Deeside Orienteering Club Information

Deeside Orienteering Club (DEE) was founded in 1969 and is an affiliated club of British Orienteering. Geographically, DEE organises orienteering and draws its membership from the area of Cheshire west of the M6, south or Manchester and extending up into the Wirral. Our neighbouring clubs are detailed on our Links Page.

The Club's Constitution was last updated in October 2006.

Organisation

Orienteering is co-ordinated in the UK by British Orienteering, which employs a small professional staff for its administration. British Orienteering is controlled by representatives drawn from its affiliated clubs, such as DEE. Clubs are grouped into geographic regions and DEE is the southernmost member of the North West Orienteering Association (NWOA), which extends over England west of the Pennines from Cumbria in the north to Cheshire in the south. Communication within British Orienteering nearly always runs from Club to Region to British Orienteering and vice-versa; Regional Committees supplying members to British Orienteering's own Committees. All of the British Orienteering Clubs have a standard, up to six-letter, abbreviation of their name for convenience; Deeside Orienteering Club's is DEE.

Membership

DEE is open for and welcomes new members of any age or status. If you want to learn more about membership then the Membership Page may assist you with details,types of membership and membership rates. Alternatively you may prefer to contact the Membership Secretary.

The Club Membership List is published to all DEE members every March, which provides the contact details of all members so that Club Members can keep in touch and Club Officials can put together teams for relays and other events like the Compass Sport Cup and can establish event teams for the numerous Club events and activities.

Club Colours

DEE Club Colours are red, white and black. Orienteering strips and other equipment in DEE colours can be ordered from the Kit Officer, details of which are included in your membership pack and regularly in the Deeside News Newsletter.

There are also cloth and metal club badges and key Ring fobs all with the DEE logo. These can be obtained by visiting Enquiries at most DEE Events.

Newsletters and Magazines

All DEE members receive "Deeside News", the Club's Newsletter, which is published every two months, the Regional Newsletter "Norwest News" and the NWOA Fixtures List are also sent out at the same time. Full British Orienteering Members may also receive other materials, magazines and newsletters directly from British Orienteering.

Events

DEE stages several events throughout the year including a series of events during April, May, June and July known as the Summer League. The Summer League is held in association with one of our neighbouring clubs MDOC. Both clubs have found these events to be:

• Ideal introductions to orienteering
• Good training opportunities for all members
• A great way to introduce members in how to plan, set-up and run an orienteering event
• And most importantly, plain old good fun!

DEE also stages major events that attract in excess of 500 orienteers from clubs all over the UK.

During the Winter DEE, along with our neighbours MEROC, stage the Cheshire and Merseyside Schools League. These events, held usually on a Saturday morning, are primarily for the benefit of the Schools and the Children taking part, but are open to all who want to take part.

Badge Schemes

All events organised by DEE and the other NWOA Clubs are a part of at least one of two Badge Schemes, namely:

• The North West Colour Badge Scheme
• The British Orienteering National Badge Scheme

Training

DEE has a team of qualified BOF Coaches and Instructors who hold several sessions a year. Most of these sessions are targeted at our youth members but all members are most welcome to attend.

Permanent Courses

Within the DEE area there are several Permanent Orienteering Courses that are available for use by anyone at any time once the requisite map has been acquired. The courses are in the following areas: Chester, Runcorn, Warrington, Northwich, Frodsham, Widnes, and the Wirral. More details about these courses and how to obtain their maps is available on our Permanent Orienteering Courses page.

Social Events

All of our club social events are advertised in both the "Deeside News" newsletter. As DEE covers a geographically large area there are a number of challenges involved in any such events, but our regular programme consists of:

• The Summer League
• Several Training events
• The annual Club Championships held in October/November
• The annual Club Social held shortly after the Club Championships
• The Turkey Trot (a post Christmas fun event and social)
• The Winter Weekend, held usually in February
• And there is always the Club Tent to be found at many of the larger events the Club attends (the current tent is a red tunnel tent)

Contacting The Club

To contact the Club you can either:

• Come along to any of our Orienteering Events
• Email general@deeside-orienteering-club.org.uk
• Or contact our Committee