Welcome to my first chat as Wessex Chair.  I’m following in Jolyon’s excellent footsteps but can’t guarantee the same detailed orienteering content which we have become accustomed to.  I’m lucky that the club is in excellent health, and that is down to everyone playing their part.

A lot of this chat is summarising what happened at the AGM, plus some other information on future events, just to keep everyone in the picture.

I’m open minded about what communications you want as members, so if you have any views let me know, whether good or bad.

Deeside 2024 Report – by Esk Medlock

2024 Deeside was just outside Aberdeen. We had the opportunity to run on incredible areas such as the Balmedie sand dunes and in the forests of Loch Varr. It offered amazing coaching and experience, as well as fun activities and many rivers to swim in, plus good laughs with friends.

The week got off to a rocky start, thanks to many plane delays and missing trains, but this did not stop us from having the best time.

The main focuses of this week were all around plan, direction and picture, as well as compass activities to increase our confidence in compass bearings. We were also able to run a night event, which featured lots of singing around the course, and a sprint event which included a maze course.

Other activities were swimming in lidos and wild rivers, a bilberry picking competition, singing campfire songs with our friends from the German scouts, nightly games of werewolves, a coaches v athletes football match as well as staying up all night on the last night.

Thank you SWOA and WSX for supplying funds to allow me to go on camps such as Deeside and have a once in a lifetime experience.

Our Goals

Our goal as a club is to put on interesting events, allowing member to get involved in planning, and organising. Plus, we are trying to identify new areas to run in, and are investing in new maps, produced by professional mappers, that we can use for years to come. We are not a big club, but we are able to punch above our weight thanks to the enthusiasm of all our members.  We want to continue to be a friendly club, and are keen to welcome new members.  We are very fortunate that we have a thriving group of younger orienteers, who are also very successful.

Committee Changes

It has been 2 months since the September AGM where I took over the reins from Jolyon.  I’d like to thank him for his 4 years hard work and dedication. There were some other changes on committee. These were:

• Andy Eydmann has managed to prise Roger Crickmore’sfingers from the purse strings by taking over as Treasurer, after a sterling job for the club for 10 years.  Thanks Roger, and welcome to Committee Andy.
• Jolyon and Roger, both clearly anticipating time on their hands, have taken on Fixtures and Membership respectively.
• In his absence, Jon Brook also volunteered to be on Committee, which was a pleasant surprise for him.  
• Additionally, we wanted to ensure the views on our younger members were represented on Committee, and OliverHeckford has agreed to do this.  If any other of our younger members also want to do this just let any Committee member know.

Committee now looks like this:

• Bruno Smith – Chairman
• Gavin Clegg – Vice-chairman
• Jolyon Medlock – Fixtures
• Andy Eydmann – Treasurer
• Roger Crickmore – Membership
• Sheila Gold – Club Secretary
• Julie Astin – Permissions
• Tim Houlder – IT Support & Results (and map custodian)
• Jason Falconer – Coaching
• Alan Hooper – Electronic Equipment
• Oliver Heckford – Young Member Representative
• Jon Brooke
• Rob Hick

The whole Committee is dedicated to making Wessex a great orienteering club, but we need everyone’s good ideas and suggestions.

One thing the whole Committee appreciate is that when it comes to our events, all members throw themselves into helping.  We couldn’t run our events without this support, so thank you.

Awards

At the AGM we made the club awards.  Congratulations to all the winners:

• Emma Heckford – Charlie Morton award for most improved Junior
• James Crickmore – Chairman’s award for services to the club
• Jon Brooke – Ian Horsey trophy for performance in the last year

Future Events

Over the past few years, we have tried to establish a rhythm of events throughout the year, and this is what we are aiming for:

• Purbeck Weekend – Every 2 years, next in 2025
• 2 informal events per year, to give new planners opportunities
• 3 Regional Events per year (including Dorset Delight and SW League Event)
• Part of Wessex Region Night League (4 WSX events)
• Summer Series in conjunction with Wimborne
• We are also working with SOC, to be part of a new NewForest League (where we will incorporate one or all of our informal events)
• One off events (e.g. Purbeck Hill Challenge in conjunction with Wimborne)

See you in the forest somewhere!