Do any clubs have a club house?

[Jon Brooke]

Following on from the running at a surplus thread, I wondered if any UK clubs have a club house - even if shared space in sports centre etc?

+ what happened to the idea of a BOF run place in the lakes? Is that still on the agenda? I remember filling in a questionaire saying what a great idea I thought it was, but obviously my views count for nothing

[Kitch]

I believe the idea was abondoned primarily as a result of your enthusiasm.

[Becks]

The BOF house was supposed to be funded by the WOC fund from the seventies (sorry, can't remember the exact year) as a specific request of Chris Brasher. A couple of places were looked at in the Lakes and in Scotland but it appeared squad athletes at the time didn't think it would be much of a benefit to their training, so the idea was shelved. The money is still there, but as Chris B specifically said it was for the benefit of development of elite orienteers, it's difficult to decide how to use it. It's not enough now to really invest in any kind of worthwhile property. Bob R tried his best to get it spent in a meaningful fashion in his final year as Chairman, but the way it's all tied up makes it extremely difficult.

That's the basic story with the BOF house - apologies for any factual inconsistencies, I'm going from memory of about a year ago now.

[rosco]

it is an absolute disgrace that that money has not been spent.

[Becks]

Trust me, it was one of Bob's priorities and it has so many conditions attached to it that it was virtually impossible. It is certainly no fault of any recent BOF types. Not sure how things are continuing with this one now.

[DIDSCO]

When I was in the squad from 1993-2003 this was mentioned quite a few times and I can only remember everyone being positive to the idea of having a permanent base in the Lakes. It would have been a great idea, and still would be a great idea.....

[Rookie]

I think there were plans a couple of years ago to convert a barn near Oxen Park in the South Lakes into an orienteering base/bunkhouse/training centre/(LOC club hut?) but it was met with objections from residents worried about noise from us rowdy orienteers and didn't get planning permission.

I'm not sure where the money was coming from for this or if it was the "BOF House"

[rosalind]

us rowdy orienteers

Ya crazy bunch.

[Axel]

The Army Orienteering Association has had its own Orienteering Centre with classrooms, Offices and Storerooms for many years. However due to a change in Defence Estates it lost the use of its Bramley Centre 2 years a go. However a new site has now been found and albeit in a military establishment and when allocated it needed a lot of work to refurbish the building.

The Centre is used mainly as a training base to run Inroduction to Oing, Skills and Planners Courses. It's also planned to run Coaching, Mapping and OCAD courses in the near future. It has a good oing area on its door step and host of very good oing areas with 30 minutes drive of the base. Its ideal and of course additionally caters as a home for BAOC.

The project mainly got of the ground due to one persons vision and sheer doggedness to get another home for Military Orienteering established. I know Colin Dickson won't thank me fo mentioning him personnally but if it wasn't for him in the first place we wouldn't be open for business as we are now. However one person cannot do everything by himself and he was ablely assisted by a close knit team of Dave Rollins, Phil Batts and Allan Farrington and a host of other BAOC members. In addition I must also mention the help we recieved from many of our friends from local civilian clubs who regularly attend our Mil League and gave up part of their free time to wield paint brush, broom or paint scrapper. Well done to all who lent a hand.

I do believe it has allready been used by BO and it is possible it will be made available for civilian orienteering clubs to use in the future.

[Lard]

From what I can remember I think the money was put aside to help the development of elite orienteers - ie provide a base for training that would seriously help support their training and a place for such a group to learnt from each other/train together.

With the decrease in the cost and increase in the spread of cheap flights to Scandinavia why not purchase a hut abroad? Even if it can only be used April to October.

OR

The Scots have said all along that Speyside woyuld be an ideal UK base (but I think this was poo poo'd because it wasn't central to the group in mind). If you have a base it doesn't matter where it is providing it offers good basic cooking and sleeping accomodation and has excellent access to training facilities. - IE Speyside forests.

There are a large number of bunkhouses in the area which the money could be used to buy a long-term arrangement into. I suspect BASOC would be interested in using it at other times as their club base and SOA would use it as a Junior and Senior squad base and it could potentially be leased to other clus/regions when not available.

Lard

[mharky]

Sounds like a great idea.

[Mr timE]

The problem as I see it is what target population do you want to use the clubhouse for, these days the elite runners are always looking to train for the next championship and want terrain similar to that, if you buy a hut then you are stuck with the local terrain (that was one reason the lakes option was rejected), or spend all your time travelling. You could come down a level and provide something for the potentially elite runners, but is that what the money was intended for as it is supposed to be for the elite runners? We do already have a National O Centre facility at Ambleside within reach of several top areas so perhaps we should consider an arrangement with the Lodge there and buy a lease on a dorm or something, which could be hired back out if no orienteers want to use it?

[mharky]

Ambleside???

[Mr timE]

Apologies, Aviemore!