WHO DOES WHAT

We used to make ambitious plans to run 2 or 3 regional or national events each year, plus small local events for newcomers and those with less time. It was always a struggle to to staff these events, and the poor old committee often ended up filling the gaps. Eventually at the 1997 AGM someone said, "this isn't fun, let's wind up the club!" The resulting SGM didn't take that road, but it did decide that we would only put events onto the calendar after members had put their hands up to organise.

Since then the hands that have gone up have mostly been for small close-to-home events: park events, street events, MTB-orienteering and rogaines. But there have been offers to run bigger events, and since the crisis we have run an OY, the Area Relays, and the NZ Secondary School Champs. Instead of measuring our success by the number of events, our objective is to maximise the enjoyment of belonging to HVOC.

So you get the events that people feel like putting on. Each year the programme coordinator sends round a list of the types of event we could possibly run, and the maps we have to use, and invites hands to go up. The programme is made from there. If someone has to pull out, we don't lose any sleep over it, we just pull the event off the calendar. We are lucky that we have other clubs in the area whose events we can go to.

The following words were written in the "old days" before the crisis and with biggish events in mind, so they need to be taken with a grain of salt these days.

RUNNING AN EVENT

If you are interested in planning a course or helping with map-making, there are experienced club members who will gladly help you. Talk to the Programme Coordinator (for planning) or the Mapping Coordinator.

We are always seeking new areas to orienteer on, and have resigned ourselves to the fact that there is little suitable forest in the Wellington area. If you know of a suitable farm or better still if you know the farmer, please check it out on foot and let the Mapping Coordinator know. A top-class area is several hundred hectares, not too steep, and with as few owners as possible. But we have learnt how to have fun on 10-50 hectares, that's less than a square kilometre.

SPREADING THE WORD

However the most effective form of recruitment is personal contact with your friends, family and workmates. Remember that potential members don't have to live in the Valley - we have members from all over the region!

RUNNING THE CLUB

Here are the committee and other positions we had in the "good old days":

• Chairman.
  Runs committee and general meetings, finds people to fill all the other jobs
• Secretary.
  Minutes, correspondence and all that stuff. If you want to know where to find something or who to ask, go to the secretary.
• Treasurer.
  Looks after the club accounts. If you have spent money doing something for the club, give the details to the treasurer.
• Programme Coordinator.
  Sends round the "hands up" list and massages the result into an event programme; obtains permission for the resulting events, prepares info for the club website and the rest of the area via the area Fixtures Officer. He doesn't sort out on-the-day helpers, that's up to the key organisers.
• Mapping Coordinator
  Organises the work that is needed to find, fieldwork, draw and print orienteering maps. There's a subsidiary position which may or may not be the same person, that of looking after the master computer files for those maps on computer.
• Map Stockist
  If you want maps for an event you are organising, ask the Map Stockist first. Our early maps were printed in huge numbers due to the technology of the time and we still have stocks on the shelf. And even with short-run printing these days there are leftover maps which we should use up if possible.
• Equipment Officer.
  In charge of the club gear, including trailer, tents, controls, and various consumables like cards and plastic bags. It usually though not necessarily lives at this person's place. Club equipment is available for loan to members or community groups wishing to run orienteering, eg. scouts or school camps. The basis is to return promptly, replace anvthing lost or damaged, and pay by donation.
• Club Captain
  Makes members feel wanted! Welcomes new members, makes presentations where appropriate, writes news for the website and subsequently the newsletter, organises relay teams, etc. Promotes club spirit through uniforms, travel and accommodation sharing, HVOC gathering place at away events.
• Publicity Officer
  Arranges publicity for events. Avenues include the newsletter for members, to radio, newspapers and outdoor shops to attract non-members. Supplies brochures and posters for you to use.
• Promotions Officer
  Promoting the sport can take many forms, including newcomer follow-up, ensuring novice courses are easy enough, and helping other groups to run orienteering as part of their activities.
• Newsletter Distributor and Membership Secretary Speeds the monthly magazines to you (the national magazine is posted direct). Let the Membership Secretary know if you change your address.
• Training Officer
  Provides help for members to increase their enjoyment bv improving their orienteering. Runs activities within the club and knows about things happening further afield.

THE WIDER SPORT

NZOF is in turn a member of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF). The IOF does a lot of work to standardise orienteering mapping so you can orienteer all around the world, and it sends "missionaries" to help orienteering get started in new countries. It also coordinates international fixtures such as the World Orienteering Championships held in every odd-numbered year, and the World Cup Orienteering series held in the even years.

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