Our Konungr, Roger John Barry kindly asked me to post this on his behalf.

To Vinland Felag,

As you all know Warren, after nine years as your leader, stood down as Hertog of Vinland at the last Vinland Althing. It is now my pleasure to write some words of praise for his hard work. First a very brief outline of his career in The Vikings.

After a shaky start with the VNA Warren first got his name onto the membership roll of The Vikings in 2003 and over the next six years was very closely involved, if not actually the driving force, in the creation of The Vinland Felag of The Vikings. I am taking 2009 as the date for Vinland as that is when the name was adopted and the organisation properly defined by a constitution and with recognition from The Vikings, an organisation existed before in a number of guises and others can better explain the Vinland creation myth!

Of course Warren wasn’t alone, it would be remiss of me not to mention the other founders, Chris Arel, Mike Cichon, Wil Yannacoulias and Andreas Tesfaye. Others of course joined and made their contribution but I must leave it to someone else to identify them.

From 2009 Warren was your leader and in 2013 I appointed him Hertog and advised that the leader of a Felag would use that title once it had at least on Herred in addition to other groups. I became Konungr in 2011 and from that point I had regular contact with Warren and of which I am qualified to give an opinion on. I am going to talk about his leadership of a reenactment society, before I do I want to make sure you understand what a Felag of The Vikings is. A Felag is a re-enactment society outside the jurisdiction of the UK government that chooses to follow the rules and regulations of The Vikings. Vinland then, is a society in its own right as well as being a valued part of the wider society.

When you are a member of a society like ours you sometimes think that what we are doing could be done better, some people complain about the society and some do something about it. Of the latter some go off and creat a new society, some try to overthrow the leadership of the society and some offer to help or just put things right themselves. The last group are the people that eventually get things done and often find themselves at or near the top of the society. Of course some ambition is needed, but as you look at the person above you and think you can do their job you are missing something, its not until you get the job that you find out that much of your work is not about getting the members to a show or maintaining the standards of kit, there is much more. No where in the job description does it say you will become a marriage and relationships councillor, that you have to attend child protection meetings, that you will be asked for job references or character assessments and much more besides.

Warren is one of the people that puts things right and works hard for the whole membership. Because Vinland is a Felag of The Vikings Warren and I have had regular conversations since 2011 and this has been to the benefit of both of us. Warren has shown that he is thoughtful about the problems he has encountered as the Hertog of Vinland and has proven capable of making hard decisions when necessary. Often there is no right decision which makes the process much harder but a decision must be made and a course set. In my opinion Warren has made the best decisions possible in difficult circumstances. A great deal of his personal time has been devoted to the smooth running of Vinland and he has done this without complaint. But there comes a point when everyone has to step back and enjoy not having responsibility! Warren chose not stand for re-election at about the right time, this is good for him and Vinland, it’s the point where Vinland decides if it can change its leadership and stay together as a family, for Warren it is a welcome relief I’m sure.

Vinland must now move on, some things may be changed and some things maintained as they are, this is the normal process of evolution. I assume Vinland will remain a Felag of The Vikings and hope the Vinland members will involve themselves in the various society forums and help the whole society evolve. With respect to Warren I hope what you will remember is his huge contribution and unfailing devotion to Vinland and its members, he has been your guide, regulator and protector and is a hard act to follow. James has been given big boots to fill and I wish him and his team good fortune for the future and look forward to working with him.

Warren has served us all well and deserves the highest praise from everyone.

Roger Barry
Konungr
The Vikings