[Ansteorra] 25th Year Feast Helpers!!! Many Thanks!

[Clarissa di Firenze]

I, Clarissa, apologize for the lateness of this message. However, time 
and circumstances conspired to keep this post from happening before 
now.

Meadhbh and I are very thankful for all the wonderful help we had 
preparing, serving and cleaning up the feast for 25th year! There is no 
way we could have cooked for 500 without all the help we received!

Gwyneth Blackrose was our logistics manager. She contacted many groups 
to obtain cookware and serving gear. She also arranged for several 
cookers (so we would end up with at least one!) and arranged for their 
transport as well. She cheerfully cooked ALL the meat on the cookers as 
well, staying up quite late - 175 lbs of chicken, 275 roman beef 
patties (over 100 lbs), and 130 lbs of pork loin!

Saundra of Loch Raeburn was our wonderful head server. She was very 
organized and worked hard under very difficult conditions.  The feast 
was delayed several times and finally was rushed due to other event 
time constraints so she had to contact the servers a number of times to 
keep them up on what was happening. The servers had a long way to carry 
the dishes as well. Saundra made sure the dishes were announced, the 
servers knew what was being served and help clear up many snafus! She 
also made an lovely enameled glass for each server as a gift for their 
service. She also helped in the kitchen as well!

Marissa, Raiysa's daughter, has always been a great help in the kitchen 
at many, many feasts. She was invaluable at 25th year! She worked in 
the kitchen all 3 days, cheerfully willing to take on any job and happy 
to climb the steep ramp into the kitchen trailer!  Without her help 
many things would have gone undone.

Charles Netterville went from Bordermarch through Ravensfort to  
transport the cooker for us and spent the event in the kitchen. He 
helped with cooking the meat and many, many other tasks cheerfully and 
generally made himself invaluable!

We had many other helpers that have our undying thanks.  We do not have 
all the names of our helpers but without their help we would not have 
been able to do the feast. Johnathan, Meadhbh's husband, spent lots of 
time in the kitchen doing many tasks! Tabitha and Marion came to the 
event on Friday and immediately began working in the kitchen, as did 
Clarissa's husband, Jehan.  Meghan, Gwyneth's daughter, was a great 
help as well!  Melisande came to the kitchen once she got to the event 
also and went right to work. Mistress Charla, Elizabeth Blackthorned, 
Odawara Taro Yoshinobu, Caitlin nan Cnoc Airghea, Caelin, and Stefan 
were all very helpful at various times - all showing up to volunteer 
their time and helping with whatever needed to be done at that moment!

The cleanup crew was absolutely fantastic!!! They showed up, cheerfully 
began washing dishes and were DONE by the time we got back from setting 
up dessert on the list field! Amazing!!! These fine gentles include:
Giotto, Sir Henri leHibou Dubois, Lord William Killian, Lady Rosalinda, 
and from Stonebridge Keep, Gordon and Justin.

The servers did a fantastic job under difficult circumstances. Every 
server was invaluable and we could not have done it without them! We do 
not have all their names but we offer them our many, many thanks!  They 
include: Mistress Corrinne, Rosalinda, Rolf and his two daughters, 
Corinna, Meghan, Benjamin, Mareed, Jessica. There were also 3 wonderful 
people from Stargate and several others for a total of 22.

We would also like to thank Master Petruccio. He dropped by 
occasionally to cheer us on and also went home and got his cooker so we 
could cook more meat at once!

Many thanks to Elfsea for providing extra tables when we needed them!  
We also offer thanks to the Barony of Bryn Gwlad, the Shire of 
Greywood, Baron Godwin, HL Caelin and the Barony of Bordermarch for the 
loan of various equipment!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Baroness Clarissa, OL, OP
Mistress Meadhbh, Baroness of the Court