Part of a series of interviews with event stewards.
Who are yer?
Yannick of Normandy, Viscount and member of the Pelican order.
So, what got you into running an event then?
Let’s call it enlightened self interest.
How early into your SCA membership did you start?
It took a couple of years before I organised my first event. The Foresters Tourney format came out of discussions about what kind of events a small shire could run. Eventually this showed up at the main summer event at Raglan in 2015. It has been a popular tournament at our summer events ever since. We even managed to run a virtual version of the tournament during the plague years.
What is your idea of a perfect event?
Turn up, enjoy quality time with friends, do stuff or do not as the mood takes. A relaxed atmosphere with a good combination of plenty to do, while feeling no pressure to do any of it. The most memorable events are often memorable for the wrong reasons, good or bad.
What do you enjoy the most about running events?
The planning and working with a small dedicated team. Delivery should be invisible if we got it right.
Improvisation is an art, what is the craziest/funniest situation you have faced when things got sketchy?
“So, where is the kitchen?”, “It’s here…”, ”No, no, that is just a kettle and a microwave! Uh-oh…”
Early feast or late feast?
My personal preference is for a later feast for medical reasons, additionally, I would prefer no feast at all, just non-experimental food. Those personal notions aside however, as steward I’m usually happy to go along with whatever route our cooks would like to go because cooking is their passion and if they are to plan out a feast then spend the weekend in the kitchen so that everyone else can go play, they should do so on their own terms.
Who does the washing up?
Anyone but the cooks.
What three tips or tricks do you have for your beginner self?
Just do it. Build teams. Introduce someone new to each event planning cycle.
Do you have any events lined up this year?
Yes. Yes, I do, what of it?