Why discuss a barony?

(mostly) by Genevieve

The aims:

(1) To help the populace of the Shires of West Dragonshire, Thamesreach and Mynydd Gwyn to work even more closely together improve communication between members

(2) To reduce the number of SCA officers needed from within that populace

(3) To have a local Crown vassal, for a richer game experience.

General Discussion

The three southernmost shires have worked together and supported each other at running events for some time. Examples that I know about:

• Thamesreach ran 12th night Coronation at Caerphilly, 2004 in Wales, with agreement of Mynydd Gwyn; Genevieve as steward and herald, Thomas and Siban as cooks
• Lammas 2005, traditionally a Thamesreach event, was organized by Robert (living in WD) and cooked by Thomas Flamanc (also in WD), using the Thamesreach cooking gear
• West Dragonshire folk helped run both the Viceroy tourney and the Summer Coronation at Shurdington in Mynydd Gwyn in 2005; Siban cooking at least one of these feasts
• Sveinn, bytimes in both Thamesreach and WD, has cooked feasts for Mynydd Gwyn events like Cooks and Bards
• Kingdom university 2005 was run almost singlehanded in Thamesreach by Marina, Ivan, Ariel and Raphe (of WD)
• Robert and Terafan collaborated to organize 2006's Winchester Pilgrimage in WD
• Robert organized 2006 West Dragonshire summer tourney
• Goncalves has been steward for events sponsored by both Thamesreach and Mynydd Gwyn, from Lincoln to Shurdington to Raglan, and is currently eyeing at least three more events in the next two years...

In a way, combining the three shires into a barony would formalize the level of cooperation and support that already exists between the groups.

Officers (and populace)

Genevieve did a headcount based on the membership lists sent to the seneschals. This was counting both people who declared their residence, and those who did not, but whose residence I knew.

ID total: 100

West Dragonshire: 23

Thamesreach: 10

Mynydd Gwyn: 12

Total of 45 members, of whom 4 are children (1 family in Jersey)

It's hard to estimate how many active people that represents, but I'd venture that the active numbers are only a little higher. My count doesn't include a handful of lapsed members, who show up only periodically.

Of each shire, 3-6 people have to hold local offices (seneschal, exchequer, plus 1 other at minimum).

In these shires, several people are carrying multiple offices, including regional and kingdom ones.

If a group has about 10 people, and one-third to one-half must be officers, who change roles about every two years...you run out of fresh bodies quickly, and end up recycling members as officers without a chance for a break.

Some people enjoy being officers, and volunteer regularly. However, even volunteers like to choose to hold office, rather than being obliged to hold office, because otherwise the group will founder. That road of obligation leads to burnout.

Local Nobility

Having local Nobility (ie a Baron/ess) is often cited as a good reason for a barony. The prescence of an enfiefed Crown vassal definitely gives a group a focus, someone to serve, and a means to recognize good contributions with official thanks.

A local Crown representative for southern UK is icing on the cake.

The cake itself is the chance to consolidate the required Society officer structure, and to free ourselves up to spend more time playing the game we enjoy.