Shire of the Ruins

Shire of the Ruins The Shire of the Ruins is a branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) located in Polk County and Plant City, Florida.

Practices each Thursday in South Lakeland. Meetings the last Sunday of each month. (times/dates may change, check chats)

04/22/2026

Good evening, all!

Just a reminder that the monthly meeting for the Shire is this Sunday. I hope to see everyone there!

Regards,

Lord Gunnarr inn Hviti (mka Matt Kelley)
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins
Lakeland, FL

04/08/2026

Good afternoon! We are readying the April edition of our newsletter, the Ruins Riding. If you know of any great feats done by a member of the ruins, or have some especially great stories, please send them to [email protected]. I’ll take input for a week, and then go to the extremely metaphorical presses. This edition covers Gulf Wars, so if you’d like to drop a brief paragraph about your best experience or favorite thing from the War, I’d be delighted to immortalize your memories.

YIS, Cairbre

03/13/2026

Good morning all,

We have a new Exchequer for the shire!

Please welcome Azriel Thorkilson (mka Mike Szuch), who volunteered to take up the office. He has experience as a treasurer in other types of clubs, and wanted to help out. We are working through the warranting process (Gulf Wars always puts a pause on everything, as you know) but I do not expect any issues with Mike taking over the position.

Gunnarr inn Hviti mka Matt Kelley
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins
Lakeland, FL

p.s. After listening to me struggle with his mundane last name, Mike kindly explained that it's pronounced "Sooch".

03/12/2026

REMINDER

There is NO fighter practice today, due to Gulf Wars.

Normal schedule resumes next week.

Carry on!

Gunnarr inn Hviti mka Matt Kelley
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins
Lakeland, FL

03/07/2026

Good morning, all.

I have received a reply from the Kingdom Exchequer (KE), and it was pretty much what I expected.

We have thirty (30) days to fill the position of Shire Exchequer, or become an inactive group. The KE is giving us a little more time as a courtesy, when she could have used our Exchequer's resignation date (or even the date the warrant expired) to start the 30 day clock. For that, I am grateful.

What does inactive mean? It means that the funds in our bank account will be transferred to a special Kingdom fund for safekeeping. Those funds will be returned to us if or when we are able to attain Active status again. During the interim, our shire cannot host events or sponsor them - this includes fighter practices and renting sites - for reasons of liability.

Our shire is NOT erased or absorbed by another group, we don't lose our badge/heraldic representation or our lands. We simply cannot conduct business as a regular group of the SCA, until we fill the minimum required positions. Warrants for current officers remain valid until they expire as normal.

If you reside within our lands (all of Polk County, and Plant City) and are interested in becoming our Exchequer, please reach out and let us know. There is a process we have to follow (since real money and bank access is involved) and it does take a bit of time to get through it.

You may email me at [email protected] or speak to any of our officers in person. Our next (and possibly last) meeting as an active shire will be March 29th at the usual location. If we do not have the situation resolved by the end of the meeting, I will inform the KE that we are moving to inactive status, and make arrangements for the funds to be transferred.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

Gunnarr inn Hviti mka Matt Kelley
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins
Lakeland, FL

03/05/2026

Good morning everyone,

As we are now without an Exchequer, I have reached out to Kingdom for guidance on what it means for the Shire, and what they want us to do.

I will keep you informed of any developments.

Gunnarr inn Hviti
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins
Lakeland, FL

03/04/2026

Good evening everyone,

After some serious technical difficulties, I finally have access to the Seneschal's email. I apologize if the lack of response felt like I was ignoring you, I literally couldn't see any official email until five minutes ago. Thank you to Candice and Matthew for your help and patience getting me through the "Thirteen Step Verification" process.

Even AFTER I have verified my phone number and email, there is a 24 hour cool down period before it will let me use them to (re) access the email page.

I can't change the signature block to reply to anyone until I can (re) verify who I am with my phone, so it will be a day or so before I can send you a real reply. I will not order pizza, or try to send anyone anything until I can get it locked down, the last thing I want is for Candice to be blamed for any mistakes I make (while signing her name to things!)

For the moment however:

Melissa, consider your Exchequer report approved, and send it to everyone who needs it. I apologize for holding things up, Mea Culpa. I will do better next time. I also saw your later message about leaving the Exchequer's office and not attending the next Shire meeting. I'm sorry to see you go, you've been nothing but excellent in the position.

Stephen, I *love* the new name for the shire newsletter! It is inspiring and your format looks fine. Thank you for taking on the challenge. I also saw your copy of the meeting minutes for January, I'll see where we can/should post them for members to read, they look fine. I'll use your format to write up the notes I made at last month's meeting and send them to you for your records.

Bruce, I saw your Herald report/reply, thank you for the copy. We have a possible project that you would be essential for, I'll show you the notes for it at the next meeting. On a personal note, I have some more questions on my household name/device.

I'm trying to get the Seneschal's report squared away and sent off, the dates in the SCA Handbook are not the same as the current schedule so I have been caught flat footed.

Gunnarr inn Hviti
mka Matt Kelley
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins

03/01/2026

From the Gulf Wars Trimaris Land Liason:

ATTENTION GULF WARS PRIMITIVE CAMPERS
Good morning from your Gulf Wars Land Liaison with reminders and updates, this is a long post and please take the time to read it. As always, Many rules change from year to year; all participants of Gulf Wars need to take the time to read the rules, especially those regarding fires. If you need clarification, please reach out and I will assist you with any questions regarding land.

Pre-registration has been extended to March 6th. I need all pre-registered tent footprints sent into your land mayors as soon as possible. If I do not receive your footprint, you will receive the allotted square footage per GW land rules. This may hinder your tent fitting in a particular area and we would like to avoid this upon your arrival. We have increased numbers this year and we need everyone’s information to ensure the war starts off smoothly.

IMPORTANRT NOTICE: If you are camping on private land(PL) and use Kings Hwy to access your property prior to the official opening of War, you must follow the early-on procedure. We have designated the PL contact as Duchess Cerric (mka Cherish Erin). I have been receiving early-on request under the Trimaris Land Dept but have received no communication from these individuals through official channels and honestly, I don’t know who your are or why you are requesting approval. Please send your information (not your tent info) to Duchess Cerric or to [email protected] so we can get you squared away. If you have not followed the procedure and arrive prior to Sat, you will be turned away at the gate and will not be allowed to enter through KAR property.

Once you have registered for Gulf Wars, reach out to your land mayor with your tent footprint. If you are unsure what this is, it's the width and length plus 3 ft on each side for ropes. Please only add 3 ft for ropes (the Kurn Rule). Since we have been asked to increase the fire lanes and distance between tents in camp this will add some challenges but with the tent information given ahead of time, we should be able to navigate this obstacle.

We are looking for volunteers to help with land on Saturday and Sunday to help keep traffic moving throughout the day, this may include some lifting if you are physically able.

There will be active enforcement of the parking and loading/unloading throughout the campsite. To ease this strain and to create better access for port-a johns and overall camp safety, the fire road has been extended across Trimaris camp in both directions. Keeping vehicles off the main roads will help keep everyone safe and prevent blocked pathways.

Regarding power usage: medical devices are first, then charging stations for phones etc. Anything after that we ask you use it carefully while being courteous to your neighbors needs in camp as well. Obviously, no refrigerators, deep freezers, microwaves or anything that would pull a great deal of power. There should be sufficient power if not misused. Please plan to bring heavy duty cords that can be buried just under the grass. It will be up to you to make sure all cords are hidden and not a trip hazard. Cords not hidden, and safe will be unplugged and moved. (See KAR campsite Rules)

The power on the Trimarian courtyard provided by Kings Arrow Ranch is still there. To use these outlets/plugs you must pre-arrange and paid in advance before the start of war. You may email me if you are interested in using this power source. Please note, anyone caught using this power that has not made prior arrangements will be fined from the campground whether you are using a single plug for 5 minutes, or all week. Campsite representatives will be checking the camp power daily. (See KAR campsite Rules)

If you are not pre-registering for war, but intend to camp with Trimaris and pay at the door, still send your tent footprint to your land mayor with the note that you are not pre-registered. This will help land overflow and minimize unused space.

Below are the Land Mayors for Trimaris:
Master Thomas : Wyvernwoode/Marcaster/Castlemere
Mistress Theodora : Oldenfield
Baroness Emma: DarkenFLung (Darkwater/An Crosarie)
Syr Subadai : Group Land (Black Lotus/Bear)
Duke Lorcann : Group Land (Jotunhiem)
Duke Ari : Group Land (Stormborn)
Duchess Cerric: Private Land (using Kings Hwy Access prior to opening day)

Lastly and again, I encourage everyone attending Gulf Wars to review the Kings Arrow Ranch campsite rules. Many rules have changed and we can mitigate many issues ahead of time by pre planning and having knowledge of campsite expectations. I look forward to seeing everyone for an amazing and fun war!

YIS,
Kahlan/ mka Candice
Syr Kahlan : GW Land Liaison - Trimaris General Camping/Overflow
Deputy Publications
GW Glass Coordinator and overall Cat Wrangler
[email protected]

02/26/2026

OYEZ OYEZ! Practice was cancelled tonight. We will resume next Thursday in place of First Thursday since the Thonotosassa practice is cancelled in March due to GW prep. Start planning for next week so we can have a full practice before war! Ty

Hello everyone,This is my Seneschal's Summary for the month of February, 2026.Once again, we had our shire meeting at Cu...
02/24/2026

Hello everyone,

This is my Seneschal's Summary for the month of February, 2026.

Once again, we had our shire meeting at Culver's in South Lakeland, on the last Sunday of the month.

Attendance was light, as expected. A number of members are down with illnesses, and others had scheduling conflicts due to mundane commitments. Combined with the second cold snap we've had in two months, I almost canceled the meeting, but the Knight Marshal reached out to us and wanted to meet anyway (she had been unable to attend last month and wanted to catch up). We decided to go ahead and have the meeting, even if the business portion would be brief.

Present were the Seneschal (myself), Art/Sci (Michelle), and Knight Marshal (Cerric).

Old business:
Financially, nothing of significance has changed since last month – we're still healthy.

Most of the issues with access and notifications in the various FB groups and chats have been dealt with. There are some peculiarities in having both a personal FB page and being an admin in the Shire page, due to the way notifications work. I'm still trying to figure out a workaround.

I relayed the Chronicler's public request for material/submissions to Cerric, and we discussed what she can/might do to support the newsletter (in a 'From the Marshal' sort of thing).

New business:

Michelle brought up the possibility of moving A&S class nights from the 1st Saturday of each month to a week night, so that classes would not conflict with people day daytripping to Saturday events. The challenge of 'school night/work night' was brought up, and some options for a venue and the time frame for evening classes. Michelle is looking for feedback on the idea.

For the weekend Shire Project nights on the third Saturday of the month, Cerric pointed out that we have several people in the local area set up to do metal working, glass working, and now wood working. A lot of potential for activity and making things.

I showed off the wood template for list shields (discussed in January's meeting) and showed her the simple way to get a perfect shield shape. The escutcheons are 10.5 inches across horizontally, and follow the historical pattern for the stone effigies you see in churches. The sample was made of 5.2mm cabinet grade plywood, but we can make them out of thicker material if desired. We discussed the 10x10 sun shade, and the flat pack heraldic chairs we have, plus a few other projects that we can do as a group.

We talked about loaner weapons and shields for fighter practice, and Candice's report of a few more new people visiting the most recent practice. We discussed recruiting as an ongoing program, and the materials I plan to create in support of that (sandwich boards, brochures, the kits to have at any practice etc).

That wraps up this month's Summary. I look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you in the future.

Matt Kelley
known in Society as Gunnarr inn Hviti
Seneschal, Shire of the Ruins
Lakeland, FL

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Lakeland, FL
33813

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