Derwent Valley Orienteers club development report
Derwent Valley Orienteers (DVO) introduced a new CDO role in 2023 appointing Chris Millard to the post. This report summarizes some of the recent activities and achievements in DVO's club development.
When DVO originally applied for a grant they committed to deliver three key activities:
- A series of Level D events aimed at bridging the gap between their existing Maprun programme (which the Orienteering Foundation helped them establish) and traditional forest orienteering.
- Two 'Mapactive' courses with focused coaching to help people progress into mainstream orienteering.
- A navigation festival in partnership with the National Trust to promote orienteering to a wider audience.
Reporting on each of these in turn
Level D Programme
DVO have established a programme of Level D events which are held on the second Saturday of every month. Feedback from their MapRun series was that people found that certainty over when events were going to occur helped them to plan their attendance. Unfortunately, the first event in January had to be postponed on safety grounds due to snow but subsequent months went ahead successfully, with further events scheduled over the summer.
The events have been designed to create a manageable stepping stone from MapRun events by using orienteering maps, control flags, and linear course in mixed forest/urban areas, but retaining the familiar MapRun App rather than SI to record 'punching'. Using the MapRun App has the advantage of reducing volunteer workload given these events are in addition to the club's existing events. There have been some 45 runs at each event which comprises a mixture of families trying orienteering for the first time, people stepping up from MapRun events, and established orienteers.
Mapactive Courses
The first of the year's MapActive courses went ahead in May led by CDO Chris Millard. It has been encouraging that people who attended last year's course have continued to come orienteering and see this structured approach to improving people's orienteering skills as a positive way to attract and retain people. The course in the Autumn will be lead by the club's existing coaches as part of the plan to learn from the CDO's experience and not be dependent on one person's expertise.
Navigation Festival
DVO have agreed a date with the National Trust (NT) of July 5th to hold a Navigation Festival at Hardwick Hall. Whilst they frequently hold events at NT properties these have tended to be separate from the NT's activities, almost trying not to have a major impact on their visitors. For this event they are working in partnership with the NT to jointly put on activities and courses for their visitors and raise the visibility of orienteering. This will include:
- basing the event in the main courtyard in Hardwick adjacent to the cafe and shops
- the NT advertising the event as part of their schedule as well as through our usual channels
- launching a new Permanent Orienteering Course at the Hall
- providing NT staff with the knowledge and skills to promote the courses
- creating more of an inclusive and 'festival' feel to the day to encourage new participants.
DVO are excited about the opportunities for greater collaboration and access to areas with a significant landowner in the county.
Club Development Officer update
The current CDO, Chris Millard is resumed his career and so can't devote as much time to the CDO role, although he continues to make a major contribution to the development programme as evidenced by his leadership of the MapActive course this spring and he is still delivering the successful MapRun event programme. DVO's experience from Chris' work is that it is invaluable to have someone with the space and time to set up structured development programmes, but that it's important that club volunteers support delivery through planning, organising and coaching to make the programmes sustainable. Chris has made a massive impact in the promotion of the programmes and events through numerous channels including a significant social media presence. This is an area where DVO don't have the skills within the existing club membership so now the programmes are established the CDO role will evolve to have a greater emphasis on marketing orienteering to a wider audience. DVO are investigating whether they can attract someone with this skill set for a future CDO rather than someone who just has an established experience of orienteering.