Canterbury faire documentation - User contributions [en]

Scheduling

2026-02-15T06:47:06Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Default timetable */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>

We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

There may be one or more secondary combat areas designated for use (e.g., the shady pickups area) if so, these should be included in the scheduling process.

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.
== Default timetable ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Default timetable
|-
!
! Sunday !! Monday !! Tuesday !! Wednesday !! Thursday !! Friday !! Saturday
|-
|Morning
| Example || Opening Court || Lists: AC
War field: Fencing
| Lists: fencing
War field: AC
| Lists: fighter auction tourney || Lists: fencing
War field: AC
| War field: Thorfyd's arrow
Market
|-
|Afternoon
| Example || Lists: AC
Market
| Lists: fencing
Laurel prize
| Lists: AC || Lists: fencing || Lists: AC || Closing court
|-
|Evening
| Custard guild competition || Lists: Fencing || Feast / repast || Fighter auction - auction || Half circle theatre || Ball || Example
|}

while this notes which stream has rights to the list field or the war field, it is up to the stream coordinators to choose what to put in each slot (with the exception of the fighter auction tourney, which is awkward to move around, since moving it requires also moving the auction, and scheduling the auction against other activities is problematic).

Generally there will be a peerage meeting every day at lunch; there is tension in that most of the orders would like to have their meetings late in the event, after the keystone events for their specialty.

Any time the war field is not in use by AC or fencing, it is likely to be used by archers.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2026-02-15T06:15:32Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Default timetable */ Adds details for the default timetable

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>

We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

There may be one or more secondary combat areas designated for use (e.g., the shady pickups area) if so, these should be included in the scheduling process.

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.
== Default timetable ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Default timetable
|-
!
! Sunday !! Monday !! Tuesday !! Wednesday !! Thursday !! Friday !! Saturday
|-
|Morning
| Example || Opening Court || Lists: AC
War field: Fencing
| Lists: fencing
War field: AC
| Lists: fighter auction tourney || Lists: fencing
War field: AC
| War field: Thorfyd's arrow
Market
|-
|Afternoon
| Example || Lists: AC
Market
| Lists: fencing
Laurel prize
| Lists: AC || Lists: fencing || Lists: AC || Closing court
|-
|Evening
| Custard guild competition || Lists: Fencing || Feast / repast || Fighter auction - auction || Half circle theatre || Ball || Example
|}

Generally there will be a peerage meeting every day at lunch; there is tension in that most of the orders would like to have their meetings late in the event, after the keystone events for their specialty.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2026-02-15T06:03:38Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Default timetable */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>

We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

There may be one or more secondary combat areas designated for use (e.g., the shady pickups area) if so, these should be included in the scheduling process.

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.
== Default timetable ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Header text !! Header text !! Header text !! Header text !! Header text !! Header text !! Header text
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|-
| Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example || Example
|}

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2026-02-15T06:01:44Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Bookable locations */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>

We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

There may be one or more secondary combat areas designated for use (e.g., the shady pickups area) if so, these should be included in the scheduling process.

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Default timetable ==

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2026-02-15T05:39:19Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Bookable locations */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>

We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

There may be one or more secondary combat areas designated for use (e.g., the shady pickups area) if so, these should be included in the scheduling process.

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2026-02-15T05:37:43Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Overview */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>

We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2026-02-15T05:37:26Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Overview */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

<s>Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.</s>
We are looking to propose the creation of a default standard schedule, with the major timetable items set in place, with the expectation that they will only be moved as a conscious, intentional decision.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2025-07-06T08:34:18Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Bookable locations */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* War field/archery range
* Village green
** List field
** Marquee
** A&S tent
* Training lounge
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Main hall courtyard

These locations need sign-off from the proprietor / organisers to use
* Mangy Mongol
* Coppergate

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2025-07-06T08:29:27Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Bookable locations */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* List field
* War field/archery range
* Village green
* Training lounge
* A&S tent
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Marquee
* Mangy Mongol
* Main hall courtyard

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2025-07-06T08:22:00Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Bookable locations */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* List field
* War field/archery range
* Village green
* Training lounge
* A&S tent
* Tui A
* Tui B
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Marquee

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Fire permissions

2025-07-06T08:19:13Z

LlewelynApDafydd:

= Messaging =
* In general, we're not going to be restricted due to law (now - regulations have changed recently; this wasn't always the case).
* However, the site owners can _always_ add additional restrictions.
* Accordingly, make sure people are aware that 'it's not a restricted fire season' doesn't automatically mean 'we can have fires at faire', and also ensure people aren't whining at site staff if they don't like the decisions site has made about fire.
* Make sure people understand the difference between cooking and camp fires; we may well be able to have cooking fires but not camp fires.

= Liaison =
Appoint a fire person to coordinate with site, and with fire and emergency (for permitting / notification). Angele has done this a lot - check with her is she's still willing. Chocolate helps lubricate willingness

?We should start making a habit of doing a call for people who'd like fires ~6-8 weeks ahead of faire?

= What's a cooking fire vs camp fire?

=Requirements=
There are 4 things that determine whether you can have a fire at the event:
*The site owners must give permission - their site, their rules.
*The type of fire – different types of fires e.g. cooking fires vs braziers have different requirements in different fire seasons
*The fire season must allow it - e.g. there is no fire ban
*The weather conditions on the day.

==Site owners==
The site owners can always restrict:
*whether fires can be lit at all
*what types of fires can be lit
*where fires can be lit
*how big fires can be
Assign '''one''' person to liaise with the owners about fires.

==Fire seasons==
The fire season can change with little notice, so will be confirmed in the days before the event (and may even change during the event). '''Even if there is no fire ban, the site must still give permission''', and this will be confirmed at the event.
The current fire season for the site can be found at [https://www.checkitsalright.nz/ https://www.checkitsalright.nz/]

===Allowed fire types by fire season===
In addition to gaining the permission of the site owner, Fire and Emergency New Zealand decides on the fire season, which governs which outdoor fires are allowed based on recent local weather conditions.
In an open fire season, the site owner has full control over what fire types they allow and where.
====Section 52 prohibitions====
Section 52 of the Act allows Fire and Emergency to prohibit the lighting of fires in open air in an area, or prohibit or restrict any other activity in an area, including access to the area, that Fire and Emergency considers may cause a fire to start or to spread.
This can include any spark-causing activities such as welding & other hot works (such as forging), mowing, the use of fireworks, or prohibit fire types normally allowed in a prohibited season.
Section 52 is often used for days of extreme fire danger, and sometimes occur during a restricted fires season, as they are more temporary.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: 10px;"
|+Allowed fire types
!Fire type
!Description
!Requirements (if you can't meet these requirements, you will need to apply for a permit)
!Restricted Season
!Prohibited Season
!Section 52 Prohibition
|-
|Gas-operated appliances
|Manufactured gas-operated appliances, such as barbecues, gas outdoor fireplaces and outdoor gas heaters
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Charcoal barbecues or grills
|Barbecues or grills that use either charcoal briquettes or natural lump charcoal as their fuel source
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*Don’t use under a roof overhang or within other enclosed areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Open top liquid fuel cooker
|These are usually small portable cooking devices that are liquid fueled with an open fuel container either under or in the cooking device.
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Permanent outdoor fireplace
Wood-fired pizza oven/wood oven
|An example would be the clay oven by Draco Viridis
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Must have a non-combustible hearth or base that extends a minimum of 500 mm either side of the left and right edges and a minimum of 1 m from the front edge of the fire box.
:This is to stop any burning material falling from the fire box landing on anything combustible.
*Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap, or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
*Firewood storage must be in areas not affected by heat from the fire and clear of any possible hot ash or ember-affected areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning, or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door, that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Movable/ portable freestanding frontloading fireplace.
|A freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven usually with a bulbous body – usually has a vertical smoke vent or chimney
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Cooking fires
|
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 5 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your cooking fire.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
*On completion of cooking or the purpose required for cooking food the fires must be extinguished.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Braziers, firepits and bowls
|A container for hot coals, or a pit dug in the ground, made from stone, brick or metal; or a bowl on an upright stand
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Your fire area must be less than 1 square metre.
*Where hot embers/ash are able to escape, there must be a non combustible base/tray that will contain these hot embers/ash to prevent any risk of fire escaping.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your brazier or fire pit/bowl.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
|Allowed
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|-
|Bonfires
|A large but controlled outdoor fire, used for recreation or celebration
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
|Permit required
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|}

==Applying for a fire permit==
If any of the fire types wanted require a permit (e.g. a bonfire, or you can't comply with the requirments listyed to avoid needing a permit), or the site owner requests that you get one, the steward or their representative should visit [https://www.firepermit.nz/FENZ/Welcome.aspx www.firepermit.nz] to apply.
'''Note:''' ''Angele (Kerry McSaveney) has a permit for campfires by the Mong and at Northside that can be reactivated.''
New applications can take 5-10 working days to be approved.
Follow the steps on the website. It's pretty straightfoward.

Fire permissions

2025-07-06T08:18:03Z

LlewelynApDafydd:

= Messaging =
* In general, we're not going to be restricted due to law (now - regulations have changed recently; this wasn't always the case).
* However, the site owners can _always_ add additional restrictions.
* Accordingly, make sure people are aware that 'it's not a restricted fire season' doesn't mean 'we can have fires at faire', and also ensure people aren't whining at site staff if they don't like the decisions site has made about fire.
* Make sure people understand the difference between cooking and camp fires; we may well be able to have cooking fires but not camp fires.

= Liaison =
Appoint a fire person to coordinate with site, and with fire and emergency (for permitting / notification). Angele has done this a lot - check with her is she's still willing. Chocolate helps lubricate willingness

?We should start making a habit of doing a call for people who'd like fires ~6-8 weeks ahead of faire?

= What's a cooking fire vs camp fire?

=Requirements=
There are 4 things that determine whether you can have a fire at the event:
*The site owners must give permission - their site, their rules.
*The type of fire – different types of fires e.g. cooking fires vs braziers have different requirements in different fire seasons
*The fire season must allow it - e.g. there is no fire ban
*The weather conditions on the day.

==Site owners==
The site owners can always restrict:
*whether fires can be lit at all
*what types of fires can be lit
*where fires can be lit
*how big fires can be
Assign '''one''' person to liaise with the owners about fires.

==Fire seasons==
The fire season can change with little notice, so will be confirmed in the days before the event (and may even change during the event). '''Even if there is no fire ban, the site must still give permission''', and this will be confirmed at the event.
The current fire season for the site can be found at [https://www.checkitsalright.nz/ https://www.checkitsalright.nz/]

===Allowed fire types by fire season===
In addition to gaining the permission of the site owner, Fire and Emergency New Zealand decides on the fire season, which governs which outdoor fires are allowed based on recent local weather conditions.
In an open fire season, the site owner has full control over what fire types they allow and where.
====Section 52 prohibitions====
Section 52 of the Act allows Fire and Emergency to prohibit the lighting of fires in open air in an area, or prohibit or restrict any other activity in an area, including access to the area, that Fire and Emergency considers may cause a fire to start or to spread.
This can include any spark-causing activities such as welding & other hot works (such as forging), mowing, the use of fireworks, or prohibit fire types normally allowed in a prohibited season.
Section 52 is often used for days of extreme fire danger, and sometimes occur during a restricted fires season, as they are more temporary.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: 10px;"
|+Allowed fire types
!Fire type
!Description
!Requirements (if you can't meet these requirements, you will need to apply for a permit)
!Restricted Season
!Prohibited Season
!Section 52 Prohibition
|-
|Gas-operated appliances
|Manufactured gas-operated appliances, such as barbecues, gas outdoor fireplaces and outdoor gas heaters
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Charcoal barbecues or grills
|Barbecues or grills that use either charcoal briquettes or natural lump charcoal as their fuel source
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*Don’t use under a roof overhang or within other enclosed areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Open top liquid fuel cooker
|These are usually small portable cooking devices that are liquid fueled with an open fuel container either under or in the cooking device.
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Permanent outdoor fireplace
Wood-fired pizza oven/wood oven
|An example would be the clay oven by Draco Viridis
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Must have a non-combustible hearth or base that extends a minimum of 500 mm either side of the left and right edges and a minimum of 1 m from the front edge of the fire box.
:This is to stop any burning material falling from the fire box landing on anything combustible.
*Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap, or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
*Firewood storage must be in areas not affected by heat from the fire and clear of any possible hot ash or ember-affected areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning, or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door, that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Movable/ portable freestanding frontloading fireplace.
|A freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven usually with a bulbous body – usually has a vertical smoke vent or chimney
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Cooking fires
|
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 5 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your cooking fire.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
*On completion of cooking or the purpose required for cooking food the fires must be extinguished.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Braziers, firepits and bowls
|A container for hot coals, or a pit dug in the ground, made from stone, brick or metal; or a bowl on an upright stand
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Your fire area must be less than 1 square metre.
*Where hot embers/ash are able to escape, there must be a non combustible base/tray that will contain these hot embers/ash to prevent any risk of fire escaping.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your brazier or fire pit/bowl.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
|Allowed
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|-
|Bonfires
|A large but controlled outdoor fire, used for recreation or celebration
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
|Permit required
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|}

==Applying for a fire permit==
If any of the fire types wanted require a permit (e.g. a bonfire, or you can't comply with the requirments listyed to avoid needing a permit), or the site owner requests that you get one, the steward or their representative should visit [https://www.firepermit.nz/FENZ/Welcome.aspx www.firepermit.nz] to apply.
'''Note:''' ''Angele (Kerry McSaveney) has a permit for campfires by the Mong and at Northside that can be reactivated.''
New applications can take 5-10 working days to be approved.
Follow the steps on the website. It's pretty straightfoward.

Arts and Sciences

2025-07-06T07:44:25Z

LlewelynApDafydd:

[[Arts and sciences display]]

[[Arts and sciences classes]]

Arts and Sciences

2025-07-06T07:43:10Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "Arts and sciences display Arts and sciences classes"

[[Arts and sciences display]]
[[Arts and sciences classes]]

Scheduling

2025-07-06T07:41:04Z

LlewelynApDafydd:

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Bookable locations ==
These are the primary locations items are scheduled for:
* List field
* War field/archery range
* Village green
* Training lounge
* A&S tent
* Main hall
* Half circle glade
* Marquee

Items can be scheduled into other locations as appropriate.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Fire permissions

2025-06-15T08:36:18Z

LlewelynApDafydd:

= Messaging =
- in general, we're not going to be restricted due to law (now - regulations have changed recently; this wasn't always the case); restrictions are likely to come from the site.
- Accordingly, make sure people are aware that 'it's not a restricted fire season' doesn't mean 'we can have fires at faire', and also ensure people aren't whining at site staff if they don't like the decisions site has made about fire.
- Make sure people understand the difference between cooking and camp fires; we may well be able to have cooking fires but not camp fires.

= Liaison =
Appoint a fire person to coordinate with site, and with fire and emergency (for permitting / notification). Angele has done this a lot - check with her is she's still willing. Chocolate helps lubricate willingness

?We should start making a habit of doing a call for people who'd like fires ~6-8 weeks ahead of faire?

= What's a cooking fire vs camp fire?

=Requirements=
There are 4 things that determine whether you can have a fire at the event:
*The site owners must give permission - their site, their rules.
*The type of fire – different types of fires e.g. cooking fires vs braziers have different requirements in different fire seasons
*The fire season must allow it - e.g. there is no fire ban
*The weather conditions on the day.

==Site owners==
The site owners can always restrict:
*whether fires can be lit at all
*what types of fires can be lit
*where fires can be lit
*how big fires can be
Assign '''one''' person to liaise with the owners about fires.

==Fire seasons==
The fire season can change with little notice, so will be confirmed in the days before the event (and may even change during the event). '''Even if there is no fire ban, the site must still give permission''', and this will be confirmed at the event.
The current fire season for the site can be found at [https://www.checkitsalright.nz/ https://www.checkitsalright.nz/]

===Allowed fire types by fire season===
In addition to gaining the permission of the site owner, Fire and Emergency New Zealand decides on the fire season, which governs which outdoor fires are allowed based on recent local weather conditions.
In an open fire season, the site owner has full control over what fire types they allow and where.
====Section 52 prohibitions====
Section 52 of the Act allows Fire and Emergency to prohibit the lighting of fires in open air in an area, or prohibit or restrict any other activity in an area, including access to the area, that Fire and Emergency considers may cause a fire to start or to spread.
This can include any spark-causing activities such as welding & other hot works (such as forging), mowing, the use of fireworks, or prohibit fire types normally allowed in a prohibited season.
Section 52 is often used for days of extreme fire danger, and sometimes occur during a restricted fires season, as they are more temporary.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: 10px;"
|+Allowed fire types
!Fire type
!Description
!Requirements (if you can't meet these requirements, you will need to apply for a permit)
!Restricted Season
!Prohibited Season
!Section 52 Prohibition
|-
|Gas-operated appliances
|Manufactured gas-operated appliances, such as barbecues, gas outdoor fireplaces and outdoor gas heaters
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Charcoal barbecues or grills
|Barbecues or grills that use either charcoal briquettes or natural lump charcoal as their fuel source
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*Don’t use under a roof overhang or within other enclosed areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Open top liquid fuel cooker
|These are usually small portable cooking devices that are liquid fueled with an open fuel container either under or in the cooking device.
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Permanent outdoor fireplace
Wood-fired pizza oven/wood oven
|An example would be the clay oven by Draco Viridis
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Must have a non-combustible hearth or base that extends a minimum of 500 mm either side of the left and right edges and a minimum of 1 m from the front edge of the fire box.
:This is to stop any burning material falling from the fire box landing on anything combustible.
*Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap, or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
*Firewood storage must be in areas not affected by heat from the fire and clear of any possible hot ash or ember-affected areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning, or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door, that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Movable/ portable freestanding frontloading fireplace.
|A freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven usually with a bulbous body – usually has a vertical smoke vent or chimney
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Cooking fires
|
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 5 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your cooking fire.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
*On completion of cooking or the purpose required for cooking food the fires must be extinguished.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Braziers, firepits and bowls
|A container for hot coals, or a pit dug in the ground, made from stone, brick or metal; or a bowl on an upright stand
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Your fire area must be less than 1 square metre.
*Where hot embers/ash are able to escape, there must be a non combustible base/tray that will contain these hot embers/ash to prevent any risk of fire escaping.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your brazier or fire pit/bowl.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
|Allowed
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|-
|Bonfires
|A large but controlled outdoor fire, used for recreation or celebration
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
|Permit required
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|}

==Applying for a fire permit==
If any of the fire types wanted require a permit (e.g. a bonfire, or you can't comply with the requirments listyed to avoid needing a permit), or the site owner requests that you get one, the steward or their representative should visit [https://www.firepermit.nz/FENZ/Welcome.aspx www.firepermit.nz] to apply.
'''Note:''' ''Angele (Kerry McSaveney) has a permit for campfires by the Mong and at Northside that can be reactivated.''
New applications can take 5-10 working days to be approved.
Follow the steps on the website. It's pretty straightfoward.

Fire permissions

2025-06-15T08:31:50Z

LlewelynApDafydd:

= Messaging =
- in general, we're not going to be restricted due to law (now - regulations have changed recently; this wasn't always the case); restrictions are likely to come from the site.
- Accordingly, make sure people are aware that 'it's not a restricted fire season' doesn't mean 'we can have fires at faire', and also ensure people aren't whining at site staff if they don't like the decisions site has made about fire.

= Liaison =
Appoint a fire person to coordinate with site, and with fire and emergency (for permitting / notification). Angele has done this a lot - check with her is she's still willing. Chocolate helps lubricate willingness

=Requirements=
There are 4 things that determine whether you can have a fire at the event:
*The site owners must give permission - their site, their rules.
*The type of fire – different types of fires e.g. cooking fires vs braziers have different requirements in different fire seasons
*The fire season must allow it - e.g. there is no fire ban
*The weather conditions on the day.

==Site owners==
The site owners can always restrict:
*whether fires can be lit at all
*what types of fires can be lit
*where fires can be lit
*how big fires can be
Assign '''one''' person to liaise with the owners about fires.

==Fire seasons==
The fire season can change with little notice, so will be confirmed in the days before the event (and may even change during the event). '''Even if there is no fire ban, the site must still give permission''', and this will be confirmed at the event.
The current fire season for the site can be found at [https://www.checkitsalright.nz/ https://www.checkitsalright.nz/]

===Allowed fire types by fire season===
In addition to gaining the permission of the site owner, Fire and Emergency New Zealand decides on the fire season, which governs which outdoor fires are allowed based on recent local weather conditions.
In an open fire season, the site owner has full control over what fire types they allow and where.
====Section 52 prohibitions====
Section 52 of the Act allows Fire and Emergency to prohibit the lighting of fires in open air in an area, or prohibit or restrict any other activity in an area, including access to the area, that Fire and Emergency considers may cause a fire to start or to spread.
This can include any spark-causing activities such as welding & other hot works (such as forging), mowing, the use of fireworks, or prohibit fire types normally allowed in a prohibited season.
Section 52 is often used for days of extreme fire danger, and sometimes occur during a restricted fires season, as they are more temporary.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: 10px;"
|+Allowed fire types
!Fire type
!Description
!Requirements (if you can't meet these requirements, you will need to apply for a permit)
!Restricted Season
!Prohibited Season
!Section 52 Prohibition
|-
|Gas-operated appliances
|Manufactured gas-operated appliances, such as barbecues, gas outdoor fireplaces and outdoor gas heaters
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Charcoal barbecues or grills
|Barbecues or grills that use either charcoal briquettes or natural lump charcoal as their fuel source
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*Don’t use under a roof overhang or within other enclosed areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Open top liquid fuel cooker
|These are usually small portable cooking devices that are liquid fueled with an open fuel container either under or in the cooking device.
|
*May only be used in areas that have access to taps, on the concrete pads provided, or similar non-flammable ground cover.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Generally allowed, check what the prohibition covers
|-
|Permanent outdoor fireplace
Wood-fired pizza oven/wood oven
|An example would be the clay oven by Draco Viridis
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Must have a non-combustible hearth or base that extends a minimum of 500 mm either side of the left and right edges and a minimum of 1 m from the front edge of the fire box.
:This is to stop any burning material falling from the fire box landing on anything combustible.
*Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap, or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
*Firewood storage must be in areas not affected by heat from the fire and clear of any possible hot ash or ember-affected areas.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning, or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door, that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Movable/ portable freestanding frontloading fireplace.
|A freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven usually with a bulbous body – usually has a vertical smoke vent or chimney
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres away.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning or
*It must have a solid or mesh screen/door that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Cooking fires
|
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Don’t light your fire within 5 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your cooking fire.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
*On completion of cooking or the purpose required for cooking food the fires must be extinguished.
|Allowed
|Allowed
|Not allowed
|-
|Braziers, firepits and bowls
|A container for hot coals, or a pit dug in the ground, made from stone, brick or metal; or a bowl on an upright stand
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*Your fire area must be less than 1 square metre.
*Where hot embers/ash are able to escape, there must be a non combustible base/tray that will contain these hot embers/ash to prevent any risk of fire escaping.
*Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
*You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your brazier or fire pit/bowl.
*You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
|Allowed
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|-
|Bonfires
|A large but controlled outdoor fire, used for recreation or celebration
|
*Anything required by the site owner
*You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
|Permit required
|Prohibited
|Not allowed
|}

==Applying for a fire permit==
If any of the fire types wanted require a permit (e.g. a bonfire, or you can't comply with the requirments listyed to avoid needing a permit), or the site owner requests that you get one, the steward or their representative should visit [https://www.firepermit.nz/FENZ/Welcome.aspx www.firepermit.nz] to apply.
'''Note:''' ''Angele (Kerry McSaveney) has a permit for campfires by the Mong and at Northside that can be reactivated.''
New applications can take 5-10 working days to be approved.
Follow the steps on the website. It's pretty straightfoward.

Scheduling

2025-05-04T08:31:57Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Step 4 Allocate other activities */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

Additionally assorted meeting occur; all peerage orders will have meetings (typically held at lunch time), and a number of guilds traditionally meet at CF (Fibre guild, brewers guild, and sometimes the Broiderers guild)

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Scheduling

2025-05-04T07:48:51Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Step 3 Allocate headline activities */

= Scheduling =

== Overview ==
The creation of a schedule for a Canterbury Faire involves a huge number of stakeholders and even the best laid plans will not make everyone happy.

This document outlines some guidelines to generating a schedule that will keep most people mostly happy.

Do NOT assume that the schedule should be the same as last year, and do NOT assume that an activity will be run the same as it was the last year. Always ask, and always communicate.

== Stakeholders ==

=== Royalty ===
It is important that the royals are communicated with as soon as possible when determining the schedule.

Whether they are attending and how much business they might have in court can significantly effect the scheduling.

Ideally they should be contacted immediately after the crown tournament to congratulate them, ask them if they are coming to the event, and inform them of the royal travel fund.

=== Martial coordinators ===
The coordinators in charge of the martial activities need to communicate with each other in order to ensure that all of the martial disciplines have a schedule that they are happy with.

As they share the same spaces and resources, good communication and compromise are required.

=== Cooks and food coordinators ===
The timing of meals is critical to the schedule, and those times are determined by the cooks and the food coordinators.

=== Arts and Sciences coordinator and teachers ===
The teachers of the classes and the coordinator of the classes will need to be consulted so that classes are scheduled for when the teachers want to teach.

=== Other activity coordinators ===
The coordinators for other activities such as the ball, half circle theatre, market, etc all need to be consulted to ensure that they are happy with the schedule.

Especially if some of them have an idea or vision that is outside the historical organisation of that activity.

== Order of operations ==
The following priority is recommended to be followed in order to make sure the schedule doesn’t have to go through too many revisions.

=== Step 1 Determine mealtimes and timeslots ===
The timing of the meal plan meals will determine when other activities can be. For example, there is no point in organising a 3 hour tournament after dinner if dinner is to be held from 7-8pm.

Meal breaks are usually scheduled as 1 hour long, this includes time for people to get to and from their meal area (which may involve getting changed), serve and eat the food, and clean up.

* Breakfast is usually 07:30-08:30, though the actual start time can often be earlier.
* Having lunch later than 12:00-13:00 means having a longer morning timeslot, however people generally don’t want lunch too late. 12:30-13:30 is not uncommon, and 13:00-14:00 is the latest that is recommended.
* Dinner time effects the schedule most significantly as it determines how long the late afternoon and early evening timeslots are.
** Consideration should be given to how long there is between lunch and dinner. Too long between them will have people unhappy, and too short between them will mean people will not be hungry for dinner but will be hungry after dinner.
** An early dinner 17:00-18:00 means that the afternoon timeslot needs to start in the hottest part of the day to get most tournaments finished in time, however there is a significant after dinner timeslot that something could be run in.
** A dinner 18:00-19:00 means that the afternoon timeslot can start a bit later in the afternoon, but limits the length of an after dinner activity that needs light to about 1 hour.
** A later dinner 18:30-19:30 or 19:00-20:00 leaves lots of room for afternoon activities but very little room for an after dinner activity that needs light.

Depending on your mealtimes you can broadly break up the day into 5 blocks.

* Morning (breakfast until lunch)
* Early afternoon (lunch to mid afternoon, the hottest part of the day)
* Late afternoon (mid afternoon to dinner)
* Early evening (after dinner until sunset)
* Late evening (after sunset)

=== Step 2 Allocate key activities ===
There are several key activities which the rest of the schedule revolves around.

The rest of the event must work around these key activities so pinning down their times is critical to not having to rearrange the schedule if one of them changes.

These include:

* Courts. Budget on opening and closing, plus one other unless told otherwise.
** Opening court.
*** This marks the start of the official event.
*** This is usually held on the Monday morning and usually takes up at least 2 hours, plus about an hour of meetings afterwards.
** Closing court.
*** This marks the end of the official event.
*** This is usually held on Saturday afternoon and usually takes up at least 2 hours.
** Royal courts
*** The timing and length of these will depend on how much of the event the royals will be able to attend (if they are attending at all).
*** If the royals are attending the opening and closing court then some business can be conducted at those and only 1 other court may be required.
*** The number and length of the royal courts will depend on the number of awards they wish to give out, and especially how many peerage ceremonies are scheduled. Peerage ceremonies are usually planned in advance and are public knowledge, while other awards are usually not public knowledge, so good communication with the royals is essential.
** Baronial/other courts
*** Sometimes the business can be conducted at the opening/closing/royal court.
*** Sometimes the baron/baroness will have baronial business that may need to happen at a separate court
** Mini-courts
*** Sometimes short courts with 1-3 items of business are conducted as part of another activity. For example giving a dance award at a ball, or a fighting award at a tournament.
*** These courts are not big enough to go on the schedule, but should be taken into account in the planning of other activities if they are known about.
* Pack down of village green.
** This is usually held immediately after closing court (while everyone is in one place) and takes up to 2 hours.
** It is important that this is allocated a time in order to get as many hands as possible.
* Feast/Repast
** This occurs from dinner time and goes into the late evening.
** This is historically done on Tuesday or Wednesday night.
* Ball
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** This is historically done on Friday night in order to give the rest of the week to do classes and practice for the dancers and musicians.
* Half Circle Theatre
** This occurs in the early and late evening timeslots.
** It has been trialled in the afternoon in some years with mixed responses.
* Markets
** These require at least an hour of setup, which should also be put on the schedule.
** The market itself is usually scheduled for 2 hours.

=== Step 3 Allocate headline activities ===
Each of the activity streams has a headline activity which must not be clashed with by other marshal activities, and generally should not be clashed with by other activities if possible.

Each of these activities generally takes up an entire morning or afternoon slot.

These are:

* The Fighter Auction Tournament for armoured combat
* The Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for fencing
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery
* The A&S display (previously known as the Laurel Prize Tourney)

=== Step 4 Allocate other activities ===
At this stage the core activities are effectively set and it is possible to build the rest of the event around them. This stage generally has the most iterations of the schedule.

The marshal activities take up a lot of space and time. The marshal activity coordinators (armoured, fencing, archery) should work together to create a schedule that has no location clashes (no trying to do war during an archery shoot) and which minimises or at least spreads out the number of marshal activity clashes (if there is a free slot but clashes then something should move to the free slot to resolve the clash).

Other large activities which will have a lot of people involved in them which people might not want to clash with other activities should be allocated here.

The coordinators of these activities should be consulted at each iteration of the schedule.

These activities may include; custard eating competition, singing, A&S displays, peasants dance, bardic circle.

=== Step 5 Allocate A&S classes ===
At this stage the biggest activities have been scheduled and people who are wanting to teach classes can more easily see what is going on so that they don’t clash with anything that they (or their target audience) wants to do (for example it wouldn’t be a good idea to run a fencing class during a fencing tournament as the target audience is probably in the tournament).

This step is left until last not because it is the least important, but because most A&S classes are short in duration and can more easily fit into gaps in the schedule.

This is also where people will look at any gaps in the schedule and try to think of what activities/classes could be used to fill those spaces.

== Information Required ==
The following information is required for each activity that wants to go into the schedule.

* Name. The name of the activity to be put onto the schedule. This should ideally not be too long.
* Description. The description of the activity. This can be as long as it needs to be, but it should aim to communicate with enough detail that someone who has not been to Canterbury Faire knows what it is.
* Person in charge. Every activity should have a nominated person in charge.
* Duration. How long will the activity go on for? This might be an exact time (2 hours), a range (1-2 hours), or even a slot (all morning).
* Location. Where on site will the activity be held. This will help to avoid clashes.
* Equipment required. What equipment is required for the activity?
* Restrictions. Are there any restrictions on the activity (maximum class size, age limit, etc).

If all of this information is provided then the schedule will be easier to make, read, and reference.

== Platforms and Tools ==
There are many platforms and tools for making the schedule. All of them have pros and cons.

At the time of writing Southron Gaard does not have a license for any paid platforms.

Platforms/tools which have been used in the past include:

* Google Calendar. Easily shareable and times can be accurately displayed and easily changed.
* Google Sheets. Easily shareable but formatting can be difficult.

== Publishing the Schedule ==
At the end of step 3 a summary of the key activities should be published along with the timeframe for the release of the next schedule update.

At the end of step 4 the schedule should be published to the populace along with another call for more A&S classes.

During step 5 the schedule should be published periodically. Once a month up to the end of the calendar year, and then once a week in January.

Tournament Combat

2025-05-04T07:43:36Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Marshal in charge of the event */

== Introduction ==
This guide is intended to apply to the tournament combat that occurs in the list field. This includes Armoured, Youth Armoured, and Fencing Combat. Where advice is specific to only one of the combat styles this will be specifically stated.

Combat held on the war field is covered in a separate guide. [[War Combat]].

== Marshal in charge of the event ==
The baronial marshal for a combat activity is NOT the default marshal in charge and they do NOT have the right to demand that they are.

The SCA martial rules require there to be a marshal who is designated as the marshal in charge of the event. This is an important reporting position and is also a part of the grievance/appeal chain should anything go wrong on the field.

However, this position does not mean that you need to spend your entire event doing this.

* The marshal in charge of the event does NOT need to be the marshal in charge of each tournament (or, in fact, '''any''' tournament). Feel free to delegate to other people.
* The marshal in charge can still fight. Occasionally some people will have the opinion that the marshal in charge can’t/shouldn’t fight, this is not correct.

== Reporting ==
Once the event is complete you must write up a report. The easiest way to make sure you don’t forget anything is to make sure it is written down during the event.

The list keepers will have forms which can record any issues and will record the number of combatants and the winner.

You should not assume that the list keepers are marshals and will know everything that happens on the field and sidelines. If something needs recording then you should make sure it is.

At the end of each tournament, double check with the marshals to see if there were any issues and then double check the list paperwork while everything is fresh in your mind.

If someone other than the marshal in charge of the event is not running and/or attending the tournament then the marshal in charge of the tournament should be aware of what is expected/required of them.

== Scheduling/Timing ==

=== Feedback from previous Canterbury Faires ===
Feedback from CF2024 had the following comments about the scheduling/timing.

* Armoured combatants responded that 9am was too early to schedule a tournament. Fencing did not have these comments, this is likely due to needing less time to get into armour.
* Avoid the hottest part of the day (being the early afternoon).
* There were many requests to have more early evening tournaments.

=== Clashing with other activities ===
In most years each of the activity streams has had an activity which is its premier activity which no other activities are scheduled against. In addition there are some other site activities that cannot be clashed with. These include:

* Fighter Auction Tournament for Armoured Combat.
* Baroness’s Rapier Tournament for Fencing Combat.
* Thorfords Arrow for Archery.
* The Market.
* Court.

Other than preventing these clashes the other thing that needs to be considered is the use of the list field.

Sharing the list field is possible if both coordinators agree, however it is possible that additional barriers may be needed.

It is likely that if Canterbury Faire continues to grow then we will require 2 separate list fields.

=== Calendar Event Descriptions ===
It is important that each tournament has its description submitted to the Timetable Coordinator, and to the Event Webwrite so that it can be correctly advertised.

Make the descriptions simple but detailed enough that a new person can understand what is going on.

A common complaint is that people don’t know what an activity is because they only have a title to go on.

== Marshals, Heralds, and List Keepers ==

=== Pre-event planning ===
For each tournament it is important to have an idea of the tournament format and how many marshals, heralds, and list keepers are needed.

This information needs to be communicated to the Steward, Chore Coordinator, Bookings Officer, and Event List Keeper.

=== Volunteers ===
When people book on the booking form they can select that they are interested in marshalling, heralding, or list keeping. This gives us a list of names of people who can be contacted to fill those roles in advance of the event.

When people sign in at gate they will sign up for some of these roles.

=== List Keepers ===
List Keepers are generally assigned in advance of the event as they require extra preparation, because of this the Event List Keeper organises this.

In order for the List Keepers to do their job they need to know what the format of the tournament is going to be. A challenge tournament where the List Keeper just needs to keep the list of entrants and a tally of wins is going to require less organisation and experience than a swiss chess triple elimination tournament fought on 4 fields.

It is not uncommon for the tournament format to be dependent on the number of entrants. An example of this is that a tournament will be a round robin if it has less than 10 combatants, a triple elimination best of 3 if there are 10-20 combatants, and a double elimination best of 1 if there are more than 20 combatants.

=== Marshalling ===
If the tournament has an unusual format then it is important that the marshals are clear on the format/rules.

It is important to note that for melee tournaments more marshals are needed than normal (and the number increases with the number of combatants).

Any marshal who performs armour or weapon inspections must be a registered marshal who is a current member. This must be verified by seeing their authorisation card '''and''' membership card.

Any fighter of that combat form may oversee the fighting on the field. This means that in elimination tournaments the pool of potential marshals will grow as the tournament goes on.

It is often possible to recruit extra field marshals on the day if you are really short on people.

=== Heralds ===
It is not uncommon for people who have limited or no experience to volunteer for heralding duty. The List Keepers folder has a script for people who are unsure about what they are supposed to say.

It is a good idea to have more than one herald per field so that they can rotate duties to rest their voice and have a drink.

It is often possible to recruit extra heralds on the day if you are really short on people.

== Traditional Canterbury Faire tournaments ==

=== Armoured Combat Tournaments ===

==== Unbelted Tournament ====
Historically held on Monday Evening after dinner.

A double elimination (or round robin if numbers are low) tournament with no knights allowed.

==== Fighter Auction Tournament ====
Fighters are auctioned off (usually the night before the tournament). At the end of the tournament the fighters will be ranked from the winner down. The patron who purchased the first place fighter will get first pick of the prize table, then the patron of the fighter who came second will get the second pick, then the patron of the fighter who came third will get the third pick, and so on until the prizes run out.

The tournament and auction format is covered in a separate guidance document. [[Fighter Auction Tournament]]

==== Canterbury Roll Tournament ====
Canterbury Faire's annual team melee tournament. The winning team will get a trophy to keep for the year.

Each melee team is to represent a Crescent Isle group (Hamlet, Shire, or Barony). Fighters are not required to fight for their home group. There are no other limits on team size or composition (but if you want lots of fighting, you may not want to be on the largest team). There will be a "hats off" break between each scenario.

Three scenarios will be fought. Each scenario is worth one point. In case of a three way tie, the winner of the Last Fighter Standing scenario is the overall winner.

* Scenario One: A Buckler is placed on the ground in the centre of the field. It is not to be moved. This scenario lasts 15 minutes, with random holds called by the timekeeper Marshal. Whoever controls the buckler by closest proximity at the hold gains a point for their team. If two or more fighters from different teams are equidistant, a short fight will resolve the tie. There will be two random holds during the scenario, plus one at the end of the scenario. Time during a hold does not count towards the end of the scenario. In case of a three way tie on points at the end of the scenario, the team holding the buckler at the end is the victor. Unlimited resurrections. Each fighter takes a slow count of ten at the resurrection point before returning. Teams may not use a watch or other method of tracking time.
* Scenario Two: Queens and Kings. Each side nominates one member to be their leader and makes them known to the other teams. When a leader is slain, their entire team is routed (and must retire immediately from the field). No resurrections. No time limit.
* Scenario Three: Last fighter standing. No resurrections. No time limit.

Important notes from previous years:

* Due to the chaotic nature of the tournament it is recommended that there are more marshals than the minimum number. At least 4 are recommended.
* The list keeper has 3 duties.
** Keeping track of participants for reporting purposes.
** Recording the winner of each scenario.
** Timekeeping and scoring scenario 1. This will require a stopwatch.
* Death from behind has historically been allowed. This was unpopular in 2024. A full run through of death from behind is recommended before the tournament if it is being used.
* For scenario 1 the resurrections should occur at a specific point for each team rather than being allowed from any gate/entrance.

=== Fencing Combat Tournaments ===

==== Welcome Tournament ====
Originally designed to run between the end of opening court and lunch. More recently has been run on Monday afternoon.

Historically run as an open ended round robin (a round robin but we don’t expect all the rounds to finish).

Going forward it is recommended that this be run as a challenge tournament on multiple fields.

==== Baroness’s Tournament ====
The most spectacular and prestigious of all the rapier tournaments, the one which honours and entertains the assembled Baronesses.

Fencers may enter even if they are not a Baroness, and even if they did not bring one of their own. (These are both common questions that are asked and should be in the description)

A standard double elimination tournament, but the Baronesses are known to make requests if the fighting is not up to their high standards. (The requests should be vetted by a marshal before being asked, some things that have been requested in the past are either illegal or very unfair on one combatant)

==== Cut & Thrust Tournament ====
Usually 4-8 combatants due to the low number of people who have a cut and thrust authorisation.

Usually run as a round robin tournament, sometimes this will run through 2 or even 3 times.

==== Fencing Melee ====
Melee scenarios on the list field. No rubber band guns.

* Team vs team. Split into 2 or more teams. Can have killing from behind or not. No resurrection or limited resurrection.
* Zombies.
** One person is the alpha zombie (should be an experienced fighter) and can fight normally, cannot be injured, can only be temporarily killed by a headshot (kills them for 5 seconds).
** Other combatants are infected and turned into zombie minions by being killed by the alpha zombie or a zombie minion.
** Zombie minions should zombie shuffle to move around. They also cannot be injured, can only be temporarily killed by a headshot (kills them for 5 seconds). However zombie minions also have to temporarily die if the alpha zombie is killed.
** Last human to die becomes the alpha zombie for the next round.
* Escort.
** Combatants are split into 2 teams.
** One team (or both teams) designates a VIP who they must escort out the other side of the list field. When the VIP exits the other side of the list field that team wins. If the VIP dies then that team loses.
** Can be run as a no resurrection, limited resurrection (other than the VIP), or unlimited resurrection (other than the VIP).
* Steal the gold/sheep
** Gold or sheep (these should be soft as they might be stepped on)are placed in the field . Commonly either in the middle of the field or in the home corners.
** Combatants are divided up and allocated a home corner of the list field.
** Timed scenario, unlimited resurrections. Whichever team has the most gold/sheep at the end wins (could optionally say that if a team gets all of them then they win automatically).
** Gold/sheep cannot be thrown or hit with weapons (that leads to broken fingers) to move them. When you die you drop them immediately.

=== Youth Armoured Combat Tournaments ===
Highly variable depending on the number of youth combatants.

Planning

2025-03-09T07:11:21Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "== Sub-categories == * Booking form setup * Bookings management * Fire permissions * Health and safety * Royals - care and feeding * Scheduling * Shuttles * Website "

== Sub-categories ==

* [[ Booking form setup ]]
* [[ Bookings management ]]
* [[ Fire permissions ]]
* [[ Health and safety ]]
* [[ Royals - care and feeding ]]
* [[ Scheduling ]]
* [[ Shuttles ]]
* [[ Website ]]

Other recurring activities

2025-03-09T07:04:31Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "== Sub-categories == * Market "

== Sub-categories ==

* [[ Market ]]

Infrastructure

2025-03-09T07:03:49Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "== Sub-categories == * Bunkrooms * Coppergate * First aid * Gate * Hospitaller * The Mangy Mongol * Ordinance Corps "

== Sub-categories ==

* [[ Bunkrooms ]]
* [[ Coppergate ]]
* [[ First aid ]]
* [[ Gate ]]
* [[ Hospitaller ]]
* [[ The Mangy Mongol ]]
* [[ Ordinance Corps ]]

Communication

2025-03-09T07:00:44Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "==Sub-categories== * Court * Newcomers tour * Newspaper * Postmaster * Site heralding "

==Sub-categories==

* [[ Court ]]
* [[ Newcomers tour ]]
* [[ Newspaper ]]
* [[ Postmaster ]]
* [[ Site heralding ]]

Entertainment

2025-03-09T06:59:06Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "Sub-Categories * Ball * Music * Bardic circle * Half circle theatre * Peasants dance * Food and beverage tastings "

Sub-Categories

* [[ Ball ]]
* [[ Music ]]
* [[ Bardic circle ]]
* [[ Half circle theatre ]]
* [[ Peasants dance ]]
* [[ Food and beverage tastings ]]

Food

2025-03-09T06:43:58Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "== Sub-categories == * Ball supper * Feast * Meal plan * Repast * Soup kitchen "

== Sub-categories ==

* [[ Ball supper ]]
* [[ Feast ]]
* [[ Meal plan ]]
* [[ Repast ]]
* [[ Soup kitchen ]]

Main Page

2025-03-09T06:42:20Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Categories */

== Canterbury Faire documentation ==
As maintained by Southern Gaard's Canterbury Faire subcommittee

=== Categories ===

* [[ Arts and Sciences ]]
* [[ Children's activities ]]
* [[ Communication ]]
* [[ Entertainment ]]
* [[ Food ]]
* [[ Infrastructure ]]
* [[ Martial Activities ]]
* [[ Other recurring activities ]]
* [[ Planning ]]
* [[ Pre-event Preparation ]]

Pre-event Preparation

2025-03-09T06:41:18Z

LlewelynApDafydd: Created page with "== Sub-Categories == * So you want to run a CF? * Artwork * Gear transport * Souvenirs "

== Sub-Categories ==

* [[ So you want to run a CF? ]]
* [[ Artwork ]]
* [[ Gear transport ]]
* [[ Souvenirs ]]

Main Page

2025-03-09T06:39:36Z

LlewelynApDafydd: /* Canterbury Faire documentation */

== Canterbury Faire documentation ==
As maintained by Southern Gaard's Canterbury Faire subcommittee

=== Categories ===

* [[ Arts and Sciences ]]
* [[ Children ]]
* [[ Communication ]]
* [[Entertainment ]]
* [[ Food ]]
* [[ Infrastructure ]]
* [[ Martial Activities ]]
* [[ Other recurring activities ]]
* [[ Planning ]]
* [[ Pre-event Preparation ]]

Main Page

2025-03-09T06:39:14Z

LlewelynApDafydd: