mid april newsletter

South Tower Newsletter Mid April 2012

The Plante Bath course will run. Because of low signups, the course start date was delayed to allow people to trickle in.
(I think it has to do with exams, which understandably trump yet more courses!)
New dates are one week later, April 22nd to June 17 for both the advanced and basic course.


European Chivalrous Handling Course...Level 1 Plante Baths (18 hours) Sunday mornings 10:30 to 12:30
Plante Recreation Centre, 730 Sommerset St. West at Preston road.
Phone to register at 613-232-3000

The basic course is needed to get started in sword handling and be able to do it safely, a good grounding.
Not a lot of "dirty tricks", but you get all the basic moves required to aquit yourself as a competent swordsman on the field.


Chivalrous Sword Level 1 Sun @ 10:30 am – 12:30 pm Apr 15 – Jun 17 696949
$112.50 Preston Room
No class Sunday, May 20th


The courses at the plante bath are quite different from the courses at Algonquin.
There is more chain maille, and none of the Japanese Katana work which we do at Algonquin College.



Basic Course....Algonquin Woodruff Campus, the gym in the "P" building.
Course Code GEN0088. cost for this course is $160.57 incl HST This is a non-credit Algonquin General Interest course,
and as such is payable entirely to Algonquin College. (On line or at the Registrar's desk just inside the doors at the Admin building.)
Wednesday evenings, 7 to 9:30, May 2nd to June 13, 2012
Advanced Course .....Algonquin Woodruff Campus (16 hours Friday evenings 7 to 9:30 in the "P" building.

Course Code GEN 0105 Cost for this course is $160.57 incl HST
Courses are scheduled for Friday evenings, only two days after the basic course ends.

Nice thing about the advanced course...its mostly just practicing and application of the stuff you learn in the basic course,
so you can miss one or two classes without fear of falling behind.

Workshops.
I can get pretty much any Friday evening in January or February for workshops in Algonquin, and then again Wednesday evenings in March and April.
email me at stag@southtower.on.ca and perhaps we can set up some workshops...
anything from "armour repair" to "chain maille making" to who knows what....if you have an idea for a topic,
let me know, and we can schedule something. Obviously if it involves complex Systema or Juitsu techniques, we would need the gym with the mats....but heck, even if all we have is a pub night...I think I can get behind that!

Algonquin College Registrar's Office is 1385 Woodruff Ave, Rm. C150, Ottawa Ont., K2G 1V8. tel 613-727-0002,
or 1-800-565-4723, fax613-727-7754 email AskAlgonquin@algonquincollege.com.
But if I am involved, have me do it.... especially if it is a pub night.
(our pub by the way is Greenfields at the corner of Greenbank Road and Fallowfield Road.
We usually end up there after class on Wednesday evenings.)


Summer tournaments.....

The summer months are tourney season. It is what we have been training for all winter!
We usually hold them on a Saturday, and we KNOW that summer saturdays are precious, so I will try to make your investment in a weekend worth it.

We find that single and double elimination tournaments seem to work well. We did a round robin a few years ago...near killed me!
We have the space, and I put up a tent which is big enough to fight in if we have to. So not even rain will stop us!

Archery has been a component in the past. We can still do that, but it will need to be well run. The archery lane is serviceable.
We still need to make some more "barn doors" to deal with overshoots. Work party on Saturday coming I guess.


As fun and interesting as the tournaments are, we are fully aware that most folks do not come here for the fighting, but for the feasting.


Combined with the tournament is an evening feast, Traditionally we have had a pot luck feast.
Although a pot luck works, and it most certainly will be a component of it for the forseeable future, we are thinking about catering this event.
Just outside the village is a world class, world renouned barbecue restaurant which smokes up the finest ribs in North America.
Okay, maybe there are some places in Kentucky or South Carolina which might dispute that,
but the Canadian maple wood they smoke their ribs with lend a most delightful flavor.
As an exeriment, we will get a washtub full of St. Louis back ribs delivered to the tournament.
At twenty bucks a head, it sounds too good to be true.

The upside...ribs to die for...that have been smoking for 24 hours and marinading for 24 hours before that.
The downside...to get in on the deal, payment must be a week in advance.
...no cancellations, not even for rain.
...the worst that can happen would be you get a great meal.
The upside...we have a tent which can take any number of people.
The downside...its May, and might be a bit chilly.
The upside...we ARE Canadians, and we laugh at cold.

I am looking at Mid May...which some might feel to be a little too early. However, the planning such as it is, has all been done.
We have to work around Anime North (25th) and the Ottawa Comic Con May 12th.
If I push into June, we will be in Wedding Season, and that means family time which would trump tourney time.

This will be an experiment to see how things will roll out. So there are a LOT of questions and details which will have to be ironed out.
If it works out well, we will do it again after the Upper Canada show, and again, after the Osgoode show.
The big one will be the big annual Pumpkin Cutting event in November. But that is so far away! I can't wait that long for ribs.

So...I need to know...is the 19th of May good? Who would want to go early and do it on the fifth? Or both? Is this even a good idea at all?