CharityRackham

So.. Looks like we'll be there. They would like us to do panels so on one day we will cover replicating and creating original props and the other day we'll focus on accessories and such. Don't know which is on which day but we have been given 2 hours each day so enough time to chat about techniques and show the audience samples of on set and home made items. We weren't going to make it but when they showed interest in these panels we always did back on the Eastern Half of the Contenent and we found enough friends to make the trip cost worthy, we couldn't pass up the chance... So... Besides... We are building a little 'companion' out of scraps from the prop shop. Must show him off. So if you've been to our panels in the past, come on out and we'll give you a refresher. If you have never been.. Well.. Come on out and we'll show you what we can on how to create, build and 'fake' finish almost anything. Looking forward to it. OH! And we got our tickets for the 'concert' on Sat night. Abney Park live is going to be WILD!! This is a very tired soul signing off. This was the last thing on my list. Christina AKA Charity Ann Rackham.

OH.. And costume and your size.. http://www.dresslikeapirate.com or if you like leather check out: http://www.ravenswoodleather.com http://www.museumreplicas.com has had some great stuff before as larger sizes. Hats? http://captjackspiratehats.com/ Many of our blanks we buy and decorate ourselves from: http://www.snoods.com/hats.html She also does costume. I got my leather hat from: http://www.pyrate.org/ That was a long time ago and this baby is still in one piece no matter what I have put it through. I know these are US companies but they have shipped to me on this side of the border just fine. So.. Yeah.. Have fun, good luck and I really should hit the hay. This pirate brat has to get sleep. Paperwork in the morn, more edits and swrodfighting. So.. Yeah.. Later.

Well.. William.. Very direct. Hang on.. I know I posted all the Canadian stuff for someone else on here. I have very little time tonight bu if luck is on my side... Be Right back. Now... Most of my pirate connections from that corner of Canada come from my time around the Ontario renfest. The same group that was instrumental in OnRF has supported the creation of: http://www.thepiratefestival.com/ If anyone can help you out it's the folks involved with this troupe. http://www.fairesintime.com/ There are also a number of ren and medieval events in Ontario that you could check out. They aren't 'pirate' per say but they will have the same crowd's attending like: http://www.royalmedievalfaire.org/ http://www.medievalfestival.ca/ http://www.medievalfayre.com/ You may want to also 'like' http://www.facebook.com/OntarioRenaissanceFaireList and see if there is a Quebec version. Again.. They aren't 'pirate' but they are similar vein when it comes to audience and attendance. AND... Closer to you and still on the North Side of the Border is: http://www.pirateadventures.ca/ Not a festival but again,.. Worth checking out.. So there you go. Hope it helps and gets you started on your own adventures. Yours in time and adventure.

I second this nomination! Thank you to the both of you. I am sorry it took so long to reply but as you both know, things are a little nuts right now. I have so much to get in the mail, sort and take care of that my head has been spinning. I wish of something other then responsibilities but alas... I would love to accept the nomination and run for a position in the Order Of Leviathan. I have been a performer for many years and have taken part in much charity work and volunteer gigs. Most recently, this Hallowe'en we are spending time with Variety - The Children's Charity with manning their haunted ship for their haunted house. Ed and I also spent time with the Lower Nine when we were down in New Orleans. My charitable activities go back to the days of Paramount (pre Viacom buy out) and the 'second' (for all you Classic Trek fans) height of Trek Popularity (1990) when I ran a company called Fully Functional. We were a sanctioned company that provided characters for product promotions/releases and corporate shows, but also donated time to charitable events on behalf of Paramount. I was also a member of the USS Hudson Bay/K.A.G. Canada doing charity appearances for Reach For The Rainbow, Global Ed Med (Ben Wick's Wife - Doreen Wick's charity), Ronald Mc Donald House, Performer's For Literacy and a number of smaller fund raisers and food bank supporting events and evenings. As a performer I have been acting and around cameras since I was approx. 8 years old and have never been far from the development of characters, scripts and 'vision.' My first on camera experience that took me off volunteer theatre and into the world of television, was as co-host for the Mr. Toronto Show where I interviewed people that the 'kid' side of Toronto would appreciate. I have been in the 'fantasy and fiction' world of fandom since 1984, always volunteering for conventions and presenting at panels on the subjects of presenting yourself and your costume successfully on stage, Making props on a budget and making costumes on a budget, where Martin and I would take props and costume pieces from actual sets and demonstrate how to make a similar product for yourself. We'd also cover how to take and image of something and translate it into 3-D. To this day we still do such panels and are more than happy to share our skills and knowledge with others. We do, however prefer to do such things at cons then on line as both Martin and I are active in building, creating and structuring such things for ourselves and our careers, thus taking us away from the computer and this type of communication. You can't educate much via an iPhone. So we are always looking for ways to teach at conventions and events. In the fandom world we are also master class costumers and even though we have not competed for a number of years, we have judged for other masquerades and events. I have been part of a concom or run events of various sizes and types as far back as 1988. I have held positions such as Media Relations, Promotions, Masquerade Director, Display room, Guest Liason, Conchair, etc. I have organised and set up the Toronto Trek Parody plays for a number of years and have done so with Paramount's blessing. I have organised all the pirate events we have done here in BC and have been attending multiple meetings in order to acquire for Charity and Cobbs (and when needed the rest of the crew) not only paid gigis (parties, promos, events) but also other charitable opportunities. I have designed and/or created and/or had created for us, the various items the crew uses in these performances. I have been a special skills actor since the early 90s when the Paramount Rep decided that my physical shape and sturdiness was ideal to swing a Klingon Bat'leth and thus my first weapon was placed in my hand. Since then I have taught the members of cast for all the parody plays we did and all the promos as well as taught Ed the same style we used for the Paramount gigs in order to have a consistent partner for the renfest fights and a partner that is able and willing to teach along side me for the fest and all the sword fighting required gigs we do. Ed and I are presently in the development of a half hour show, using our two signature fights as a catalyst for Charity's and Cobbs' tensions.. If you will.. Keeping in mind that there is an adult as well as a child audience, I have structured and reminded the cast many times, that all improv needs to be PC if there is a child around and I am strict with my actors. If there is too much conflict or unnecessary tension that an actor is unwilling to resolve and/or disrespect of the blades and weapons, I will dismiss them (after I have given them a chance to fix it) as I understand my responsibility to my cast and my audience and this understanding is the primary reason we keep going. The audience is paramount and I live by that code. I have set up and structured (along with Martin's support and design knowledge) the Hallowe'ens at Fort Langley. Everything from scenes to sets. I have volunteered for the Portland Pirate Fest and did some work when at Pyrateweek. I wish I could have done more when down at the Florida Renfest and hope to do more when at Midsummers in Washington. I volunteered and helped out at Penumbra and have always provided copies of video/photos when an event is done as I understand the value of promotion and if I like the people I just volunteered or worked for, I believe in sharing. As an actor I have also done much indie films as well as major productions. I spent some time supporting and hosting two different ghost documentaries. I am the producer for the BC Renaissance Festival and the Captain of The Jade Dragon. With both of these entities I have attempted to keep history interesting for the little ones but not to go so far as to be boring and tedious for the adults. When I began the process of developing The BC Renaissance Festival (2005) I created a pirate captain character for the promo tents we were setting up at other events. Our goal was to introduce the public to what a renfest is and find out from them what would interest them of all the things we would be doing at a renfest. During that time Charity and Cobbs was born. My intention with using pirates in our Renfest scripts was to show the public (without shoving it down their throats) that piracy was around in many cultures and political circles for many years before the hay day. I based the stories on a time and a King (King James the forth of Scotland) that was known to honour privateers as a step towards turning a monarch ruled society to a more political one. He did fail but we have not failed. We always get asked 'Pirates in the 1500s' and we proudly get the chance to say 'uh.. yeah.'. We also chose to use a female captain as a catalyst to show little girls that it is ok to be a strong woman. We designed Charity's outfit to be 'fightable' and have some male influences without hiding that she is a woman as we have discovered that the young ladies respond well to this. Even though a 1700s version of the characters are now being created (add a pistol and a coat and VOILA! - more or less) we maintain the 1500s version for the renfest and when on request (like the Surrey Museum's Seafarer's Day). I am hoping to continue to use these characters for entertainment as well as education. I have always said.. If they don't know they are learning, they have a greater chance to learn. I have been (and technically still am) an actor, costumer, prop maker, camera person, interviewer/reporter, host, producer, director, fight coordinator, writer, jeweler, editor, weapons handler, assistant director, promotions, audio mixer, lighting assistant.... I know there's more but I'd have to go get a copy of my extended resume... Most recently... I spend much of my days acquiring, setting up, and organising gigs for members of the Jade Dragon Crew as well as keep an eye on the guestbooks, facebook pages, myspace pages and all the little fiddly on line bits that need to be done. I write the scripts for the BCRF (with Ed's input and sometimes sectional rewrites and Martin's spell checking and 'what the?' check) and with Ed create all the fights for the BCRF characters. I set up the rooms and travel plans for our trips and edit the promo videos. I oversee the creation of the program book and flyers. That task has been recently handed over to Ed (who has returned to school to learn how to do this sort of thing as a 'day job' so he has more up to date knowledge of such things) but it was a major part of my life until Ed was able to step in. I am grateful for that as it frees up some time to be able to do this massive typing thing I am doing right now... I am typing fast as I have run out of time. I have to be out the door. I am sorry that I have not spell checked but... When I return this evening, Talderoy, I will check in on the Pirates magazine page for any additional info as to what you would like me to do at this point. I could send you the promo package, my previous extended resume (I haven't updated it in a while but it is there) and anything else you wold like... Just let me know. Sorry to accept and dash but.. May our paths cross, in ideal light. And faith never lead us astray. May our ships pass peacefully in the night. ...I say nothing of the day. Yours in time and piracy, Christina Carr AKA Charity Ann Rackham

She has been for sale before and a number of organisations and companies have pulled her out (so to speak) but not permanently enough. The organisation that owns the Nina had built a larger version for events and such (The Nina is not a huge ship) and they had to sell it as they couldn't keep her... BUT.. They did kee the Nina and they also have a replica of the Pinta. When I last talk to their organisation (we connected back in 2008) they were very comfy with the two ships and decided that the route to 'dinner theatre' and such was not really in their mandate anyway. http://www.thenina.com/ Considering the difference in size between the Nina and the Bounty, it would be a large task to keep her. When I chatted with their captain when they were in Port Alberni, they were really plugging 'educational crew trips' to Hawaii in order to raise more funds. I didn't want to decline but I really couldn't afford the time or the money. If I am the majority when it comes to that, I can see how they were unable to raise enough cash to keep her going... Then... There's recently been the fate of the Grand Turk.. http://easternyachts.com/grandturk/ Also built for production reasons (read the write up - this ship's been through more adventures pre production then she was during and post) she is now up for sale and has been for about 3 years now. For a long time these wonderful ships have either been left to rot or begged to be rescued. Not much we can do about that. I've been following some of them for many years and it is amazing what they go through. When we did the photo shoot on the Nina I insisted they take a donation. They didn't ask me for payment (they even offered for us to stay around and be social) but I felt I needed to. I sent the organisation a little more later on (along with a disk of images and videos) but it is never enough. All we can do is hope for the best and try to visit them as often as we can to not only personally appreciate them but also to try and donate a little money to them and/or promote them to our friends, I would hate for one day, to never see a tall ship event ever again. Thank you. Charity and Queen Margaret on the Bounty Charity on the Bounty Flint and Charity on the Nina Charity, Cobbs and Gale on the Nina

Portland Pirate festival: http://www.portlandpiratefestival.com Look for the welsh green/Jade Dragon flag (or on our outfits) and you'll find us. See you there.

Done. AND plugged you on my FaceBook. Ditto on the ring. Found your main webpage. Ditto on A LOT! Later.

I would love to see a page that breaks piracy into time periods and spend more than a sentence on a time period. Why? well.... The Jade Dragon crew was made for a 1500s storyline at the BC Renaissance Festival and I was amazed at how many people said to me 'there were pirates in the 1500s?' or 'where's your gun or coat?'. We now give our customers a choice of 1500s or 1700s (it really is a simple matter of coat instead of cloak and a pistol on the outfit) but it would be nice to see a page that is divided down into decades and include things like Vikings and early Asian piracy. AND since we are the Jade Dragon crew and you are talking about imaginary... I have to start being kinder to my hands BUT if you have Skype I'd be happy to talk about what we do. The difference between LARPING, stage fighting and real fighting is one possibility of discussion. Our scripts to final product, can be another. Costumes - what do we push for real and what's pretend and why. You can cheek out the growing collection of videos at: http://www.YouTube.com/bcrenfest There is a Jade Dragon folder. Also get a copy of 'piratitude' and you can do a comparison between the modern image and the actual... It's be kind of neat to see popular pirates through the ages, get compared to each other (how the 1940s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s saw pirates) and maybe see what made them who and what they were/are. Why did the 80s encourage pirates like Genna Davis to exist whereas the image of a pirate in the 40s/50s was Errol Flynn? Plenty of possibilities. Gotta dash. Hands hurt and shouldbe out the door by now. Have fun and good luck.

Quick in and quick out. Busy day today. If any more possibilities come up I'll try to remember to post again. First year's always the tough one and profit is usually not made until year 5 or 6. If you got a huge sponsor I am sure folks like Cascabel (and folks like ourselves and some of the actor folks across North America) would love to get out there and introduce that corner to their talents but always keep all of us up to date anyway. Sometimes plans bring people in a direction of an event and they just may become customers one year and performers another. Good luck and I am hoping 'Faires in Time' can help you out. They're a good group of people. I've always had positive experiences with them. TTFN!

I know where you are! AH HA!!! Drop me a line and we'll chat. Bouncing between 4 different pages (logged on to each one and jumping back and forth to get things done) but that's normal for me. Looking at the map you are in Canada so you won't have as many issues as I have had... No border crossing - No passports. Many of the folks who have come up for us didn't this year as their passports ran out. One at a time they are renewing and a few of them are coming up for us for Hallowe'en. We head down there a lot to help them out. SO.. I left some links for you on your other post. Hope they help. Later.

You may want to let the Portland Pirate fest know. Maybe send them a flyer or ask for a link/promo on their page. With them promoting like mad to reach another record.. Who knows... http://www.portlandpiratefestival.com/ Good luck. And.. Umm.. Stay safe.. Please. We'd like to see yah back.

Well my dear. Keep the Jade Dragon crew up to date: http://www.jadedragonpirates.com or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jade-Dragon-Pirates/133757749987214# Here's confusion for yah - The facebook link to the group keeps adding a second slash after the .com and before pages. If it does it for you just delete the one. Many of our group goes back and forth and around and so forth, so you never know BUT... In the meantime.. Give my buddies in Ontario a buzz. http://www.fairesintime.com/ Faires in Time mostly consists of the group that ran The Ontario renfest (they lost the property - long story but we're still hopeful they can restart) but they also run a small Pirate Festival: http://www.facebook....?gid=2458251403 or http://www.thepiratefestival.com/ There's also a company in Ottawa who does pirate adventures: http://www.pirateadventures.ca/ They might be able to help. Let's see... Pirates of the Great Lakes is south of you BUT since we go back and forth here a lot (and many of my friends in Ontario followed us to Maryland every year for the MRF) http://www.brethreno...greatlakes.com/ Halifax is the other coast but they may be of some suggestion or help: http://www.facebook....3166&ref=search I have a whole list of links in my bookmarks and many of them I have had experiences with so if you want more let me know. I don't have too much time right now but... OH! Another suggestion.. See if there's a production of Gilbert and Sullivan happening any where in and around you. There's a group that, more than likely, also has the outfits and the 'piratitude' you may be looking for. Also look for Celtic and sea shanty (Chanty) groups near you. Who knows. They may be willing to whip up a pirate outfit for additional promotional exposure. That's about all I have time for. Like I said. If you'd like to poke me, go right ahead. I don't mind. I've been around in the renfest/pirate performance thing for a number of years and have done much with a number of people. I don't know anyone direct where you are but I may still have a few treasures still in the archives. I may not get to answer right away but... Gotta dash. OH HEY! One last idea popped in my head. I've worked along side costume shops before. They usually use an event as a way to promote rentals for costumes and since you are talking pre Hallowe'en... Ask your local costume shop if they want to dress up and just give them a way to advertise their shops... TA DA.. Now I go. Dinner is calling.

YUP! Believe it or not my first weapon was a quarterstaff in order to get me going on a Bat'leth. Now I've been working with various weapons for.. oh man... Since 1999 - I think.. I'd have to check my records.. But the fact that I am shorter then my primary fight partner and my weight is distributed in a way that I can balance, I am able to do a few moves that he finds difficult. I was also born with a curse and blessing. An already existing muscle mass and solid bone structure. I've been fairly bad to myself over the last few years and have to work a little harder to stretch and therefore move so no matter who you are (or what sex), once you start working with blades don't stop. Hurts like hell to start again. If you are that curious: http://www.youtube.com/bcrenfest#g/c/847A7DD62492EE1A Emjoy.