Arran project report
Last year we funded an orienteering initiative on the Isle of Arran. Find out what they have been up to since!
See the original report here. Read on for how things have gone...
Daisy McNamara (a junior leading the initiative) has enthused and motivated a group of island children through an after school club which she set up on her own initiative. The geography of island life and Covid travel restrictions means that while she had some parental support, she has had very limited help from mainland based adult club members. She has mapped some small areas herself and planned and delivered regular sessions for her group members. All this has been while battling through her Highers exam year at school and training for ScotJOS.
After a year of effort there is a group of local teens who are happy to attend activities on the island, but are reluctant to travel to the mainland for a wider experience. Parental support from the kids families is marginal and the expected support from the Active Schools Coordinator regarding Scottish Schools participation has not been forth coming. Several of the initial group have drifted off to other activities (the pipe band!). The group has changed from Saturday mornings in one of the villages to being a lunchtime activity at the High School, so that transport is provided by the school bus.
There is an area of community land on the island, at Whiting Bay, which has a management committee in receipt of funding from the Arran Trust, a local development charity. The land committee are keen to see orienteering activity and allocated some of their funds to pay for a new map which was used for the last day of this years "Coast and Islands" week (which Daisy and her sister Rosie helped with). There is some money left over which Daisy is using to set up a permanent course network of 45 control sites and 6 courses from white to green.
Our hopes for further development center around recruiting the next, younger, cohort, persuading the family's adults to participate, persuading the group members to travel to a nearby larger event to experience the atmosphere and persuading the Active Schools Coordinators to pay proper attention to Orienteering.
Daisy was also awarded "Scottish Young Orienteer of the Year" which was a fantastic achievement and recognition of her work (see the Scottish Orienteering report here)