British Orienteering was contacted by Hendriette Knouwds, who coordinates sports and physical activities in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts. Hendriette was looking at ways to introduce orienteering to their local communities, especially the over 60’s living in rural areas, as part of their GO Active Gold project. She had 4 GO Active Gold rural activators plus one volunteer that she wanted to get trained via a Teaching Orienteering course. British Orienteering referred her to discuss this with Hill End Outdoor Educational Centre who had recently been accredited to the British Orienteering Recognised Centre scheme. 

After training 8 Leisure Team members (including one volunteer), they delivered the following orienteering courses and events:

• The GO Active Gold team delivered four “Introduction to Orienteering” courses and organised 6 beginner-friendly orienteering events, engaging over 80 new participants.
• Our GO Active Gold volunteers who completed the training now offers monthly orienteering sessions for local residents and organised a village orienteering event with over 40 local residents taking part.
• The GO Active Juniors project now started offering a regular session at local primary school.
• The Leisure Team as a whole have also signed up to Xplorer and arranged 5 events in our local parks with over 30 people attending each event.

Hendriette Knouwds, South Oxfordshire Participation Coordinator, said:  “We were so impressed with Hill End Educational Centre facilities and friendly helpful staff. The training day was so much fun and equipped our team with a deeper understanding of orienteering and how to introduce it to our communities. Since the training, we have literally engaged hundreds of new participants in orienteering. We are now looking forward to trying out new British Orienteering offers such as Sporteering next!” 

Mandy Warwick at Hill End Outdoor Educational Centre, said:  “The group used an outside provider but were able to use our orienteering facilities to help enhance their learning on the day. We provided the venue and our amazing outdoor space in which to practice their orienteering skills.” 

Dan Riley, British Orienteering’s Lead on the Recognised Centre accredited scheme, said:  “It was great to receive this enquiry from Hendriette about including orienteering in the GO Active Gold project located in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of the White Horses. Recognised Centres are well placed to be able to respond to commercial opportunities such as these and Hill End Centre has done an excellent job of responding to meeting the client’s needs as well as making an important contribution to raising the profile of orienteering amongst those involved in the project.”

Hill End Outdoor Educational Centre and other accredited centres are happy to provide venues for all groups who would like to undertake orienteering training.

Hill End Centre

Address: Eynsham Road, Farmoor, Oxford, OX2 9NJ
Contact: Mandy Warwick
Email Address: mandy.warwick@hill-end.org
Telephone: 01865 863510

Did you know?

There are 13 Recognised Centres across the UK with many more going through the process.

To find out more about the accredited Recognised Centres and their specific locations – click here.

More information about British Orienteering’s Recognised Centre scheme can be found here.