Orienteering in the News

[RJ]

Reported on the BOF website is mention of the Prime Minister mentioning that orienteering is one of the wider sports being offered to school children. This was in a Radio5 interview. Anyone hear it?

This has to be very good news indeed! If Gordon Brown has heard about the sport and is prepared to endorse it then we can look forward to being taken seriously....can't we?

Keep up those schools' initiatives! Now would be a good time to start thinking about an autumn series.... and for the spring 2008, now is a good time to think about those small areas and mapping school grounds. We can make a difference.... the kids absolutely love the 'electronic' O.

[Gross]

Gordon Brown was at Edinburgh University when EUOC was the number 1 sports club in the Uni & had regular articles in 'The Student' newspaper.... be amazed i he'd not heard of orienteering:)

[SeanC]

Yes I heard him mention the o word. He was plugging an extra £100 million the government is spending on school sport (not sure if this is new money or a reannouncement of old money). I think he used orienteering as an example of a sport that children will get through schools now that they typically didnt get in the past.

The discussion between GB and Nicky Campbell was interesting. GB wants 3 hours extra sport for each children, but £100 million divided amoungst 30,000 UK schools only gives £3333 per school, not enough to pay for PE teachers for this extra 3 hours sport per child. From what he said, and from what my wife (a PE teacher) says, it would seem that this money is going to be spent helping sports clubs like orienteering clubs provide students with the opportunity to do 3 hours extra sport per week in addition to the timetabled PE, and a bit of extra funding for school sports co-ordinators etc.

[Granny Babs]

Also might have helped that Claire Ward was brought up in his consituency and recevied a letter from him in recongition of her JWOC selection ....

[Mrs H]

All very worth and impressive - but I am realiable informed by the youngest Miss H that orienteering was featured in Neighbours yesterday Unfortunatley it seems to have involved hiking boots and a picnic (hardly JWOC territory).

[rosco]

yeah the episode was called "The Mysteries of Orienteering"....I was told.