[Bryn-gwlad] 'scuse me while I get on this soapbox

[Sunny Briscoe]

I am not sure why someone in a leadership position in their 40's or 50's
would be a bad thing.  We have belonged to cultures that were led by our
elders for a very long time, and on the occasions that a very young person
was in the highest leadership position, I suspect that there was someone
behind the scenes really in charge (otherwise it would be recess and candy
all day long).



I do want someone with a sense of honor and responsibility to be in our
leadership positions.  These are people we should want to aspire to, and to
some degree, be in awe of.  It is rare that someone of great youth has those
qualities.



Now, on the youthful side, in order to find someone who has the volumes of
knowledge that some of our fine Peers and other members have acquired (Lord
Laszlo, Baron Doré, Master Daniel, Mistress Brynhildr, and Mistress Clare
immediately come to mind), we need to give them time in the SCA to develop
and focus the passion to study these things.  And often, the enthusiasm that
comes with youth can be contagious, inspiring the "old fogies" into action.




Some of our older members are doing their parts to get new, young
members.  They
are having children and raising them in the SCA.  Those children bring their
friends, who bring their parents, who also become members.  It is a slow
process, but you can't get any younger than tadpole.  J



Now onto the subject of our "dying barony".  From the Kingdom Seneschal's
web page http://seneschal.ansteorra.org/info.html I found the following
statistics:  In March 2005, we were the largest barony in the Kingdom with
204 paid members.  As of June 2006, we are still the largest barony, but
with 150 paid members.  That is a drop of 26.48%.  It's a little scary to
lose a quarter of your membership in a year.



I think part of what we should be looking at is why our membership numbers
have dropped.  Is it because of the increased costs of everything else, that
we have not stopped playing, just stopped paying?



Just some thoughts to ponder,



Elisabetta










On 7/7/06, matt rogers <samskara47 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I agree that we need to not just recruit but recuit young. What was the
> average age in the sca 30 years ago? What is it today? Not trying to be rude
> but yall are getting OLD, we need constant young people so that the sca
> doesn't die when the baby boomers do. The sca in gernal, not just our barony
> needs to be recruiting people in their early twenties now so that in a few
> years they can start moving into leadership positions. When we recruit
> someone in their 40s or 50s it doesn't do us a lot of good. To accomplish
> this we need our current younger member to be the ones recuiting so that we
> don't scare away possible members by showing to much grey hair and wrinkles.
> The danger isn't today but if we don't start now it may be to late in 10
> years.
>
>
>
> Fecino
>
>
>
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