A warm welcome to Tim O’ Donoghue (SOLWAY) as he joins the Board of Directors in the newly created Safety Director role. Tim has been co-opted by the existing Directors and will stand for election at our AGM/EGM. Tim will be a familiar face to many, especially those who ran at last years Scottish Championships in Dalbeattie Forest where he fulfilled the role as event organiser.

Now we are into May we say a sincere thank you and fond farewell to our first Independent Director, Pamela Carvell, who has served her full term as a Director.

A new version of the smartphone orienteering app MapRunF (v4.8.8) was released last week. The updates include several new features which make it easy for anyone to set up a simple event for their own use.

Already a Planner? Let’s look at finessing your skills. 

June is Volunteers’ Month at SOA. Over the course of the month we will celebrate and recognize the ongoing contributions our members make to the sport.

Three categories of awards will be presented by the end of June. Please read on for more information.

Scottish Orienteering are pleased to announce the launch of their new Let’s Get Started Orienteering Resources. These have been developed during Lockdown to help teachers and parents introduce children to the concepts of orienteering and include animated videos, worksheets and slides. Everything you need to get started.

To view these great new resources see https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/lets-get-started-orienteering/

Our Board of Directors have taken the decision to host the SOA AGM on 14th June 2020 to ensure we comply with our Articles of Association to host an annual meeting prior to the end of June.

Like many others, the SOA development staff have had to modify their work plans to accommodate our current situation. Disappointingly, many planned courses, activities and projects with schools, clubs and other groups have had to be cancelled. It has, however, opened up the opportunity to make progress on a number of background projects as well as pushing other activities to the fore.

We are delighted to announce that Ade Chapman (MOR) has been co-opted as our Operations Director. He will stand for nomination at our AGM but for now has joined the Board to bring his experience to the role and support the volunteers who comprise the Operations team.

In these times of lockdown, Scottish Orienteering has taken some significant steps to do things differently. We have taken a step back from the direct delivery of development activities and support of events but not from the essential work to support clubs. You will also have seen our fabulous daily puzzles to keep everyone’s brains active. We remain committed to our purpose and passion, while also safeguarding the future of our organisation and charity to ensure we are able to continue developing and promoting orienteering once the crisis is over.