Dave Gittus, where to begin? It is fair to say that Dave crammed more into his 85 years than most people could manage in two lifetimes such was his love of life.
He was born in Halifax on 14 April 1941 and spent the early years of his life in Flamborough, Bridlington and Selby in Yorkshire. A case of German Measles early in his life resulted in a partial deafness in one ear which made life at school difficult for him as it had not been diagnosed. In those early years Dave developed a love of the outdoors and sports particularly rugby and cross country running.
Upon leaving school Dave wanted to be an architect but the 7 years training, the first 3 being unpaid, put a damper on that idea. His next thought was to join the Department Of Overseas Survey but that would have entailed him staying office bound until the age of 21 which didn’t fit in with his plans of the outdoor life so in 1958 he joined the Ordnance Survey as a field surveyor with his training taking place at their Headquarters in Southampton. During this training period Dave joined Southampton Athletic Club and took part in many competitions recording times of 4 min 35 for the mile and 15 minutes for 3 miles.
Image below: David in1969 With Border Liners (BL).
His first posting for the OS was in his home town of Halifax making large scale (1:1250) maps of the town and this was followed by a move to Pontefract. In 1961 he landed his dream posting when he became a Small Scale (1” to the mile or 1:63360) reviser which took him all over the country. It was on a stop at Greenock in August 1963 that Dave met Sandra Wylie and by 2 November, against all advice, they were married and they were still together some 63 years later! Those who know Sandra will know that she could be said to be the exact opposite of Dave but somehow it worked. They had two sons, Philip in 1964 and Colin in 1967.
It was whilst working in the North East that he took part in his first orienteering event at Dukes Wood, Hexham in 1968. This was perfect for someone who loved maps and the outdoors (like most of us who like orienteering). The following year he helped form Border Liners during a stint in Carlisle.
At work Dave was promoted and sent back to Southampton to be an Instructor, a job which although he was suited to he hated and after 5 months he was posted to Banbury. During this spell in Southampton his orienteering really started to take off and he won the November Classic and defeated all the Great Britain squad at the time - no mean feat in itself. Whilst in Banbury he joined Reading Orienteering (ROC, now BKO) and was chosen to represent Great Britain at the Swiss 5 Days. Unfortunately he was taken ill after rescuing a girl from drowning in a swimming pool and flown home with pneumonia.
Images below: David in1975 in the original WRE kit, Sandra to his left and Colin and Philip in front. Then pictured in 1984 Telford Town Park.
In 1972 he was posted to Shropshire, initially Shrewsbury and then Telford. Joining Harlequins (HOC) he became more involved in orienteering and, along with Tim Goffe, he founded Wrekin Orienteers in 1975 after seeing that was enough interest to form a new club. Being a mapper by profession he set about making maps for the new club with gusto. He was rewarded for his efforts when he won the Chichester Trophy in 1977 for his map of Cannock Chase used for the British Champs and several maps in Shropshire.
As ever, Dave threw himself into all aspects of the sport and eventually graduated to being an IOF Controller and controlled many major events including Day 1 of the 1984 JK in North Wales on the legendary area of Moel y Dyniewyd. Coaching was another of his specialities, particularly with the National and Regional (WMOA) Junior Squads and he took a number of tours abroad. In recognition of all his efforts he was awarded the very first Silva Trophy in 1984.
Outside of orienteering, he took part in many long distance running events. He held the record for the Six Summits for a great many years recording a time of 6 hours 8 minutes. A time of 10 hours 8 minutes for the Long Mynd Hike over a distance of 52 miles was another very respectable time.
Images below: David in Allean Forest 1994 at the CompassSport Trophy Final. David as World TraiO Champion. Credit: Dick Keighley and CompassSport.
Of course, he always had itchy feet to do something new and in 1986 an opportunity arose to work overseas for OS International (as it was now called) in Yemen for a year which he grabbed with both hands. This led to many tales of adventures. Did I mention Dave was a great raconteur and it was always a source of entertainment in the OS Telford office where I worked with him for 12 years? Back in the UK life was pretty tame for him and another opportunity arose for him to work abroad, this time on the Caribbean island of St Vincent for 3 months though this proved to be a little tame after his Yemeni adventure.
Image right: Dave and Sandra in Newport, Shropshire.
By 1994 the OS was needing to lose staff members and offered the opportunity for Voluntary Redundancy for those under 50 and Voluntary Early Retirement for those over 50. Dave was a bit disillusioned with the ways things were going and decided to apply for the retirement and it was granted so he left the OS (life in the office was much quieter afterwards). In June 1994 he was awarded the MBE for his services to mapping.
An ankle injury towards the end of the century meant that he was unable to compete in ordinary foot orienteering so, still wanting to be involved, he turned to Trail ‘O’ and regularly competed for GB eventually reaching the pinnacle becoming Paralympic World Champion in Finland in 2006. He was also a member of the Great Britain team that won the team competition in Sweden in 2004.
In his post-OS life he was very involved in the Rotary Club, British Legion and many other institutions in his adopted town of Newport in Shropshire and in 2012 was awarded Newport Citizen of the year and in 2017 was awarded Newport Town Council Special Recognition Award.
In his later years he suffered with ill health eventually developing Parkinson’s Disease. This, of course, hampered his movements and meant that he had to give up driving and many of the pleasures that he enjoyed including gardening. Despite all this he was still interested in what was happening in orienteering and was able to attend the 50th Anniversary in 2025 of Wrekin Orienteers, the club that he co-founded. At the end he had a fall and had to go into hospital and three days later he passed away.
RIP Dave, my old friend and mentor I shall miss you terribly.
Rod Postlethwaite (WRE) May 2026.
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