Gentles,
It is my privilege to have been autocrat of Noisemakers X. It was a wonderful day, full of sun, sultry psaltery, heraldry, and scribal arts. So many people were critical to making the event the lovely time that I feel it was. The following thanks, I believe, cannot be treated as complete, as I only know what I witnessed or what I was told. For those who contributed, but who are not herein named (most especially the many who helped to transform the gymnasium from a hang-out den to court), please accept my thanks for the part you played in making the event amazing!
First of all, I’d like to thank all the teachers. As a schola, Noisemakers could not operate without the generous donations of time and expertise that teachers make in offering classes. So I would like to thank, in no particular order, Master Rowen Cloteworthy, Lord Yehuda Ben Moshe, Dame Brunissende Dragonette, Reb Eleazar ha-Levi, Dame Lillia de Vaux, Lady Seraphina Delfino, Baroness Theodora Bryennissa, Lord Berrick Grayveson, Lady Isabeau d’Orleans, Lord Martyn de Halliwell, Lord Ian Douglas, Lady Erlan Nordenskald, The Honourable Lord Kai SaerPren, Maîtresse Sabine de Kerbriant, Lady Margretha la Fauvelle, Master Arden of Icomb, Lady Marion Quyn, Lord Reijnier Verplank. I’d like to thank Mistress Alys Mackyntoich, who graciously volunteered to teach, but was unable to make it to the event, and thank Dame Lillia de Vaux for picking up that class.
I’d also like to take this moment to thank I Zanni Illuminati for privileging us with the first performance of the riotous and rollicking Pantalone’s Worry Box. While I must apologize for the troublesome acoustics, I also must applaud how funny the performance was, both within and without earshot (as I roamed the hall). The honored players were Baron Fum, Lady Lianor de Matos, Lady Gyrsell McLeod, Lady Xanthippe Ourinina, Lord Atilla Soldus, and Baronne Sabine de Kerbriant! Bravi!
Thanks are due to Dame Brunissende Dragonette for beginning the Noisemakers tradition over 10 years ago. For this Noisemakers specifically, she organized and scheduled a wonderful offering of Heraldry classes. She also helped to look ever classrooms.
On the musical side of things, Baronne Sabine de Kerbriant put together a terrific and varied set of classes that included a substantial bit of both music making and music instrument making! We also had a well-attended Juggling class in the performance track this year. Thank you for organizing such a varied and delightful panel!
Meesteres Annetje van Wœrden offered a delicious, bountiful dayboard. She was the first on site and was working all through the day to make sure that that teachers and attendees were well fed in their mid-day break. Along with her were her kitchen staff, Lady Asa in Svarta, Lord John Marshall, and Lady Triona MacCasky. But I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that the work of creating the dayboard began many months before the event.I have heard that the following people were also involved in the long-term prep Lady Elizabet Marshall, Baroness Alesone Gray of Cranlegh, Mistress Judith the Uncertain, and Mistress Rainillt Leia de Bello Marisco. Many thanks to all who helped in preparing this delectible repast. Again, thank you to all of the kitchen staff for their many days of work leading up to and including Noisemakers.
Baroness Philadelphia Brown did so much for the event. She provided excellent and conscientious gate organization. She worked with other Bailiwick staff to make sure everything was paid for in advance and managed reimbursements afterwards. Furthermore, her help in setting up, providing table cloths, tearing down, and cleaning up was essential and greatly appreciated!
While we are on gate, I’d like to thank everyone who helped Philly out at gate, Lady Gisela Szabo, Baroness Judith the Confused, Lady Xanthippe Ouranina, Mistress Scheherazade al-Zahira and Lady Jadwiga Piwowarka-Miodosytnika, among others. Thank you for making sure that everyone was welcome!
Particular thanks are due to Lord Martyn de Halliwell, who served as point contact with the site, in addition to teaching and helping to set-up. Also, he helped in the complex shepherding of cooking supplied between Coronation and Noisemakers!
I extend my great appreciation to Lady Alesia de Maris of Ravenstar for her amazing suite of youth activities! What a wonderful program! I was particularly charmed by the regalia scavenger hunt. Helping her through the day were Baron Nissim aven Darmon , Lady Xanthippe Ouranina, Lord Brian mac Dhughaill an Boghadair, Lady Aibhilin inghean ui Phaidin , Mistress Scheherazade al-Zahira, and Alanna de Maris of Ravenstar. I extend my thanks for enriching the Youth programs with harp, heraldry, and handwriting (please pardon the misrepresentation of calligraphy as handwriting; it is in the greater cause of alliteration)!
The consulting heralds! I cannot forget to tender my immense thanks to you all for being on call to answer questions! Many thanks are due to Dame Lillia de Vaux, Lord Yehuda ben Moshe, Lady Beatrice Shirwood, and Lady Seraphina Delfino!
I’d like to thank Lady Siobhan inghean ui Dhonnabhin and Lord Ian Douglas for proposing the challenges for the Baronial Bardic Championship, and for all who entered! Congratulations to our new Baronial Bardic Champion, Lady Girsell McLeod!
I’d like to send special thanks to Sayyidda Jamilia al-Suba al-Hadid min Bhakail for so much help throughout the day, in set-up and tear down, moving desks and setting up a washing station, but most especially I want to thank her for the wonderful and helpful signage that she made on the day, a task that had beneficial effects throughout the day and which I would have completely forgotten about! So many thanks!
Thanks are due to Master Rowen Cloteworthy for taking the many pieces of information sent to him and producing the attractive and well-organized program that kept the schedule of the day legible to all!
Lord Geoffert of the Lone Oake deserves special mention. While he helped immensely throughout the day in setting up, tearing down, I would mention him especially for setting up a water station that kept guests hydrated while also taking on the unenviable task of directing traffic and parking as people arrived in the morning. Likewise he and Lady Xanthippe Ouranina were some of the last people on site, taking custody of some of the cooking gear and taking an exhausted Event Steward home. Many thanks for all your help!
Lord Brian mac Dhughaill an Boghadair, I offer you my thanks for transforming a gymnasium into a heraldry festooned hall. The banners were very much appreciated, as were your and Geoffert’s efforts in decorating the hall with them. Thank you for providing pageantry!
Special thanks are due to Lady Jadwiga Piwowarka-Miodosytnika in addition to any thanks for setting up. On a personal note, I thank her for providing this Event Steward and his Gatekeeper with a much needed ride to the site. But, in the same vein, she ventured out into Mundania to procure ice for the kitchen staff. Many thanks for being our errand runner!
A special note of thanks to Lady Iseaulte of the Clews! During court set-up she volunteered her folding table for Their Excellencies use, and furnished them with water. This help was unbidden, offered freely, and very-much appreciated!
And now to turn to the great number of people who helped to set up, tear down, and clean up the event. If there were one area I would say that I did not do enough to organize before hand it would be soliciting volunteers before the day. I was feeling overwhelmed with other duties and only turned my attention to this a week or so before the event, hoping and trusting in the volunteerism of others. I can only say that, while this was a poor piece of planning on my part, indeed the generous nature of the many people who come to SCA events proved strong and true. There will certainly be many whom I cannot name, people whom I know by sight, whom I have even talked to at a number of events, but whose names I do not know. The omission of your name should not be taken as a slight. I saw so many helping and yet was so busy trying to manage the event that I cannot list every name. So, before naming the names of those I do know, I extend my thanks to any and all who pitched in on the day. You are appreciated. Noisemakers would not have operated without you!
And now to those I can name. So many thanks are due to the following people. Their names may have already been noted for specific duties. I include them in this list anyway, as they were key to the mundane setting up and putting away for tables, chairs, cleaning of the kitchen so the cooks could rest, alteration of classroom configuration and reestablishment of that initial order. In no particular order: Lady Sonja of Bhakail, Osric of Bhakail, Lord Ian Douglas, Lady Triona MacCasky, Sayyidda Jamilia al-Suba al-Hadid min Bhakail, Lady Xanthippe Ouranina, Lord Geoffert of the Lone Oake, Lady Jadwiga Piwowarka-Miodosytnika, Lord Brian mac Dhughaill an Boghadair, Dame Brunissende Dragonette, Baroness Philadelphia Brown, Lord Reijnier Verplank, Baronne Sabine de Kerbriant, Lady Alesia and Alanna de Maris of Ravenstar, Lady Elizabet Marshall,
A note on teacher tokens: I had an idea for the logo of the event. I asked for help in developing the design so that it could be used in multiple media. I sent a sketch out and got back a wonderful expression of my general idea, with improvements that made it much more legible! I was thrilled, but couldn’t manage to track down who did it! In the meantime, this design was picked up by Baroness Philadelphia Brown’s worthy consort–one who does not even play with the SCA–and rendered along with yet another improvement into 3-D cast pewter badges. Upon seeing this token at the event, Lady Margretha la Fauvelle came forward to let me know that it was she who did the initial rendering based on my idea and how pleasant it was to see it used and so brilliantly executed. So a very big thank you is due to Lady Margretha la Fauvelle and the consort of our Philly, both of whom very generously dedicated their effort to the event in ways that were entirely behind the scenes, but which, at least from my position, added a great deal to the experience.
Thanks are due to another invisible contributor to the event, Lady Livia Petralia, who was key in helping me to keep this, my first event, organized. Ever willing to allow me to wax far more lyric in meetings than strictly necessary and always supportive, I could not have done this without her help and advice.
I’d like to begin wrapping up by thanking Their Excellencies Mael Eoin and Ysmay for supporting the Bailiwick’s event while navigating the hosting of a coronation the week before. I can say that we were all honored by their presence, by their choice of Noisemakers as the host event for the Baronial Bardic Championship, and by their choice to hold court at the event. I must offer my personal thanks for offering me a small part of that court to honor Dame Brunissende Dragonette. Thank you again for your support and your ever pleasant and effervescent presences!
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who came out to the event. What a wonderful day.
Please pardon the delay in sending this out. As you can see, there were many names to gather and many to thank.
Yours,
Ælfric FitzHugh