Untitled

I was very disappointed to hear that there was an Avon Schools Event on the same day as our Gallopen and consequently expected that numbers attending would be down. Sure enough we did not have as many people as I would have liked but it is difficult to see how we can avoid such clashes. That said it did not detract from our pleasure at seeing so many familiar, and some new, faces

'A great day was had by all' sums up the comments I received from a lot of people. As always such comments make the effort put in well worthwhile. We are a small Club and have a fairly busy events programme which in it's turn puts a lot of demands on the club members; they never let us down. Organising is all about anticipation and delegation. Luckily all the 'delegates' were very friendly and efficient in their execution of the various tasks. I do like the new registration and start system which has cut out most of the waiting about that used to be an inevitable chore at eod events.

I know the rest of the club members will not mind if I single out Daniel (M8) and Emily(W7) Craddock for particular thanks and praise. They did all the work and planning etc for the string course. I did the course and thought the organisation extremely friendly and efficient, the course and map interesting and the prizes (certificate and jelly gum spider) worth the trip. Thankyou to them and there able assisitants, Marie (W2), Mum and Dad.

We were also lucky to have an extremely helpful and pleasant farmer who rearranged his routine to suit our event and was happy to consider any requests we had. This is the third time Mr Moores has come up trumps.

I hope you all enjoyed the walk to the start along the bottom of an Iron Age Fort's defensive ditch once you got down the small but challenging slope into it!! Most of all I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and had a good run.

As a result of recent changes of ownership at Blackborough we had a relatively late change of venue for the QO Gallopen. Judy and I enjoyed finding and tagging sites in the Neroche Forest in the early morning summer sun. The worst parts of the area were avoided, although brown competitors may not have thought so! The forest sculptures were probably part of the Somerset Art Week - nothing to do with tagging control sites! We were pleased to meet up with Simon Beck (ex QO) again, and we were greatful for his help with controls before and after the event. My apologies to the Controlling Greens for a small hiccup over a last minute change of control sites, and many thanks for guiding me through planning my first full range of colour-coded courses. We received many encouraging comments from competitors, and those that complimented on the technical challenges set were particularly welcome. Congratulations to the String Course team and to Ted Heath for his organization and co-operation. Communications within the area was easy with mobile phones - especially when they are switched on!

QO Gallopen September 2004 - Castle Neroche and Staple Common