Hello everyone,

Back in January, Macclesfield's new South Park Community Interest Company [S:Park CIC] enquired whether MDOC might be able to put on an orienteering event in the Park, and in response we are putting on such an event on Saturday 4 July.

It’s a smallish urban park, and Mike Greenwood has produced a map which is based on the original 1996 map (for Kings School, Macc), Dan Riley’s more recent Explorer map, and Vicky’s suggested revisions.

I’ve drafted white, yellow, short orange, and short light green courses.

The focus of the event is on supporting the S:Park CIC in making greater use of the Park so that it might attract funding for improvements and it’s also an opportunity to provide a taste of orienteering to members of the local community.

The event has been advertised to all scout troops in Macclesfield and Congleton, and (thanks to Pete Hayes’s schools event last Thursday) to (I understand) all schools in Cheshire East. Posters are up in Macc Library and Macc Information Centre and I also expect the Macclesfield Express and Macclesfield Today newspapers will include the event in their What’s On pages, and on their websites.

CIC will be placing A4 posters on all noticeboards in South Park and offering them to local shops.

Consequently, my difficulty is that I don’t know whether to plan for 20 or 200 participants.

At the CIC’s request, the start window is 11:00 to 14:00, with Registration from 10:30. The CIC will be providing some marshals with the aim of preventing our SI kit being taken out of the park.

This then is a request for helpers please.

In addition to the normal jobs, I think we are likely to need more people than normal to explain the details of the sport to participants. Keeping the Start under control could also be an issue if there are peaks of arrivals.

Please get in touch if you could be available, even if you can only offer an hour or two rather than the full period.

Thank you

Cheers, Ian

PS South Park is very close to the Park Tavern, should anyone fancy an alternative to the light refreshments available in the pavilion…