CF 2014Feedback

This page is to catalogue ideas suggested following CF2014. The intention is to help show what suggestions we receive year-on-year.

FAIRE COMMUNICATIONS

• Take another look at the post-booking response email to see if we can include useful information or more obvious links to important information, such as the bedding situation, food facilities, basic chore info etc. There's heaps of stuff on the website, but we need to poke them hard to go take a look so they don't turn up without any bedding and such.
• Coloured site maps around the place would be useful, using the ones form the website which have the different household names labelled. (May need updating with the road changes)
• Encourage the various sub-stewards to use the same timetable layout so that you can figure out what was clashing with what, specially when there are 4? 5? different timetables produced in different formats.
• Have a central point outside the Mong for a noticeboard to include map, timetables, class changes, job swap offers, pickup info etc. (The Banco is considering funding something like the Festival free-standing blackboard.)
• Can we encourage the camps to have signs identifying themselves
• Provide a map in the front of the herald book to indicate where the calls should be made (I thought we had this?)

SITE NEEDS (most to pass on/discuss with Ross)

• Any chance of a food processor for the kitchen? Or an electric beater?
• Clock in hall
• Long mirror in Royal Ward lounge
• More lighting on the Great Stairs required (had more solar lamps last year, not many at all this year)
• Need to get the tannoy system checked to see if the hum can be reduced, and the lower tower speaker volume boosted
• Any chance of getting a power point over to the Ildhafn area at the court end of the marquee?
• Toilet nearest the door at the A-frame toilet by the Mong packed up regularly, so may need some attention.
• Kitchen mops -- need instruction (for the cloth-based ones) and new pads on the others.
• Instructions for using the kitchen steamer and the washing machine by the top washing area; the washing machine down near the Tui needs to have the junk cleared off it or an "out of order" sign to prevent false hopes

(For us, can we provide washing powder with a donations box; also a reservation signup page so people can come back and know whose washing is there and that they have a chance of getting some done; also notification of the feast laundry priority the morning after)

• Possible working bee in October to cover: painting white strip on edge of stairs; adding eyebolts to Mong and trees for sunshade/waterproof shade, and a pair of covered holes for a sunshade extension (following a quick chat by Roheisa, Ross is happy with these proposals should we go ahead)
• A period wheelbarrow or cart would be great to be able to shift stuff around the site, whether luggage, storage gear or other materials

ACTIVITIES

• Encourage the various martial marshals organising activities to pencil in pickups and classes for their particular combat form
• The A&S workshop thingy in the marquee was strongly supported as a great way to pick up ideas and info without necessarily having to go to a full-on class. More, more!
• Faire Apprentice: see if we can get Laurels/artisans interested in taking on 1-3 people for, say, an hour a day or whatever so that they can get more in-depth knowledge, undertake a project or work on something for the duration of Faire (had some very approving noises from a number of Laurels about this -- I would be happy to think more on it and make a proposal to the next faire steward about it once I figure out how to work it)
• Make it clear to teachers that classes should really be starting at 5 past the hour.
• People were really keen to have singing practice the same way we have musicians' practice (depends on someone being willing to take it on; perhaps A&S steward can actively headhunt someone?)
• Chores need to include hall and annexe set-up coordinator/team (2-3)
• More A&S info would be good -- ie get people to fill in the More info links on the Google calendar
• Bring back the Chatelaine tour for the first-timers, especially concentrating on toilets, small kitchens and cool encampments [said encampments unidentified by enthusiast :-]; maybe also terms of address and how to go up in court
• How about a cushion-making workshop on day one to help out sore bums?

FOOD

• Everyone was very complimentary about the food this year, praising the quality; quantity was a tad variable so strong interest in collecting scaled-up recipes which can be used for buying stuff.

• Any chance of simplifying lunch so that the line moves a lot faster and it doesn't take so long to prepare (some were spending 3 hours on lunch prep). ie not all lunches have to have a cooked element; cold meats and salad selections are fine for a couple of the days; ditto baskets

• Bring back the lunch baskets or basic buffet. Some cooks refuse outright to prep the baskets because they want to show off hot dishes -- maybe put them on dinner if they want to do that or are planning something that takes hours to prep

• Don't allow delayed lunches to impinge on the general programme.

• Moving the lunch menus down the hallway towards the door was a good idea and should be encouraged; larger font would be handy; would be useful to add the portion amount where possible (ie 2 sausages; 1 drumstick)

• Our knives: some cooks didn't know we had knives donated for use at Faire or where to find them and proposed having a person delegated to sharpening site knives; others suggested having the knives in their roll in the kitchen and make the cooks responsible for ensuring they stayed in the knife roll (those who have their own knives seem to keep track of them); everyone wanted them more readily available; get them engraved if not done so already to easily identify them from site knives (nail polish in baronial colours) -- the latter was suggested for our tongs and other serving implements too

• Of 113 people on the meal plan, there were 60 variations in dietary requirements with about 40 of those being "I don't like...". Simplify the process by providing three basic options of vegetarian, GF and dairy free and get them to rank it (apparently Ildhafn as a reasonably useful form for this). Be prepared/permitted to say no to the very complicated people (eg vegan coeliac with lots of other allergies) and/or be scrupulous in noting all and every ingredient, incluidng from any commercial substance used.

• Survey parents of young babies to see if anything was missing from the Lodge kitchen that meant they had to use the main kitchen facilities. (Busted due to half-used baby food cans being left in the sink day after day.) Maybe just requires more emphasis on links to facility info, specially as we get more kids.

• Might want to check the baronial supplied for long-term stuff before ordering -- there were 9 large baking paper rolls in storage (suggestion: lantern-making workshop :-); ditto latex gloves (some going hard); we do need blue bandaids or coloured Leukoplast for kitchen injuries/hygiene

• Need the sign for the annexe announcing lunchtime meetings and asking people to knock before entering (mostly for peerage meetings)