Tockholes Training Day

The aim of the training day was to provide training for all abilities within the PFO membership. Alex and Stephen (with some parental help) started planning the day in October. Due to the wide range of ability and experience within the club the challenge was to provide a wide enough range of training courses to be of interest to everyone.

The training was split into three groups, novice, intermediate and experienced. Within each group they planned three courses. The planning involved visiting Tockholes, several planning sessions and numerous hours at the computer using mapping software to plan the courses. All this on top of their normal schoolwork and other commitments.

On the day around 35 people (including a large number of juniors) turned up despite the cold damp November weather. The courses they did ranged from Scandinavian style training to micro courses.

All those who attended seemd to enjoy themselves and hopefully gained something from the day.

Feedback comments recieved included:-

"Thanks so much for yesterday's training- really appreciated all your efforts and I certainly gained experience from the varied courses that you had set up.
If you do have any time for coaching young people, you are always welcome at my school, Northern Primary in Bacup"

"Thank you for all the hard work you put in to today's event. I know the CTK children got a lot out of it and enjoyed the stream too. I enjoyed being able to do some of it on my own too. Well done to you all, and hope there is another similar day again very soon"

"Fantastic day out! It was apparent just how much effort the organisers had put in; really appreciated by all. It was good to see people from a variety of skill levels training together. It was a valuable experience for everybody training on the day."

"On behalf of the BRGS 'little-uns', thanks for all the time and effort you put into the training day. It was a great success; the minibus was a cacophony of chatter all the way back to Rawtenstall . Thanks Again"

Alex and Stephen gained valuable experience which hopefully they can use again, maybe for another club training day in 2008!

Hamish + Kate Willis

Club Training Day

On 10th November myself and Stephen are planning a training day for the all club members including those juniors at affiliated schools. This will follow on from a similar day we organised over the summer for a group of primary school children from CTK in Burnley.

This was done as part of our Orienteering Young Leaders Award completed as part of our Silver Duke of Edinburgh's award. The November training day is designed for adults and children and for all ranges of ability so that they can improve their skills and hopefully become better orienteers as a result of the day. The other aim of the day is for a social feel with members engaging over a packed lunch in the woods.

On offer on the day will be a total of 10 different courses, all aiming to challenge a different skill needed for orienteering from teamwork (somtimes useful when lost) to planning ahead of yourself and picking out the very minor details in the map.

We have been planning the day for the last month with several visits to the area and a few planning meetings in the comfort of our own homes (plus an e-mail conference)

Watch this space for a full report on the day.