has been reading Norse myths and listening to an audiobook of Beowulf. Jamming a lot with Momus and wants to build another table.
Faellon - nothing medievally. Announced he just became an uncle again as Aislinn's sister just had a son.
Brogan - nothing medivally. Has been scaring college kids (and professors) by showing off his medieval gear in his Western Civ class. In the
process of building a new TV studio at work.
Guthrum - Smithy should be fully operational by the end of the week
Finnoula - has been doing lots of jamming. Still trying to quit her job but is not having any success.
Tess: mom had a stroke before Thanksgiving. Is working on getting together all her mom's stuff and getting her into an assisted living facility.
Fiscal Business:
Treasury currently has $1640
There are 14 T-shirts and 89 coins available
(At this point a T-shiret and coin buying session commences. I think all remaining coins are purchased at this time)
Comyn requests payment in Clann coins for costs associated with hosting the Clann website. All member agree on payment.
Brogan, Colin and Momus not wearing Torcs. Our new Chieftain pays fine for all 3 of them.
Old Business:
Coin dyes - Brogan needs to get dyes from Colin.
Trailer - The following is an excerpt from an email that was sent to Faellon by Comyn to include in the minutes:
Trailer - urge a decision on whether we want to have John Meade
look at it or not? We spent a lot of money on the trailer, Comyn
would like to see some headway made with this project. In short,
let's set a time table to deal with the thing that is holding us up on
moving forward.
Aonghus asked for another month before bringing trailer to see Comyn's guy due to his health issues.
Trailer issue tabled till next meeting.
T-shirts - Colin did not get to the shirts for Samhain. Comyn volunteered to work on some designs to give to Colin. Agreed that T-shirts will be moved to
Beltaine and preorders will be done at Imbolc.
New Business:
Imbolc:
At the time of the meeting we had not heard yet if Aonghus was going to be able to get a new hall in Islip. Since the meeting our date has been confirmed
for the first Saturday in February at the new hall. Directions will follow...
The Feast:
Brogan - Chicken, Ducks, Rabbit
Faellon - Lamb stew
Colin - Cider
Eberwulf - pottage
Sabha - Bread & Honey butter
Finnoula - barley
Vollund - root vegetables
Fiachra - dishes
Sabha - 5 gallons beer
Aislinn - dessert
Brogan - Feastocrat
Auction - Colin will run silent auction
There will be the customary craft table. All members are encouraged to present a craft or risk ridicule and satire by the Fili
Discussion of flow of events at the event:
The Bard would like 30 minutes for a set of music then music will be played at will throughout the rest of the evening
The Druid will have 30 minutes for the Ceremony
Doors to the event will open at 2 and dinner will be served at 6:30
Ceremony will be directly after dinner, then Crafts and the Bardic presentation. Auction will be at around 11.
New Buisness Continued....
The following is another excerpt from an Email from Comyn:
Motion to kick off an effort build a more comprehensive contact/mailing list. Comyn has been cleaning up / compiling the member list(s) - however, there are people on these lists (Yahoo and tdbcelts) that he doesn't know, are inactive, questionable, etc. Poll the membership for cool people (from all over the country) to seek out and establish contact. Comyn is willing to help to craft
introductions, establish contacts, help with compiling info. This motion has two parts -
* Attempt to get official representatives of other groups onto our Yahoo, tdbcelts.org site, or snail mail mailing list. Chieftan might be involved in deciding what groups may be desireable to contact. We have some contacts at other groups, but do we have the right people at those groups and what other ones do we would like to add?
* Similar initiative: begin a reach out effort to past members recontacting them, and getting them on the list). There are a lot of past members that are basically inactive, never officially resigned or anything. Comyn recognizes that Erlan (and others) have formally resigned, but other than that, there are lots of folks who used to be members that Comyn would like to at least get on our list again.
Nothing decided at this point.
Motion to discuss the proper procedure for welcoming people into
camp. As Aonghus suggested on tdbcelts, we could keep some extra
Clann garb at the ready (perhaps this could be a formal assigned task
for each event - to gather and clean the Clann extra garb). Formally
review the procedure that the Brewey would run through when guests
arrive on site: (example - Brewey to give a quick explanation of what
is permitted and disallowed on site, what is expected of guests).
Another idea: inform guests up front that they must be garbed to
attend the Ceremony or Feast. Just an idea.
Decided by the group that it is the inviting members responsibility to make sure their guests are garbed and are respecting the traditions of the Clann.
Probate Review:
Maeve not present at meeting
Brogan moves to close meeting at 3:25PM