Hartwood Events

A page for the populace to record fond memories of Hartwood events gone by. Newcomers Memorable Newcomers include AS L (2016) when the perfect storm of a successful Heritage Days demo, a local newspaper article about our upcoming event, and Newcomers happened in quick succession -- we had over 50 guests. -- Cunegonda University of Tir Righ Session Memorable (T)UTR's include AS XLVII (2013), when a 10 year old Miranda had to fill in for her mother and teach a bunch of adults how to paint silk banners -- and did so quite well! Or AS XLVI (2012), the Year of the Plague; several instructors were sick, injured, or suddenly unavailable, and half the classes had to be cancelled. In AS L (2015), we began a new tradition of sleep-overs in the hall, to be continued in AS LI (2016). -- Cunegonda In the year of the planetary plague, Hartwood hosted the event online. Students attended from around the world! -- Halima Championship and War Memorable Championships include our first, in AS XLIX (2014), when I shot in the finals with Miranda and prevailed; the following year, Miranda shot against her mother in the semi-finals, and Sir Liam in the finals to take the championship. Again in AS XLIX, Azemar battled long and hard against Sextus in the shade of Ravens Key Castle, going through every weapon combination possible. The crowd cheered, and yes, we were entertained. In AS L (2015), Seamus came up to host a Phoenix Tourney, marking the renewal of Rapier in our community. Also in AS L, we had a lovely Inn to host an Embellisher's Guild meeting and Bardic that lasted until 4 am; older members who had drifted away returned, bringing their memories of the birth of our Shire. We proved the versatility of our community, and were reminded of the strength friends from far off lands give us; an emergency came up and the Champion could not be there, so Edward of False Isle and Sextus stepped up to MIC and run the championship right away. In AS LII, Rapier and Thrown Weapons both debuted their own championships, with Asa and Korbinian taking the honours respectively. -- Cunegonda Yule Memorable Yules... ah, too many to count, and all for the wrong reasons. From broken hearts to family emergencies, food poisoning and heart attacks, there was a three year streak where Yule was flat out cursed. So alarming was the escalation in disasters it seemed as if surely someone would actually die the next year; fortunately for us all Doireann broke the trend, and AS L (2015) went off perfectly. The funny thing is so few people who attended all those other years noticed that things were falling apart behind the scenes -- when the ball drops, our Shire is filled with people who reach out to catch it. We adapt, and carry on ... and let nothing get in the way of our merriment! -- Cunegonda I have a great memory of the Yule of AS LIII (2018): It's the year that Aspasia Bevilacqua won both Hartwood Craftsman Championship -and- Bardic Championship, honours and duties to be hers for the coming year. This busy lady was also one of the servers for the feast! This is the same Yule where we had an afternoon dance class of a dozen people! -- Halima