SOC District Event and Long O, incorporating SCOA League Event
Sunday 7th September 2008. Venue: Redshoot and Roe Enclosure, New Forest
Click here for flyer.

14 members attended, 4 of whom went for a run from Wide Lane first. The main part of the meeting was devoted to the club's Webmaster Steve Pullen explaining how he proposed the club website could be developed, a subject that had been raised at the committee meeting two days earlier. The concept involves building a new framework, and then devolving responsibility for much of the content to " Key Owners", who will update as required. Some pages like fixtures will need frequent updates, others like permanent courses will hardly change. There would also be a dedicated area for member access only which could include a forum for informal discussion, e.g.lift-sharing. A working group is being set up to discuss how to implement these ideas, which includes contacting outside help to see how easy it will be to build the framework and content, and to assess the costs involved. The group will also look at what the content should be, and what would be confidential, i.e. members only. Suggestions included a Juniors page, the club constitution, club kit cost and availibility, EMIT control codes ( for planners), and current event costs, e.g. levies, F.C. fees, toilet hire. If you would like to help with this project then please contact Steve Pullen, there are already four volunteers.

We then had a map game organised by Colin Hicks which involved matching written control descriptions to how they appear on a map, and finished by looking on the projector screen at how Southdowns Orienteers website works ( there were members only areas which we obviously could not enter), and then some photos from the Junior Inter-Regional Champs in North Yorkshire the previous weekend.

Next meeting is at Wide Lane, Thursday 4 September, 6.30 in car park for a run, 7.30 for the meeting. Come and watch and listen to the club experts explain about OCAD mapping starting with the basics.

Latest version of the SOC diary now available.

For other events, try Ollie O'Brien's fixture map

ORGANISER'S COURSE - DATE TBA
Katy Stubbs is planning to hold a one day course for novice organisers, aimed at putting on an event at District level. This is open to anyone in BKO (and SCOA) who wish to attend and there will be no charge for the course. This will follow the BOF curriculum and will be held at Katy's house (in Winnersh, between Reading and Wokingham). The date will be arranged to suit the convenience of those wanting to attend, but the aim is to hold it during late June, July (or early August at the latest) to target an event in October.

If anyone is interested please contact Katy by email at katystubbs@f2s.com or by telephone on 0118 9782875 (telephone after 27th May please).

CONTROLLERS COURSE - Sun JULY 20th 2008

SCOA / SEOA Controllers Courses 2008
SCOA and SEOA will be holding both a Grade 3 and a Grade 2 controllers course on Sunday 20 July 2008. The courses are open to any BOF member, but priority will be given to SCOA and SEOA members in case of oversubscription. The 1 day courses are expected to be held at Longmoor Camp, off the A3 on the SEOA/SCOA border and will be presented by Katy Stubbs (SCOA) and Neil Crickmore (SEOA). They will consist of oral presentations/discussion and a practical exercise. Those wishing to be appointed Grade 3 controllers should have organised acompetition on the BOF fixtures list in the last 10 years, already planned at least 3 events of which one must be at District level (level 3) and in the last 5 years.

NOTE: You can take the course before you have satisfied all the other criteria for appointment.

Those wishing to be appointed Grade 2 controller should have successfully controlled at least 2 events at District level (level 4) in the last 8 years, one in the last 4 years, planned at Regional level (level 3) within the last 10 years and organised at least one event at Regional level within the last 10 years.

There will be no charge for the course.

If anyone is interested in attending please contact Katy Stubbs by email at katystubbs@f2s.com or by telephone on 0118 9782875 (telephone after 27th May please). Name of attendees will be required at least 1 week in advance to allow us to arrange access to the camp.

Nine SOC members made the long trip up north which enabled us to enter three relay teams on the second day which saw good runs from
Jane again and also Matthew Whipple and Tim Morgan. Tim's fantastic first leg run had his team in 4th when he handed over. The
Women's Short team finished 8th and the Men's Short 9th.

British Champion Jane Morgan finishing her relay run in Culbin Forest

SOC ACHIEVES CLUBMARK!
Hilary Palmer, British Orienteering Development Manager gave congratulations to Southampton Orienteering Club (SOC) on achieving Clubmark accreditation on 27th March 2007,

So what does that mean? In its simplest form, it means that SOC meets all the criteria defined by Sport England to show that it is child-friendly. In effect it means that we make it as easy, safe and welcoming as possible for young people to join in our sport.

• We have junior membership
• We care about their views – in future, juniors will be invited to meet a committee member at our District events and BBQ to share opinions and ideas. You may have also noticed the junior section of the club newsletter, edited by a junior for juniors.
• We provide coaching and local event opportunities, using the colour coded progression of skills
• We encourage juniors to get involved in all aspects of the club – mapping, helping at events, planning, etc.
• We have a child protection policy, qualified club coaches and first aiders.

At this point, other benefits to the rest of the membership start to be apparent:

• It is as easy, safe and welcoming as possible for people of all ages to join in our sport. Look out for the new information boards at events.
• Seniors can also benefit from coaching and are encouraged to develop other skills if they wish – such as surveying, mapping, planning, first aid and becoming coaches themselves.
• Developing school links raises awareness of orienteering as a competitive sport and may lead to new juniors and their families joining the club with no false illusions, bringing fresh blood to the club.
• The club will be able to draw upon school members to represent us at Yvette Baker and Peter Palmer events.
• Working for this accreditation has caused your committee to rethink what we do and how, resulting in a Development Plan for the club, revised and defined committee roles, policies on acceptable behaviour and equality.

This is an accreditation scheme adopted by at least 19 sports and is regarded as a measure of a ‘good club’ by schools and local authorities and may increase our ability to get grants in the future. To achieve Clubmark, we had to take stock of club practice, take steps to ensure that we met all the criteria and collect evidence to prove it. You now have a club to be even more proud of!

Di Smith

The vast majority of us will be familiar with the colour coding of courses at District Events. There is an award scheme associated with these courses.

A White award can be made to anyone who completes three White Courses. The Colour Coded Standard time for courses other than White is calculated using whichever of the following two methods gives the larger number of qualifiers:
The time that is achieved by at least 50% of those who started the course, which includes those who retire or are disqualified. Each pair or group on Yellow and Orange courses is treated as a single starter.
or
150% of the winner's time

The Colour Coded Standard time is shown in the results. A participant qualifies for a colour award (other than White) by achieving a time that is less than the Colour Coded Standard time for that course on three separate occasions. Pairs can qualify for colour awards on the White, Yellow and Orange courses.

The award is a sew on badge, approximately 85mm x 45mm, with black lettering on a background colour appropriate to the colour of the award made. These can be sewn onto O-tops and worn with pride, with the ultimate objective of collecting enough awards to put a Russian general to shame.