ORIENTEERING FOUNDATION

Meet the board

The Board currently consists of seven orienteers who have competed in and served the sport for many years. Read on for biographies of our trustees.

For biographies of our other ambassadors see Meet our Ambassadors. You can find contact details for all our board and ambassadors at Getting in Touch.

Andrew Evans - chair

Andrew has been orienteering for over 35 years. He first joined Darwin Forest (DFOK) which changed its name to Dartford (DFOK) some 20 years ago when contact was lost with the Charles Darwin and Forest Hill founding schools. So he is a “one club” orienteer and was the club chair until 2020. He has been the organiser of the JK Relays 2008 and British Middle Distance Championships 2016, Contracting Coordinator for JK 2017, and Weekend Coordinator for the British Long Distance and Relay Championships in 2022 (postponed from 2020) amongst various other planning, organising and controlling roles.

Andrew is keen to help the Orienteering Foundation develop into a charity making a significant contribution to the furtherance of orienteering, a role much needed given the recent cutbacks in funding to British Orienteering.

Neil Cameron - trustee

Neil has been a member of three orienteering clubs (BADO, DVO and now NGOC) and has orienteered to Championship Level, including winning a British Sprint bronze medal.

He has enjoyed planning and volunteering at many local events, and at national level was British Orienteering’s first secretary general. Neil was British Orienteering chairman for four years and retired when he had completed the maximum length of time on the Board.

Neil is keen to see the Orienteering Foundation widely recognised in the orienteering community and to ensure the Foundation rewards it donors with innovation that helps develop orienteering throughout the UK, and with support for deserving projects and people.

Anne Edwards - trustee

Having been a somewhat reluctant young junior, Anne caught the orienteering bug aged 13 when she was selected for the Lagganlia training camp in Scotland. A few years later she finally cracked the code of consistent good results, going on to win the Future Champions Cup, JK, and British Championships, and perform well at four Junior World Championships. Alongside competing, she coached younger juniors on training camps both in the UK and abroad.

A member of Thames Valley (TVOC) since birth (!), Anne joined Lakeland (LOC) after moving to Cumbria in 2021. Although she never translated her junior results into senior success, she still orienteers as much as possible, plans events, and is involved in coaching both improving juniors and adult beginners.

She is a huge orienteering evangelist, and is convinced that the sport has a lot to offer juniors and young adults. She is particularly keen on maximising retention in these age groups, as well as introducing orienteering to those who haven't grown up with it.

John Mather - trustee

John began orienteering in the early 1980’s, taking an extended break during his 20s and returning to the sport around 15 years ago. He has been a member of three clubs – AIRE, EBOR and currently LOG (as Chairman from 2017-22). John is an active club orienteer, having planned and volunteered at many local and regional events and regularly competes – with moderate success – at local, regional and national events; he is a UKCC Level 2 Coach and has coached East Midlands juniors locally and at the annual Hawkshead weekend.

John brings a wide experience of the charitable and non-profit sectors to the Foundation and brings this to the work of the Foundation. Keen to see the sport grow, John sees the Foundation taking a key role in the future development of Orienteering.

Pauline Olivant - trustee

Pauline started orienteering over 35 years ago when her husband was introduced to the sport through his work at that time as a cartographer. They both joined Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club. Once the children started to be more independent Pauline started coaching and helping with the East Midlands Junior Squad, qualifying as a level 4 coach. This led to working part time for British Orienteering, first as a Schools Development Officer, then with various changes in title helping develop orienteering within clubs and the community. Although not actively orienteering now, she still helps on the NOC and EMOA committees and can be seen regularly behind the registration/results computers at NOC events as well as being a selector for JROS.

Once retired, she became a trustee of the Foundation, keen to see the Foundation become more well known within orienteering and support the next generation of orienteers.

Roger Scrutton - trustee

On joining ESOC in the 1990s, Roger was a relative latecomer to orienteering, having pursued a variety of other sports since a very young age. He describes himself as a good average club orienteer, rarely winning anything but also rarely having a disastrous run of form. In addition to ESOC, he is an Honorary Member of EUOC and a member of AROS as second-choice club. He is a UKCC Level 3 coach, but still makes mistakes and should know better.

In 2009 Roger joined the Board of the Scottish Orienteering Association (SOA) as Development Director and was active in making SOA a charity. From 2012 to 2018 he was President, seeing a remarkable period of growth for the Association around the time of the 2015 World Championships in Scotland and then chairing the bid committee for WOC 2022. Retired from the academic staff of the School of Geosciences at Edinburgh University, his position in the University as an Honorary Research Fellow in Outdoor Education allows him to see and research the multiple benefits that the pursuit of a sport like orienteering can bring to young people. He recently established a new charity on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council to support activities at its residential outdoor centre in Argyll.

Roger believes that in much the same way as society in general is now heavily dependent on third sector organisations, so orienteering in the UK can prosper from there being an active Orienteering Foundation. His particular interests are in raising public awareness of our sport, supporting grassroots orienteering and developing a strong coaching structure.

Martin Ward - trustee

Martin started orienteering in 1983 as a junior with Mole Valley (MVOC), was a member of Sheffield University Orienteering Club (ShUOC) at university, and then SPOOK and South Yorkshire Orienteers (where he is currently Chair). He has represented GBR as a junior and England in home internationals and Interland. He is Chair of Senior Selectors for the English Orienteering Council.

He has previously been a director and Chair of British Orienteering and is currently the Coordinator of the UK Orienteering League. He is also an experienced event Planner, Organiser and Controller.

Martin has orienteered in many countries around the world, and continues to compete at a high level in Veteran classes. He is keen to ensure that through the Orienteering Foundation, as many others as possible can benefit from the same great opportunities and enjoyment that the sport of orienteering has given him.

Last updated: Sat 1 Jul 2023

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