Moray 2013 - SportMoray "Sporting Hand of Friendship" Survey

[Sunlit Forres]

Dear Nopesporters,

I've been asked by the Chairman of Moray's local sports council - sportMoray - if I could pass the word around the orienteering community about a local initiative connected to next year's Scottish 6-Days. This comes in the form of a survey which is self-explanatory when you read it.

I know that Moray would like to see whether our overseas visitors would be interested in any of this. So, before you all go rushing to complete the survey, I'd really appreciate it if any of you living overseas, or with contacts in overseas clubs, could ask anyone intending coming to Moray next year to fill this in... IF (and only if) they would be interested in trying one of the many local sports that are on offer while they are here on holiday. We do, of course, want some UK responses, so perhaps give it a week or so before responding if you're living in the UK. This will give word chance to get round to a few foreign parts first.

The link to the survey is shown below, and is limited to only 100 responses.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/967NTGW
If there appears to be interest, this will probably be followed up later by a more comprehensive survey.


The message from sportMoray (which is repeated in the survey preamble) goes like this:

Sport Moray is an affiliation of Moray sports clubs, managed by a group of sportsmen and women, and supported by Moray Council's Sports Development professionals. Our aim is to promote sport for all in Moray.

Led by our chairman, local councillor Douglas Ross, a referee in the Highland Football League, Sport Moray wants to extend the sporting hand of friendship to all competitors during Moray 2013. To us you're more than just tourists. We want you to feel part of our sporting community during your stay here.

To that end we're encouraging all our constituent clubs to invite visiting orienteers to a club session sometime during the 6-Day week. This might be anything from a game of bowls to hitting a few shuttlecocks, or joining a low-key local run and adjourning to the pub afterwards. Maybe even something more radical like wheelchair curling or a trip on the Moray Gig! The emphasis is firmly on friendship and enjoyment. We know you've got a race to run the next day!

We'd like to gauge the likely interest, and find out what sports or activities you would be interested in, so please take part in this survey if you might be interested in any other sporting activities during your stay with us. Please note that we are only gauging interest for now, prior to making direct contact with the individual clubs to establish their availability. The sports highlighted in this survey are only examples of the many sports that go on in Moray. Some clubs may not have the volunteers available at this time of the year and others may not know their position until after the Easter Holidays when plans have been discussed for summer.

It's a simple survey, limited to 100 responses, but will be enough to give us a feel for how this might go down with everyone. We may follow this up with a more detailed survey if there looks to be enough interest. Moray is excited about your event and very much wishes to be part of it!

[Sunlit Forres]

Thanks to those who've responded and thanks to those of you who have helped elicit some response from overseas. If you were intending to respond but were waiting a bit as per my original post, please feel free to do so now.
I'm quite encouraged by the message coming across from Moray in general - ie that they want Moray 2013 to be a bit special. I hope that the orienteering community will respond in a similar way.... It's bound to do the the image of orienteering some good.
Sent from a Mega Bus somewhere between New York and Washington.....the wonders of technology...