Unto all good folk of Nordskogen, Nordleigh, and Blachemere, greetings!
In December 1979, the Shire of Nordskogen became the Barony of Nordskogen.
At Twelfth Night we therefore celebrate our fortieth anniversary as a barony with martial tournaments, an arts and sciences competition, a delicious lunch, dancing, shopping, and many other activities on Saturday, January 11, and an archery competition at Bwana Archery on Sunday, January 12. It will bring together many of the things that we love about our barony and the Society as we visit with old friends and meet new ones. We hope to see many of you there!
The new year is a time of resolutions and fresh starts, and the turn of a decade adds to the symbolic weight of change. All cliches aside, we have a serious plea for you: we need volunteers. We need them at all levels, from chair movers to event stewards to kingdom officers. Need training? We can help you find it. Got ideas? We can help you make them real!
Please start with Twelfth Night. Nordskogen has more than 300 active members, but as of this writing, only eight of us have volunteered to help make Twelfth Night happen. Three people from outside the barony have volunteered as well. Half of these people are filling more than one shift at the event.
We are sure that many of you are waiting until after the holiday rush, or perhaps planning to volunteer when you arrive at the event. Please take time now to find a shift you can cover. It is immensely helpful (and stress-relieving!) to the staff to have volunteers arranged ahead of time, especially when we have relatively short windows to set up and tear down the event.
If everybody wishes to attend but nobody is willing to make it happen, the event will not continue. This may sound alarmist, but our former home in Calontir had to cancel their 2019 Twelfth Night, after 35 years, due to lack of volunteers. We can’t just assume that someone else will keep it going.
Friends, the event schedules have been posted. The volunteer signup is here:https://nordskogentn.wordpress.com/volunteer-signup/ Please commit an hour or two of time to make Twelfth Night happen. Many of us are stressed right now and looking to the SCA for a respite. But we ourselves are the only people who can maintain this Dream, this fleeting bubble of anachronism, in the years to come.
Caoilfhionn and Gabriel, Baroness and Baron of Nordskogen