A very brief intro to the Society
Who are you? And why are you dressed that way? Here's a summary.
Monthly shire meetings
Monthly business meetings are 3rd Monday of the month, at Ye Olde Watling, in the City.
Nearly-monthly revels
We try to hold seasonal gatherings about once a month - activity days and revels to celebrate the both the arts of war and of peace. Check the calendar (see below) for details, and read the newsgroup for announcements.
Strictly social - 'museum and beer' trips
To take advantage of the wealth of cultural resources in London, we try to get to a museum for an after-work view of a few artifacts, before going for a beer. You can decide which part of the evening is most important!
Stitching evenings in the pub
A cheery band of handworkers have started gathering on the first Monday of the month at Ye Olde Watling, to share a pint and work on current projects.
Come join us for an hour of beer, chat, and handwork: bring your sewing, embroidery, knitting or other portable project. Medieval projects encouraged, but not absolutely required.
If you're on the Thamesreach newsgroup, you'll get an auto-reminder a few days before the event.
Calendars, newsgroups and forums
Thamesreach is trying out using the Yahoogroup calendar to track SCA events and other activities that are of interest to members (museum exhibits, performances, etc.) Lots of cool things happen in London all the time!
Thamesreach calendar (requires a Yahoo ID to view, and membership in the Thamesreach Yahoogroup to add events)
Kingdom of Drachenwald official calendar
Across the kingdom, we rely on e-mail and newgroups to keep us in touch.
(Not the) Isles' Yahoogroup Began as an unofficial mailing list, hence the name.
Register here to view and join drachenwald.sca.org lists, such as:
- Drachenwald Mailing List (DML): Drachenwald announcements, news, discussion...
- Drachenrapier
- Drachenwald Marshals' List
- Drachenwald Heralds' List
Other SCA Mailing Lists - a useful list provided by the Rialto.
Drachenwald forum - this here newfangled technology, very popular with the young folks; similar to newsgroups, only more addictive...
We have a limited amount of loaner kit for fighting and fencing - if you want to borrow something, please contact the marshal, so he knows to bring it with him!
The long-standing West Dragonshire Tuesday night practice is in Basingstoke, and is reachable by train + cab, or by car.
Combat Rules & Websites:
Kingdom of Drachenwald Marshals
page
Arts
of War, on Insulae Draconis site - several useful articles, legacy
of Sir Michael de Lacy, one of the founding members of Insulae Draconis.
For an explanation of SCA combat from a local member, see Lord Ozbeg Mangudai's Combat page. (Not updated recently, but still good info.) His personal homepage The Mongol's Horde includes a selection of armor and SCA combat photos.
Master Paul de Gorey's
excellent handbook Basic Armouring:
A Practical Introduction to Armour Making is hosted by House Brighthelm.
You won't find a more readable and useful starter resource on this topic
anywhere.
Sword Maiden - SCA website for women fighters and their supporters, written in response to....
The Armour Archive - popular forum for discussing all aspects of combat, across SCA and other reenactment groups.
Lucien, Genevieve and Robert are experienced heralds, who are happy to advise you about armory design, choosing a name, or submitting your name and arms to the Society College of Heralds.
The heraldry section of the Drachenwald website outlines the policies of the kingdom College of Heralds, and has many helpful articles, and the submission forms as PDFs.
Some other useful reading:
Heraldry on the SCA website.
Modar's heraldry page - a large website with plenty of reading about SCA heraldry
Medieval Names Archive This collection of articles on medieval and renaissance names is intended to help historical re-creators to choose authentic names.
Medieval Heraldry Archive This collection of articles on medieval and renaissance heraldry is intended to help historical re-creators to choose authentic armory.
London is a goldmine of galleries, museums, and of course, the British Library, providing unparalleled sources for scribes.
Thamesreach has several scribes of varying skill levels, and we hold weekend scribal gatherings periodically, as our schedules permit. Contact the seneschal, or Mistress Nerissa, for more information.
Culinary Guild
There is no formal structure to the Culinary Guild, and unless otherwise
declared, everyone in the Shire is assumed to be a member! All level of
cooks (from the culinarily-challenged meal-in-a-can cook to the hobby
chef) are very welcome, as you can all learn from and offer something
to the Guild. All you need is the ability to peel apples and eat.
The aim of the Culinary Guild is to teach people about the techniques,
ingredients, health theories and other such matters of early, medieval
and renaissance cuisine, mainly through practical experience. Also the
skills of menu selection, budgeting, goods acquisition etc etc that are
necessary in cooking for Society events. At the end of the day however,
we do it because we like to eat good food and have fun.
Event and recipe enquires welcome. For details please contact the Guildmistress, HE Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia (Tina Nevin)
Cooking Guild Yahoogroup, the mailing list for the cooks of Drachenwald.
SCA-Cooks Mailing List -
a very informative, helpful and fun list on medieval and other cooking
open to anyone. Expect to learn a great deal. Put only the following line
in the BODY of the message:
subscribe sca-cooks
Brewing is a fun form of do-it-yourself home chemistry, with results you can drink! It's also an excellent social pastime, and doesn't require a lot of experience. "The Wrecked Angle Brewery" in Thamesreach has supported brewers of all skill levels.
With the loss of our local guildmistress and alewife, the brewers have been dormant for awhile.
If you are a brewer and feel a bout of brewing coming on, please don't keep it to yourself! Post to the Thamesreach list, and see if you can find some fellow brewers.
(past) Guildmistress: Lady Meesha de Valence (mka Michelle Horowitz)
