Good Gentles!
We are opening up again to events as local mandates allow. It will be great to be back with all of you as soon as we can!
As we reopen, I have a few thoughts. The first is that our local groups, Kingdoms, and the SCA as a whole mean nothing without the people. The people are what make this organization amazing! That being said, I must charge all of us with an important task. As we start to have events again, new members will be attending to see the magic we all talk about and feel. We will all interact with people we haven’t seen in some time, or someone entirely new. That make us ALL chatelaines.
The second is that if we are all chatelaines, then what all of us say and do matters. It matters to the person that hasn’t played in a year and a half. It matters to the person coming back after five or more years away. And it matters to the person who is here for the first time. Please be kind to each other.
Thirdly, be encouraging. The first-time participant may not have great garb. Don’t tell them how it’s wrong; ask them what kind of garb they want. (This is just one example of things I have seen happening to new people that I do not believe should happen. It happened to me at my first event.) We are better than that. Instead, show them the many styles that people are wearing around you and let them decide what they like. Offer to help them make something more suitable, or introduce them to someone who can, if you don’t sew.
It all comes down to this: Northshield is what it is because of its people. Every one of us makes up the fabric of this Kingdom, and I believe that we are among the best in the Known World. Our people are beyond compare. Let this be what people take away from our events.
Edmond