Well done to Sam Griffin and Jeremy Huthwaite, M18E and M50S respectively, for wins at Golden Valley & Cognor Wood down in Englandshire.

Click on the image below to link through to our Facebook page (and while you’re there Like it to get news like this as soon as our roving reporter posts.)

Big congrats David Esson on winning M40S down in Englandshire last night, while Hugh Nicholson came 7th in a large M55 field. Looks like it would have been quite magical with a smattering of snow over Cleeve Hill.

Scotland won the Boys JHI Relay by 2 seconds this weekend!
Congrats to James Hammond, Laurence Ward, Sam Griffin running in Team Scotland 1 and all the rest of the ScotJos crew on some other great performances too.
Individual results from the day before

More evidence of urban developers having fun at Boca Raton, Florida. Built on top of old waterways so the black bits seen here would have to be mapped as blue and if you could persuade some residents to welcome soggy orienteers popping up at the back of their houses you could make hold (probably) the world’s first Come-and-Tri-It event.

Remember the video with Foss and Erik and other members of the Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra summoning up their inner Picts at Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle?
Well, the ASO Zoomed with a southern counterpart, Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra based in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, for UK Make Music Day on June 21st and recorded ‘Entry of the Gladiators’, by Czech composer Julius Fučík. You’ll recognise it when you hear it as “that circus music” – click here for the video.

‘This collaboration is one positive thing to come out of lockdown – how else would two such geographically distanced orchestras ever get to meet, let alone play together? We’re looking forward to more enterprises with Phoenix, maybe even in the real world, not just the Zoom one!’
Foss Foster, tenor saxophone, Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra

ASO and PSO have been nominated for the Royal Philharmonic Society National Inspirations Award for this innovative non-professional musical hook-up, along with 5 other diverse groups from Orkneys down to Bristol. Please go to the RPS website to find out more and don’t forget to vote for ‘oor local SO’ by 11am on 30th Sept.

Despite steady rain for much of the day, we managed to set off 1000+ people, count them back in and still found time to get a run ourselves, with some good results too with several 1st and 2nd placings. Big thanks to our Day Coordinator, Paul Duley, for keeping us all up to speed with the twists and turns and numerous changes of plan in the run up to the event and calmly and quietly checking up on us all day in the rain.

Also big thanks go to Tim Griffin and Helen Rowlands who inadvertently ended up assistant controlling/planning for both Days 4 & 5 on a very tough area on numerous levels, from physically/mentally challenging terrain to how to squeak in a White and Yellow, and to the jolly band of Start Helpers who carried on smiling regardless of the persistent rain.

But maybe the biggest thanks should go to the folk who helped out even though they’re not regular Gramps/Orienteers – Jackie Reynard, Alison Lovie, George Greenwood and Keith Yardley, here’s to you!

(Did I mention the rain?)

Gramp’s day finally rolled round and tomorrow we’ll be manning starts, waking up/collecting controls and hopefully getting some orienteering in too on an area that’s been described as “hard to relocate” – sounds fun!!

Apart from Helen and family plus Tim G who were involved setting up controls for Day 4/5 (3 cheers for them!), most of us have been enjoying the official rest day although some need a few lessons on the definition of ‘rest’ as they seem to have interpreted it as the ‘rest’ of the holiday with mega cycle rides, Munro/Corbett Bagging, long walks, train rides and ski gondola trips to name a few.

Oh, yes – there’s an O competition going on in the background apparently. If you want to see how we’re all doing check S6D Results https://results.scottish6days.com/2021/

Burning question though is who won the Pants award for yesterday’s Middle Distance entertainment on Inverlochy Golf Course and Woods?

We are pleased to have been awarded a grant of £100 from Aberdeenshire Clubsport (https://www.scottishclubsport.co.uk/club/45) to help cover the additional costs of running events with Covid requirements.  We have invested in a contactless payment system and bought all the necessary PPE. 
Good to have some financial support to back up the work our volunteers have been doing to keep events running.
Thank you.

Aberdeenshire Clubsport SCIO website lists the wide variety of sports supported and tells you a bit about their activities: “[It] is managed and run by volunteers from the local sporting community who bring with them a wide range of knowledge, skills and expertise. We work to encourage, develop and promote all sport and physical activity, providing advice, support and assistance to affiliated clubs/organisations and always look for continuous improvement to ensure quality services are always offered. We are keen to support grass root developments and minority sports, as well as the major sports.

ACS SCIO achieved charitable status in 2020 with the support of Buchan Development Partnership and exists to represent member clubs/organisations. It is one of the most progressive and active sports councils in the country.

ACS SCIO currently has a board of 6 Trustees and an Executive Committee with capacity for 18 volunteer representatives, 2 of which are youth representatives, from many different affiliated sports clubs/organisations. We work closely in partnership with the Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeenshire Disability Sport, Sportscotland, Active Schools, Scottish Clubsport and a range of Scottish Governing Bodies.

We have one of the largest memberships in Scotland, with our membership encompassing an enormous range of sports clubs that vary greatly in size, numbers, abilities and interests, with 50 sports and physical activities represented. However, whether large or small, all share the same need to be well organised forward thinking to ensure strong, successful clubs in years to come.”

After another month of watching Tiers and C-19 announcements with bated breath we’ve received a flurry of emails from the 6 Days crew outlining Plans L, M and N (at least) to go ahead with the 6 Days in one form or another.

This is all thanks to Richard Oxlade, Dave Kershaw assisted by others on the 6 Days Central Organising Committee and 6 Days Company for doggedly making and remaking plans, canvassing opinions and making some very tough decisions when it would have been oh so easy just to say “You know what? This is getting really messy and complicated and so many unknowns still. Let’s just cancel it.” Thanks guys – much appreciated!

We have a Champion! Congratulations to M40S David Esson!

A few others took on this challenging area too:
Lesley Gomersall 4th W55L
Helen Rowlands 8th W50L
Neil McLean 2nd M75
Sam Gomersall 6th M60
Bob Daly 10th M60
Tim Griffin 4th M55
Gareth Yardley 7th M55

Our roving reporter, David Esson, is currently down in the Lakes thoroughly enjoying a wee holiday and some fine orienteering areas for the British Middle Distance Champs. Keep an eye on our Facebook site for maps and mentions.

Middle Distance combines shorter classic courses and lots of controls so even the “long” legs still require concentration. Today (5th June) it was in an area called Summer House Knott and it “did not disappoint”. Three other Gramps are also competing – Tim Griffin and Bob Daly both narrowly missed top ten placings in M55 and M60 respectively, but looks like Sam Griffin had to pull out. Hopefully he’ll still be OK to try again tomorrow at High Dam.
Good luck guys!

High Dam update: Sam definitely back up and running and came 13th in M18E, 7th for Bob Daly, 17th for Tim but unfortunately looks like David might have crocked himself very early on in the course and been forced to stop as results show lots of missing controls. (It’s either that or the Newby Bridge Hotel food was just too tempting and he decided to go back for Sunday lunch – either way, hope you’re OK David).

Another fun wee park for a bit of micro-O maybe?
Little Island, NYC, 2.4 acres manages to pack in 350 species of flowers, trees and shrubs.
Remember the arboreal trail map in Westburn and Victoria Parks? Something similar would work really well here.

Everyone has a shared responsibility for safeguarding and creating safe, enjoyable environments in Orienteering whether as an Orienteer, parent, coach, club official or spectator. 

At our club we want you to feel safe and welcome and we encourage you to raise any concerns you have or incidents you witness at the earliest opportunity to our Club Safeguarding Officer, Claire Gallagher via safeguarding@grampoc.com, or British Orienteering’s Lead Safeguarding Officer, Jeanette Downing via safeguarding@britishorienteering.org.uk. All reports are taken seriously and dealt with in a sensitive manner.

Our club is committed to the principles of Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk and our Club Welfare Officer is always there if you need any support or would like any advice.

Gramp is fully committed to the welfare and protection of everyone attending any of our events or activities whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, socioeconomic status, religious belief and sexual identity.

Gramp subscribes to the SOA Child Protection/Safeguarding Policy, a copy of which can be found at https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/wpfd_file/soa-child-safeguarding-and-welfare-policy/. (Updated Jan 2025)
For the purposes of this policy a child is defined as anyone under the age of 18 but the same commitment to protection and respect would equally apply to anyone of any age but especially those who may be classed as vulnerable.

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Reporting
In addition to contacting the Club Safeguarding Officer or Lead Safeguarding Officer, there are a couple of forms you can also use to report a concern or incident.

British Orienteering Quick Report Form
British Orienteering has introduced a quick report form which can be used to make immediate reports to the Lead Safeguarding Officer. This form is user friendly on mobile devices. On completion of this form the Lead Safeguarding Officer will follow up with you directly.

Other Reporting Forms (MSword version)
Incident reporting form children and young people
Incident reporting form adults

If you complete one of these forms, it will then need to be emailed to either your Club Safeguarding Officer or the Lead Safeguarding Officer as soon as possible.

If you need any advice on how to complete a form, or what should you do if someone reports something to you, this short video will help you.

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What do we do in practical terms to implement safeguarding at events and activities?
When you bring your children orienteering we will help you to ensure their welfare and safety by ensuring that:

– The people who run the sport are safe to be with. Our coaches and officials who have unsupervised regular contact with children and adults at risk have satisfactory PVG checks.

– We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your children will be safe from other participants and strangers. Organisers of events and activities carry out risk assessments and have procedures for managing safety in public places.

– The challenges set will be manageable so that your children are able to find their way around the course. Planners of courses and activities follow rules and guidelines to provide courses or activities with different levels of challenge to meet different needs. We keep track of every individual at every event or activity to ensure that they are accounted for. We will give you information so that you understand the level of challenge on courses offered.

– They are not likely to be injured but, if they are, there are people and procedures in place to look after them.

– Your children’s individual needs will be considered as far as possible within the nature of the sport.

– Our club has a safeguarding officer.