Back in A.S. XI (1977 of the Common Era), a group of folk at a Star Trek club meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, had a guest speaker, who mentioned the Society for Creative Anachronism. He asked who had heard of it, and several people raised their hands. One of them, Claire Spencer, had been to several SCA events in Germany when she was there with the military. After the meeting, people who were interested in learning about the SCA met with her, and she told them what she knew.

I–Meistres Rhonwen y Llysieuyddes (mundanely Julia H. West)–was one of those people. I don’t remember if we got together that day and decided to form a group in Salt Lake City, or whether we did it later. But that meeting started something that has continued for many years and brought me a great deal of fun and satisfaction: what started as the Shire of am Mor Salann Fasach and is now the Barony of Loch Salann.