Greetings ladies,

I hope you all having a wonderful new year and are keeping warm during these bitterly cold January days.

It's hard to believe that faire season will be upon us soon, but Birka is coming up in a few weeks, then after that is Pastimes Winter Feast and soon after it will be time to get your garb ready for the King Arthur Faire.

The upcoming faire season means that it's time to remind you that our local elections are coming up soon.

The tenure of all officers in Local 24 ends on July 1, 2004. If you are interested in running for guild office, here's what you need to know (note the changes in age/rank requirements):

Any 25 year old (or older) Guild member of Madame (7 or more years) status may be nominated to run as Local Madame by members of her local guild.

To be nominated as a Vice Madame, the Guild member must be 22 years of age or older and of Hussy status or higher (3 or more years).

Eligible wenches must be nominated and seconded. If the a nomination is accepted, the candidate must post her platform on the Wenches Guild website, under the Local 24 forum, as well as on our Local 24 Yahoo! group.

Nominees and their platforms must be sent to the Guild Scribe (Lars, aka The Big Guy) for submission by the 1st day of Spring of an election year (that would be March 20, 2004) and will be posted on April 1. Voting will take place between April 15 and May 15.

Votes go directly to Lars at an assigned time; he acts as the impartial counter. Votes can go via email or snail mail.



One wench, one vote.


The time line for all of this is generally three to four months. I propose the following schedule:

March 20: Nominees and their platforms are sent to Lars.

March 27: Nominees are announced and are seconded.

April 1 - 15: If desired by members of the local, we can hold debates or "in person" announcements of a similar nature. Email or forum debates can also be arranged.

April 15 - May 15: Voting.

June 1: The new Madame and her officers are announced.

July 1: The new Madame and her officers take office.

If you have any questions, please refer to this page on the wenches guild website.

* * *

The officers of Local 24 are:

Local Madame (Cassandra Bayswater) - Locally elected representative and voice of reason on the ground level. Runs the local Charter House and elects/ can be elected to Privvy Council.

Lieutenant Madame (The Queen of Darkness) - Local Madame's second in command (Local Vice Madame, essentially) Will run the roost when Local Madame is otherwise occupied.

Dame (Lady True) - Administer/Mommy of Guild Hostel. She runs the house, answering to the Local Madame and providing comfort/support to local and visiting Guild Members.

Drill Sergeant/Walk-Mistress (Unfilled) - Organizes, runs and otherwise shepherds a Wench Walk; maintains protocol, minds stragglers, distributes lipstick, assigns crowd control, polices alcohol/drugs, sets song-list, charts course and keeps tune/rhythm. Jade rank or higher. Gets red sergeants bars.

Madame Singer (Unfilled) - Leads Wench Walk if the Sergeant can't sing. Normally lead singer. Leaves non-musical duties to the Sergeant. Can be Hussy or higher.

Battle Bytch (Lady Reddy) - Mercenary Guild members of the IWG. Normally assigned crowd control or security on Wench Walks