Minutes of the AGM of South London Orienteers and Wayfarers held at Thames Hare and Hounds Club House, Richard Evans Memorial Playing Fields, Kingston Vale, on Tues. 16 Nov. 1999 at 8 pm. 22 members present.

1 Apologies for absence were received from Charlie Turner, David Finch, Jeff Armitage, Alex Ashworth.

2 Minutes of the 1998 AGM: A few copies were circulated. The minutes had been summarised in SLOWprint, December 1998. It was agreed to publish the full minutes of this year’s meeting in SLOWprint [and here they are!].

3 Matters arising from the minutes: From §6, AOB: The issue of the cost of events for Juniors has not been resolved. The Committee will consider it again.

4 Officers’ Reports

4.2 Treasurer: Liz Armitage circulated her report. In answer to a question, Andy Robinson (Mapping Officer) explained that the cost of maps is written off against the first event at which they are used. Mike Elliot commented that although the fund appeared to be healthy, the club would need a large amount to finance the ‘up-front’ costs of a major event (e.g. a National).

Chris thanked Liz for her report and for taking over as Treasurer from Madeleine.

4.3 Men’s Captain’s Report: Pete highlighted the successes of SLOW’s many relays teams over the year, drew attention to individuals who had made outstanding contributions to the CompassSport Cup matches, and singled out Tom Fry (M18) who is now a member of the GB Squad, and other club members who have been selected for International events this year. He then gave a list of future events. Finally, he said that it was easy to be SLOW Men’s Captain, as so many members were enthusiastic to take part in club competitions.

4.4 Women’s Captain’s Report: Liz reported on the success of the Women’s Open Team in the JK relays: Pavla Fialová, Caroline Catmur and Liz Finch achieved 10th place. The team of Sarah Brown, Di Leakey and Chris Robinson achieved 1st at both the JK (as W120+) and the British (as W40). At the JK relays SLOW’s ‘second’ W120+ team of Karen Jones, Teresa Turner and Heather Walton came 5th. At the British the classes were slightly different, and Karen and Heather ran with Madeleine Watson to achieve 3rd in W35. Liz said she will be taking an enforced rest from running for a while as she is expecting her second child in April. Karen Jones has agreed to deputise for her during this period.

4.5 Fixture Secretary’s Report: Andrew Trimble retired during the year and we await a report from his successor, Chris Owen. SLOW are to put on the Short-Distance Final of the Future Champions Cup and the Peter Palmer Junior Team Relays in 2000, and the British Nights on Hankley in 2001. The issue of the number of fixtures that SLOW puts on is to be considered by the Committee.

4.6 Mapping Officer’s Report: Andy’s report is reproduced below. In addition, there was discussion of his plans for the maps of the ‘little’ areas, e.g. Sheen, Barnes, Ham, Putney. Putney could be included on the Wimbledon map. The club is in discussion with Wandsworth Council about mapping Battersea Park, and there is a Park-O planned there for 10 Sept. 2000. It was confirmed that the Silva Hills Race map is OK for this year. In answer to a question about the Witley / Milford area, Andy said that some of the area was inaccessible because of the National Trust, but that Andrew Trimble was pursuing negotiations as the area would be a decent size even without the NT bit. Other organisations seemed to be experiencing problems with obtaining permission to use The Nower (cycling, Brownies’ Treasure Hunt). Other ‘little’ maps are of Telegraph Hill, Claygate Common and Littleworth Common, all near Esher. There are access problems with Lavington.

4.7 Membership Secretary: (Di had handed over to Gail Hiddleston during the year.) Unfortunately Gail was looking for the AGM in the pub while it was taking place across the road in the clubhouse! Gail subsequently gave her report. She also said that she was currently re-writing the data base to allow for more calculations and queries to be run. She confirmed that the address list would have much more data and complete names and telephone numbers, and asked for any suggestions for other useful items to be included on the system to be forwarded to her.

Chris explained that the club needed a constitution, for two reasons: (1) to be able to receive Lottery money; (2) to change bank account (if ever that should be necessary). Copies of a draft constitution were circulated. After much discussion and amendment it was agreed that the Committee should review the changes and get the document checked by a lawyer. The constitution would be put to the membership via SLOWprint at that stage.

(a) Prepared to Continue:

• Chair Chris Robinson
• Secretary Di Leakey
• Men’s Captain Peter Huzan
• Ladies’ Captain Elisabeth Finch
• Mapping Officer Andy Robinson
• SEOA Rep. Andy Robinson
• Equipment Officer Chris Fry
• Publicity Officer Anne Leaney
• Social Secretary Vicky Robb
• Archivist Sue Lumas
• Beginners’ Rep. Heather Walton
• Club Kit Teresa Turner

(b) Vacancies:

• Treasurer Liz Armitage
• Fixtures Secretary Chris Owen
• Membership Sec’y Gail Hiddleston
• Training Officer Heather Walton

Chris was delighted that all posts were filled, and thanked all the officers for their work.

(a) The SLOW/GO heatsealer has disappeared again! It was agreed that Ginny would put a notice in SENAV, asking for it to be returned to Chris Fry. When it has been found we should buy a second heatsealer and label it!

(b) Ginny brought up the problem of inaccurate Grid Refs. for events. (When events are first registered with BOF the Grid Ref. given is not always that of the car park or Assembly area that is eventually used, but this Grid Ref. tends to be circulated.) Chris Owen (Fixtures) agreed to liaise with Anne Leaney (Publicity) so that any changes from the registered Grid Ref. are made known.

(c) The poor condition of the ladies’ showers in the club house was mentioned. Jeremy Denny agreed to investigate.

(d) Anne has received a booklet from BOF on Junior participation in the sport. All were invited to a meeting at Chris Robinson’s house on 2 December to discuss the issue [subsequently postponed to the new year].

(e) Club kit is imminent! Teresa Turner reported that she had ordered a selection of sizes. Do we now want fleeces in club colours?

(f) Chris Owen pleaded for members to volunteer as organisers of events. The next SLOW event is a limited colour-coded at Reigate Priory on 16 January.

(g) Andrew Leaney asked for any news from members to be forwarded to him so that he could put it on the club’s website.

The meeting closed at 10.29 pm. Next Committee meeting: Tuesday 18 Jan 2000 at 9.00pm, venue to be confirmed (either the Robin Hood or chez Robinson; definitely not the Duke of Cambridge; please check website nearer the time).

Watson Family + have moved to Leeds

Sarah Bunce + Surbiton

Dustin Lister + Guildford

Alexander Ashworth + Belvedere

Hunt Family (Jane, Paul, Dominic, Jarred) + Effingham Junction

John Dowty + Richmond

Sun. 16th Jan.: Limited colour-coded event at Reigate Priory

Sat. 22 Jan. 19th Box Hill Fell Race

Sun. 7 May: Future Champions Cup Final, Winterfold

Sun. 4 June: Silva Hills Race

Sun. 10 Sept.: Park-O, Battersea

Sat./Sun. 23rd/24th Sept.: Peter Palmer Junior Team Relays on Frith Hill

Sun.10th Dec.: Badge event, Winterfold

To help you to achieve your New Year's Resolution, here is the training schedule for the first few months of next year. Meet at the Thames Hare and Hounds Clubhouse at 7.15pm to start running at 7.30 pm. (Map available from the Membership Secretary.) (NB. Some of the regulars are on a mass exodus to New Zealand for the next few weeks but Jeremy Denny and Mike Elliot have keys to the clubhouse while we're away.)

See the Training Diary for details of Tuesday night training.

We have spurned the Duke of Cambridge since they stop selling food before we can get there after our training. We can now be found after training at the Robin Hood (just a bit further up Kingston Hill) from about 9pm onwards. We can sit in the dining room but still have just a drink or bar food if we wish. (There is a quiz in the main part of the bar on Tuesdays). If the training sounds too alarming, do come and calm your nerves in the pub and bring your maps from the weekend for endless route analysis....

After the success of the recent beginners' training course, we will be meeting in the New Year to discuss what to do next and what to do for Juniors. Ideas welcome.

A training weekend before the JK or the British is also under consideration. Watch this space!

Heather Walton

Well done for some good results and enjoyable days in 1999. Let's try to make 2000 even better. Here is a list of some of the important team events next year. There are others such as the North Downs Way Relay and the Peter Palmer Relay. As usual these events are open to all club members, irrespective of ability - you just need enthusiasm! Let me know about more team events if you see any.

Please especially mark the Compass Sport Cup matches in your diaries. We did excellently to be 2^nd= nationally this year. The Regional Round is just as competitive as the Final so it is important to have a very good turnout in March.

• March 19 Compass Sport Cup Regional Round, Leith Hill, Surrey
• April 22-24 JK, Scotland
• May 13-14 British Champs, Hereford
• June 18 Compass Sport Cup Final, Ilkley, Yorkshire
• June 24 North Downs Way Relay
• July 8 Harvester, Rochdale
• September 23-24 Peter Palmer Junior Team Relays, Frith Hill, Camberley

The SLOW media are terrific. Both the comprehensive and informative SLOWprint and the colourful and inspiring web site do a great job on behalf of our little club. [Thanks, Paul! - Ginny] We're very lucky. And I know that it is only out of politeness that they may be guilty of giving slightly the wrong impression to any of our "beginners' group" who have enjoyed things and stayed with us. But in the interests of encouraging them, and of fair reporting, I thought I should write.

The point I want to make is that reporting tends to polarise the club. It seems the club comprises two sorts of orienteer, those who are expert and know how to orienteer, and those who are beginning and don't. The experts have good runs. The beginners make mistakes. The experts can write, read, plan, organise, and correct the map, probably all at the same time. The beginners do none of these. At one extreme we have four members running in the home internationals, at the other we have our inaugural beginners' group.

I'd say that it's not really like that. We're all improvers, all looking to get better, all capable of good as well as poor, and it's just a question of degree. I think the urge to improve is one of the things that encourages folk to orienteer. As evidence I would like to cite myself, even if I may be an extreme example, with particular reference to a few recent happenings.

When I wrote about SLOW at the British Champs earlier in the year I mentioned clearing out my old O-results whilst enjoying a sabbatical period (I am back in the fray now, incidentally, developing Internet stuff at Cable & Wireless). I came across the results from an early badge event I went to. They had "iron standard" written on, which is not something you hear much about these days. Everyone regards bronze (i.e. within twice the average of the first three) as the basic target. But in those days simply completing the course was considered worthy. (It was 1981 and the course was won by P. Nicholls of ROC; I think he may still be active in the sport.) Who's never taken more than twice the winner's time?

Well, OK, that was years ago and reading the very kind SLOW media you might think I was now up there with the experts. CompassSport Cup, relays, experienced surveyor, course planning for one of the beginners' days. But the equivalent of that iron run happened quite recently. It was at the Harvester. I was running first leg for the fancied SLOW handicap team, and I took a long time, minutes disappearing on control after control. For the next leg Jim Mallinson, who always does well in relays, had to take part in a mini-mass start. I wasn't alone in finding it this hard, but I was a long way behind the leaders, more than twice their time, and it was the main contribution to SLOW not winning. Definitely not an expert. Incidentally, it was a different sort of problem to the mispunching that caused the "disembowelling" of one member of the junior team by his teammates. It was quite difficult enough to find the right markers when I got in the circle, let alone finding wrong ones!

Little did I realise that more salutary improving experiences were coming close behind. I was one of the people helping planner Paul Canham place Sport-Ident controls at Esher shortly afterwards. Easy, I thought. It's a pretty straightforward area that I've been on several times. We started early and in the near darkness at and around dawn I couldn't find any of the tapes marking control sites. Actually I couldn't find three of the four features I tried in that time; the only one I could find was a long line one and I didn't know where on the feature the control should go. Fortunately it got light and controller Tim Denton located a couple for me, so all got done in time. But it does mean I now have a vivid impression of my own most difficult orienteering experience, and it was right on our own territory.

Could it get worse? Well, maybe: does marking up your son's yellow course for him to do on his own, and putting circles in the wrong places, count? Sorry, Ralph. That happened at Puttenham. We're all improvers; it's just a question of degree.

Our wine cellar was looking a bit low towards the middle of autumn so we decided to combine a booze-cruise with a visit to some old friends in Brussels and take in two days' orienteering at a local three-day event.

The Saturday morning found us at 8 am (they go for very early starts!) in a small town just outside the Brussels Ring Road. We parked on the streets and found Assembly in a school tucked away behind the main square. As we had pre-entered (via the Internet) we were given marked maps; those who had not pre-entered marked their courses on their maps at Assembly. This allowed pre-run discussion of optimum routes and was certainly an advantage for the weaker navigator of our party! The map looked 'green' but the forest was in fact very runnable beech, and the autumn colours were stunning. The route from Assembly to the Start was about 2 km, and was not marked, but we were given photo-copied street maps; similarly from the Finish back to Assembly. Our start times were given to us at the Start, which worked very well as I never seem to allow the right amount of time for getting to the Start! The courses were easy but interesting, and the general standard of orienteering lower than in the UK (Ginny came half-way down the 'B' course which was for M45-60, M16-18, W40-55 and W16-18!).

The Sunday event was further south in the same large forested area. Assembly was in the booking hall of the railway station (closed on Sundays!). The 'B' course consisted of three loops round a small area on an excellent photocopied 1:5000 map with two maps back to back in the map case. A very confusing control card exchange was performed between loops 2 and 3 (there had also been a manned control during loop 1) to prevent punching out of order. By the end we knew the area very well: again, very runnable, with lots of contour detail and some very steep climbs up from the series of lakes in the valley formed from damming the river. The string course was very physical, and attracted very large numbers.

All in all a very enjoyable experience. Being Brussels, though, there was a linguistic aspect to it: our friends were very surprised to discover that we had spoken French to the Assembly officials on Day 2, as this was in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. Even voluntary groups are supposed to obey the language laws! And on being asked (in French) whether I had seen a certain control, my failure to answer was interpreted as a language problem, and the question was repeated in Flemish!

The annual sortie of the SLOW Bridge team into The London Trophy is under way again. So far we've had two matches. The first against Foxhills Country Club resulted in a narrow loss and this despatched us into the Plate section. With nothing interesting to report in this match, which was fairly flat apart from one missed game, I'll pass on to the Plate.

We were playing a team from Epsom Downs GC who had lost their previous match by a fair margin, so we had hopes that we would also win quite easily. However after the first 12 boards we were 650 points down, with our opponents twice confidently bidding to game when we didn't.

The key hand of the second half was this:

Dealer was South, N–S Vulnerable. Lead 9¨

Bidding was as follows:

West had a shapely hand but "frisky" would understate her hand for an overcall by a long chalk! However it did shape the bidding which might have easily stopped in 4© as it did in the other room. After 4N (Blackwood) and 5© (2 Aces) North anguished for some time before preferring 6© to 6N, reasoning that partner might indeed have a void in Spades making the erroneous "marked finesse" of Qª impossible.

On the lead it all looked pretty easy, probably a doubleton diamond allowing declarer to ruff two diamonds to make all 13 tricks. Taking the first trick with A¨ , declared led a small diamond only to see it trumped with 10© forcing an over-ruff with the J© . Still it looked to be no problem if trumps were 3-2, or if the hand with the single diamond had started with 4 trumps. So lay down K© only to find out the bad news. Now it needed some time to think and work out that East had 4 diamonds left so declarer cashed AKª discarding two clubs, the A§ and led a club to ruff low. It was another nasty surprise when E put in 7© . However now by cashing K¨ and embarking on a cross-ruff the contract can't be beaten. That was +780 on the hand. Good bidding and card play by Andy Robbo and Pete Huzan maintained and extended the position and we ran out victors by 430 points.

We're in need of more players to cover for future matches, so anyone who fancies a go just give me a call.

Which songs are these lyrics from? For the prize of a £10 music voucher (donated by Paul Szarvas), send song titles (numbered for each lyric) to Ginny (Editor) by 15 Jan.

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