David has been busy organising the Street-O series for his club the Happy Herts, and checking courses and making them maprun F friendly. He has also organised the running of a weekly zoom catch up for club members to compare routes, and just generally supporting the club to keep in touch with each other. 

Viv and David Hodson, members of Happy Herts Orienteering Club, said:

"In what has been quite a challenging year for individuals and organisations David has managed to keep us orienteering in some form or other when more usual events have not been possible.  As most of us have no experience of planning and converting these courses into Maprun he has provided invaluable support and advice in doing so and has ensured that there are a large number of these courses available to all across the whole of Hertfordshire. In times when lockdown rules have been most stringent he has come up with a range of alternative “events”, this has included postbox-O from your own address, Strava art and a cathedral city armchair challenge. Members have also had the opportunity to discuss routes too at a weekly zoom meeting." 

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British Orienteering would like to say a big Thank You to you David for all your hard work and commitment in setting up the different challenges for club members to enjoy.  They have clearly been well received throughout what has been such a challenging time for all. 
The challenges sound great with brilliant innovation shown.  Thank you! 

David, is there anything you are particularly proud of that you would like British Orienteering to shine a spotlight on?

David comments: 
"As Hertfordshire Orienteering Club's Street-O Coordinator, planning for our 2020 season from April - September was well under way when the first Covid lockdown hit and the series was quickly cancelled. I was keen to offer some sort of replacement activity however so, with the support of the wider club, came up with weekly challenges mainly involving navigating via local postboxes (Post-O) or drawing "Strava Art". Alongside these, weekly emails kept the club informed and weekly Zoom socials brought club members together to talk about this week's challenge and anything else orienteering-related. As lockdown has eased I've worked with other volunteers to introduce DIY Street-O courses across the county and continued to add courses throughout the year and into 2021. We now have 38 MapRun-enabled Street-O (and Park-O) courses and it has been great to see club members getting out, enjoying participating and sharing their successes. We have just restarted our Tuesday evening Street-O events but we will keep the Zoom calls going - they have become part of the club's offering."

Your volunteering journey and motivations?  We know there is so much more to each volunteer than the things that they have done, can you please tell us how you got in to volunteering and/or why you stay involved as a volunteer?

David comments:  
"After a long hiatus away from the sport I was reintroduced to orienteering by a work colleague - thanks Máire! - and soon after joined my local club, "Happy Herts". I guess I was drawn into volunteering in a familiar way to many - I agreed to help in a small way at local events, then gradually got more and more involved until I took on my current Street-O Coordinator role, which matched my preferences and skills. It also seemed fairly self-contained and seaonal - that went out of the window over the last year! I keep doing it partly through a sense of duty (orienteering wouldn't work without a whole host of volunteers and roles) but mainly because I really enjoy seeing others benefit from me helping."

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Thank you David!  Thank you for all you have done, and for all you continue to do for the sport of orienteering. 

How you can get involved with Volunteers' Week?
Each day is a chance to take the time to say thank you to volunteers across the UK.
Share your own story about volunteering during a pandemic over the past 12 months, inspire others to get involved in volunteering, or say thank you to an amazing volunteer you know using #VolunteersWeek! 

Don't forget to include British Orienteering in all of your posts:
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https://www.facebook.com/britishorienteering

Inspire others to volunteer! 
Have you got any personal volunteering stories which British Orienteering can publish on the website as part of the Volunteer's Week to inspire others?  Email:   jtaylor@britishorienteering.org.uk

#VolunteersWeek  #Orienteering