The main news is, of course, the donations to the USMC Toys for Tots drive to provide toys for children whose families cannot. This year our donations were even more important; in October thieves broke in to the storage locker where donations were being stored and made off with several large boxes.

As usual, Calontir came through. The final count on toys was 2371 toys collected.

And once again this year, the local USMC presented the Kingdom with an award, the Coordinator’s Award. Their Royal Majesties and Their Royal Highnesses accepted the award and had Their photos taken with the local Sea Cadets.  The Award was later presented to Halvgrimr Riddari , who has been a driving force behind this…and also brought the most toys, over 300.

In addition there was a silent auction to benefit our friends in Ansteorra and Trimaris. The auction raised $434, which will be split between the two kingdoms.

The next big news was the elevation of the three premiers of Calontir’s Order of Defense, Donald Andrew MacDonald, Gawin Kappler and Ravasz Janos. The event was well attended by Masters from other kingdoms, wishing to lend their support.

There were two other elevations, those of Conna ingen Ui Chearbhaill to the Order of the Pelican and Severin Svendottir to the Order of the Laurel. We were unable to get photos of these ceremonies. As always, check Master Vilhelm von Lich’s Flickr feed, Mistress Rhianydd Arbeth’s Flickr feed, and other of the Kingdom’s great photographers for more images.

The Youth Combat, Cut & Thrust and Armored tourneys were well attended and well fought. Several folks stated this was the largest C&T tournament ever in Calontir, and I believe it may well have been.

Credit: Lorraine Devereaux/Lorraine Gehring

Credit: Lorraine Devereaux/Lorraine Gehring

Credit: Jóhann Steinarsson/Jay Reynolds

For more details on awards, recognition and elevations, see Dorcas’ Court Summaries