[Hartwood] Championships

[Linda]

Thank-you for your synopsis, Your Ladyship! It was indeed a wonderful
event! So much happened in a short period of time, and yet there was
very little overlap!

I very much enjoyed the Embellishers' Guild chat, sharing what I know
about the guild and how to participate, giving examples, and generally
letting people know that -any- embellishment could be suitable. We had
Donna Diamante to show some of her skills, as well, broadening the
inspirational pieces.

Kudos to our hosts, providing sustenance on the Friday night, and
again on Sunday noon; the Inn was well-used whenever the weather
turned dark and/or wet!

Kudos to Master John, event steward, and everyone who contributed, in
a small or big way, to making this an event to remember!

(Special thanks to Lady Miranda, Master John, and Lord Harold for
their assistance with my camp. Because of their help to set up and
take down, I could stay warm and dry no matter the decrees of the
weather!)

In service,
Halima al-Rakkasa

On 9/18/16, D Bevan <dbevan at topfloor.ca> wrote:
>
> First of all, thank you to John and his enormous event team; everyone who
> helped at the site clean ups and… well, let me cut and paste from John
> himself.
>
> "Kicking back after another fantastic SCA event. The rain of pending doom
> held off for most of the day and we even managed to bask in a bit of
> sunlight as we played though the days scheduled activities. Huge thanks to
> Archos Aline my archery MIC, Lord Ulf my thrown weapons MIC, Lord Sextus my
> heavy MIC, HL Alessandra <https://www.facebook.com/christina.a.grant.5> my
> rapier MIC, Archos Aline  <https://www.facebook.com/Allison.Seez.Mail>again
> for the family activities including an amazing hunkerdown tournament,
> Mistress Halima <https://www.facebook.com/halima.alrakkasa> for the
> embellisher's challenge, Thorkell
> <https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013367373537> and Lady
> Margarette for organizing and sitting many long hours at gate. Lastly to
> Lady Gwynafel <https://www.facebook.com/wmaiuro> and HL Nicola for Bardic.
> As you might have guessed by this list of thanks so many people were
> involved in making this a successful outing. Many thanks to all, to those
> who participated, and to the many who just braved the forecasted rain to
> attend. Thanks all.
> John Mail-Macandrew <https://www.facebook.com/John.Mail.Macandrew>"
>
> In addition, my gratitude to those who travelled to be with us, to everyone
> who entered the competitions, and to my amazing team of battle scribes who
> worked so hard to help me make people get teary. (More on that below)
>
> Bardic in the inn was lovely — almost as lovely as the soup offered there
> Friday night and Sunday afternoon, which was amazing and delicious. There
> was a good chat in there about Embellishment, some heraldry conversation,
> and board games. (Warning: Elexia is a fast learner, and kicked my butt
> twice at 9 Mens Morris.) We had several enthusiastic newcomers, some of whom
> were so well dressed we thought they were just visiting from another branch.
> Reminded me of Giovanna!
>
> ***
> The Championships themselves were terrific fun.
>
> In Archery, they shot at a flower-shaped target, shot combat arrows at a
> Black Knight from behind a Pavise shield, and had an elimination shoot with
> balloons representing their ‘lives’. The winners of each of these qualifiers
> — Lord Harold, Lady Aniko, and Archos Aline respectively — went to the
> finals, which was a grouping shoot. Aniko victorious!
>
> The Armoured championship was terrific to watch, with a few double-kills,
> chivalry on fine display, and a final between Lord Azemar and Lord Wulfgar
> once Sir Liam wore them out a little. Wulfgar victorious!
>
> Huzzah to the new champions of Hartwood, Lady Aniko (Archery), and Lord
> Wulfgar (armoured)! My gratitude to Lady Miranda and Lord Attius (and Lord
> Azemar) for such entertaining tourneys.
>
> … so thats two champions in one household. Talons Rest is a well protected
> keep. ;)
>
> Secondary competitions included: Best Introduction (Sir Liam), and Chivalry
> award (Sextus). We had three Rapier fighters, and Master (ack, what’s the
> honourary for a Master of Defense?) Godfrey von Ravensburg took it. We had a
> challenge issued from across the water, and competed with Fjordland in
> Thrown Weapons. While we won overall, it was only by the skin of our teeth —
> Hartwood had 37 throwers, while they had 26. We had the top female scorer,
> they had the top male scorer — but only by a few points. Our average was
> 5.49, but they nipped at our heels with a 5.39. Well matched indeed! The
> evening Hunkerdown tourney was enjoyed by all those young at heart;
> ultimately Sextus bested John in a show-down that looked like a pair of
> professional Hunkerdown athletes.
>
> ***
> This event we unveiled some of the new shire tokens. In 3 weeks a group of
> battle scribes designed, worded, calligraphed and painted 14 scrolls, and
> crafted 4 different tokens, listed below:
>
> Stag Tag: One of the Old Hartwood tokens, it has been slightly modified to
> include those who move to the shire and fight for us as well. It’s been
> expanded to include all contact sports; Armoured, Cut and Thrust, and
> Rapier.
>
> Lord Azemar de Toulouse was inducted as #30.
>
> Raven Tag: Inspired by the Stag Tag, this is for Target Arts: Archery,
> Thrown Weapons, and eventually Equestrian. Like the Stag Tag, you must have
> your own Equipment and have participated in a team-based competition for
> Hartwood.
>
> #1 John MacAndrew
> #2 Aline de Seez
> #3 Elizabeth MacAndrew (Formerly Miranda)
> #4 Halima al-Rakkasa
> #5 Melles Aniko
> #6 Harold of Hartwood
>
> (There are four additional eligible members who will hopefully be awarded at
> Yule.)
>
> Sable Hound: This is our acknowledgement of service to the shire. This was a
> hard one for me, as I was given more recommendations than I could arrange
> scrolls for in the one week we had left, and every one of them deserved it.
> There will definitely be more awarded at Yule.
>
> Recipients include: Halima al-Rakkasa, Aline de Seez, John MacAndrew, Melles
> Aniko, and Ulf Traeskaerer.
>
> Stags Mark: This is a token of our gratitude to those from outside the shire
> who have left their mark on us. The recipient was not present, so I’ve kept
> it and will perhaps give out two at Yule.
>
> In addition to those tokens we’ve already unveiled, Yule we will debut the
> Swan Tag (A&S), the Lure (Helping the shire grow by working with
> Newcomers/encouraging activities), and renewing the Exemplar
> (courtesy/chivalry/hounour/kindness — the ideals of the SCA).
> Recommendations for all of the above are requested.
>
>
> Yours,
>
> Cunegonda van den Bossche
> Seneschal of Hartwood
>