The Storm at Glyndmere Hall
Lyrics by “Rua”, Fáelán Ruadh ua Aodha of The Whitstone Isle of The Lake Seas
The fire was burning, and songs we’re sung.
The people gathered were having such fun.
Rain drops fell upon us so we moved to…
The Hall of Glynd.mere,
In-the-Hall of Glynd.mere.
The Hall did echo of songs through the night.
but as we sung, the winds grew in might.
All the while the rains fell hard.
Echoing louder
THAN OUR OWN GREAT BARDS
in the
Hall of Glynd.mere,
In-the-Hall of Glynd.mere.
As the night grew late more people had left
their heads growing heavy and so they had slept
in the tents they made to shelter themselves—
Little did they know what havoc would fall at
The Hall of Glynd.mere,
In-the-Hall of Glynd.mere.
The few that stayed within the Great Hall
Had talked and enjoyed playing games with cards
But as the night grew, they grew more concerned
The Hall began shaking with Great Winds.
At The Hall of Glynd.mere,
In-the-Hall of Glynd.mere.
The few in hall then had sealed the gates
to shelter themselves from the great galing winds
The moment it was shut a new sound arose
BANG – BANG – BANG
Rang the Great HALL!
We-quickly-opened-the-gates
In-our-view-came-in-soaked-shapes
Of-the-people’s-whose-tents-had-fell-on-their-heads
We-brought-them-in-and-made-them-some-beds
BANG – BANG – BANG
Rang The Great HALL!
Another-group-arrived
With-more-in-toe-this-time
With-cloth-of-the-table-we-wrapped-them-tight
In-hopes-they-will-sleep-well-through-the-night
BANG – BANG – BANG
Rang The Great Hall!
A-HOARD-then-came-in
The-camp-had-grown-thin
All-their-tents-blew-down-and-one-Tamara-Around
The Hall of Glynd.mere,
Around The Hall of Glynd.mere.
The Herald and Wrangler of Children went out
To fetch our dear Baron & Baroness of clout
Who then supplied to our great surprise
A stock pile mattresses beneath the…
Hall of Glynd.mere,
Beneath the Hall of Glynd.mere.
A few had decided to remain up late
to play a last hand that got delayed
Only to find that Dawn had ariiiiiived
At The Hall of Glynd.mere
After the STORM. AT. GLYND. MERE!
When the night began we were starting our bardic circle around the fire, but it started to rain, so we moved into the hall. As the night went on the rain and wind increased, the singing had to pick up volume just to hear the songs. Later, when younger ears weren’t around, and when we were no longer sticking to the SCA theme, we had some particularly adult level songs.
Honestly, I normally love my sleep, but at SCA events I have a habit of not wanting to miss anything – the naughty songs being one such example. But this time I had an extra reason, I had gotten into “The Blood of the Land”, a home brew that their excellencies had, being a mix of spiced wine and mead. I found it very tasty, and got pretty drunk on it. And because I have a personal rule of not going to bed hammered, I drink water for the last hour or so until the buzz fades and so won’t wake up hung over the next day. But, this stuff was different, the buzz wouldn’t fade, so I stayed up later than planned just to shake off the drunk.
Once the bardic circle disbanded the rain was coming down really hard – and a leak in the roof was drenching one area – ALL OVER THE WAIVERS! So I removed them from the wet and set the few dry ones aside and laid the others out to dry properly.
Now earlier that night I had promised a game of cards with a group who planned on playing through the night – so I could join them at any time. So after all this I finally was ready to play until the drunk wore off then saunter off to bed. Then this storm hit full force and we shut the gates to keep the storm out. Then chaos happened (which I wouldn’t have been able to write a song about had I not stayed up in the first place).
At the time this was only my second event, so I felt a little out of place trying to organize the situation – being available as I didn’t have my belongings damaged, wet or blown away. And as mentioned in the song, a person had been blown away as well – fortunately they came away physically in one piece, but understandably shaken up. I think they’ll be pegging their tent down from now on. But this wasn’t my first storm rodeo so I wasn’t as daunted to go out and help.
When people started showing up because their tents blew down we tried to make them comfortable in the hall. Some were cold and everything they had was soaked, so we repurposed the table cloths as blankets. A few of us then decided to check everyone, which was a bit challenging for me as I didn’t know everyone yet. Some were alright in their tents and gave them updates on the situation outside – and they also helped by checking their “magic boxes” for the weather report for the area. It looked like there were swirling clouds above our area – sketchy!
We tried to help some with fixing / resetting up their tents, some worked, most were lost causes. In my rounds I found a couple of fallen tents that had all their sleeping bags and various other belongings being drenched, so I grabbed them and brought everything that wasn’t tent into the hall and laid them out to dry. I still don’t know whose they were, but I hope that they were dry enough the next day (the packing up day) so that they’d have dry clothes to put on and their stuff wouldn’t be packed drenched.
It was around this point that the barony herald and the “child wrangler” who knew their excellencies well (they were hosting the event on their property known as Glyndmere) went to their house and informed them of the situation (Honestly, my first version of this song had mistakenly thought that the bard was the one who did this – as I’ve said, everyone was new to me, including who owned what titles, and it was pretty darn chaotic. Fortunately I found the truth of that portion of this story and fixed the song accordingly). The storm had lessened its strength at this point, but still bad. So they surveyed the situation and brought mattresses that were stored in the basement and laid them out for everyone who needed them. There were a surprising number too – which was awesome! The cool thing is that this is exactly what would happen historically – that the populace would take refuge in their lord’s hall, so we really were recreating that scenario – living the experience!
After everyone was settled, the night owl gamers and I finally got to have our game, remarking how its not even late anymore as we’re now seeing the first light of day. But then everyone sort of drifted off during the game. I briefly woke after, found an unattended mattress and promptly claimed it. Woke again to find some nice person had put a cloak on me – if you are reading this Thanks! And when I got up I found that my spouse had already packed all our stuff! They said that they felt I needed more sleep with how heavy I was sleeping and had found me with the cloak so it wasn’t them who placed it on me. I did feel out of it, I was so strung out that when we arrived at my in-law’s place a few hours later – having planned to visit since we were in the area – my father-in-law took one look at me and strongly recommended that I get more sleep. Which I did, and felt all the better for it. Still very hung over though.
Now be warned. The Blood of the Land is quite aptly named, not only because it was made through the blood and sweat of our dear host’s working the land to make it (their own honey, berries, and even the spices if I’m not mistaken), but because if you’re not careful, you’ll be a sacrifice to the land!
During the storm and surveying it after, it was noted that the square, the low, and the “lawn pimples” (aka modern tents) fared best in the storm. The prism shaped tents only worked if the short side was facing the winds, otherwise the long side was blown down (see before and after pictures).
Lets hope that this year’s Brouhaha is less… eventful.
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