From the Desk of the Chef de Chambre

This is the first blog entry. Jenn felt that this might be a good way to communicate after action reports of group activities. So without further adieu...

First of all, I'd like to extend our thanks to Sherri Connors and the Connors family for allowing us to use the barn facilities for our drill yesterday.

Those of you who attended our first mixed drill yesterday know we had a pretty good day with Norm and Phantom, and in doing our drill entirely 'en Français' for the first time. Phant actually went up to Renie and sniffed her maille and lipped it, which is a huge step forward for her, while Norm was as accepting of everything as he always is.

We have a light schedule for July, with our Higgins Saturday being the weekend after the 4th of July. The idea was put forth of having a company meeting, which is a good idea as always, and so I thought we would have a "Drill and Grill", with as many members attending as humanly possible, as well as extending an invite to Nevilles company. The idea would be to have a "costumed" and armoured drill at the barn, beginning in the ring, going out into the barnyard, then the pasture, and if we are still doing okay at that point, going a bit up the dirt road on the property. Afterward, a meeting at our house, with everybody bringing a little meat or the like for the grill, and having a meeting afterward. I'm looking at the third full weekend in July - the second week after the Higgins - SATURDAY, JULY 21st

I'd like to see a good turnout for this, instead of just the 5-6 'usual suspects', as it is a sort of daytrip field event, until we can get insurance squared away so we can have a proper event. It is also *vital* to get *both* the company horses up and running as proper reenactment horses, and I need people at the barn in kit from time to time to accomplish this, not to mention to get me into armour. If you don't have all of your kit, I don't care, if your kit isn't all up to snuff, I don't care, we need a good mix of anybody willing to hoist a halberd or pike, and learn the drill (which everyone should know, regardless of role). I envision this taking no more than 2-3 hours for the drill, followed by a liesurly barbecue and meeting.

Jenn has put some photos up on the net in our Flikr account of the Drill, including of Alex on Norm with the company pennon after my ankle gave out - he did pretty well for a person who has only ridden for his fifth or sixth time.

So, I look forward to seeing everyone in July.

Cheers,

Bob