Successful site visit for Crown!

[abendgules]

On Sunday, nusbacher, exmoor_cat ,nz_bookwyrm and I braved the slashing rain to visit the venue for Spring Crown Tourney.

Asbiorn took pics, posted to his FB.
Good things:
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1 new-build, fully handicap-accessible building, 1 refurbished-to-be-accessible building.
New building has 2 all-mod-con kitchens, larger & more comfortable than the one in the barn.
One building has a working fireplace, so we might have the option of a welcoming fire on Fri & Sat nights.
Some nice rooms for meetings/classes
We can use the walled garden again for the tournament - sheltered from wind, and a marquee for rain.

We can consider the option of feeding people breakfast & lunch somewhere other than the main hall, to keep the breakfast & lunch folks from tripping over the feast cooks.

Less good things:
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Paths and dirt tracks between buildings could be muddy/slippery in March.
No dishwasher at all.
Must use extract fans in the kitchens, or else you'll set off fire alarms.
The cooks will have to work out what to cook where, and how to transport it - wagons & trolleys are on site for transporting stuff back and forth between buildings, about 50 m apart on a dirt/gravel track.
Absolutely no paper towels, face & baby wipes, cotton buds, pads/tampons down the loos - blockages are a nightmare.
Need a GNAS-certified instructor, who must bring certs with them to the site for copies, to use the archery range.
Camping area is isolated from these buildings, so you'll have to be very very keen on camping to brave it in late March.
The drive itself was very pleasant: nusbacher hails from my own first homeland of Ealdormere, and was active during the crown principality years, through the proscription (2 years when the region that is now Ealdormere was officially banned, thanks to the pettiness and control-freakishness of the Midrealm royals and seneschal, referred to as the Ohio Conspiracy(!)) and into the early principality years.

It's been a long time since I've heard the Midrealm referred to in that particular principality-of-Ealdormere tone, or heard Master Hector's old nickname. :-)

It was fascinating to hear nusbacher's impressions of the times - stories about people I've only known as names in the Line of the North. I've met Yog, Hannora, and Deirdre (who I was very sad to hear has died recently) but never met John of Slaughterfield, for instance.

I know Tarver's name, but mostly as a name - he came out to a Bonfield battle some years ago, possibly with hopes of returning to the game, but I didn't see him again.

David & Tangwystyl were the first royals I met, as MK k&q, and they retain a faint glow about them for me even now - to nusbacher, they were new arrivals who were playing a different game from that current in Eoforwic? Septentria? at the time.

Particularly interesting were musings on the culture of Ealdormere from that time - how different households (de Taahe, Aidan & Kaffa, Amberhall) fostered different qualities.

I was also amused to hear that even then, Eoforwic was closer to US Midrealm groups than to Skraeling Althing ('It was so far away, very isolated'). It persisted even when I was last in Skraeling Althing - it's 4 hours from Caldrithig to Eoforwic, but seems to be a 3 day journey when travelling the other way.

Comments

[merlyn-gabriel.livejournal.com]

goodness John of Slaughterfield...now that's a name I have not heard in a very long time. I remember seeing him called up to court ( forget why now) and the entire crowd chanted "fop...fop..." as he made his way forward.

that was a LONG time ago.

[nusbacher.livejournal.com]

That was because he was wearing his long pointy shoes at the time.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I remember the shoes, and the chant, but can't remember why he got called up either. I'm old enough to remember the geographic construct mundanely known as Ontario, but don't really recall the cultures among the different households. I do still hold up Kaffa and Aidan's courts as the best I have ever attended for making me believe I was in the Middle Ages.

[utsi.livejournal.com]

richard & jordie were at the funeral, i still think of him as sparky ;), and yog & i were quite the cooking team here for a while (every cook needs a make it happen person-especially when that person tends to double dog darethe cook. still in touch with random folks. do you recall len/lothar? new baby girl & wife (just down the street). & sparky's wife (S) just gave birth to a baby boy.

[merlyn-gabriel.livejournal.com]

oh yeah I remember now!!
God that was so cool. I was very new in the SCA at the time...I think I went by the name of cally or something. What a long time ago...

I remember the wearing on black armbands over the whole principality thing as well, I must dig up my photos of that time period.