October Social 2013Monday 7 October
Report from the October social.
There was an unavoidable late change of venue for the October social and I am sure we are all very grateful to the Fawthrop family for stepping into the breach at short notice. Nigel had to hurry up and finish his decorating, Jamie and Peter were press-ganged into doing the scoring for the street event and Rachel did all the preparations and made us very welcome.
Dave Kershaw had planned the event. There were two score options, Short (time limit 45 mins) and Long (time limit 60 mins) as well as a choice of two kinds of map! Both had been produced using OpenOrienteeringMap, available free on the Internet, but there was a StreetO version and a PseudO version, the latter showing additional features such as some, but not all, buildings. There was much discussion as to their relative merits, many people feeling that the basic StreetO map was easier to read.
Twenty people enjoyed the challenge of running, walking or scootering around the districts of Marchmont, Sciennes and the Grange, with far-flung controls in Newington, Mayfield, Blackford and Morningside, and answering the questions which Dave had set. They seemed straightforward enough but not everyone got all their answers right! Overall winner on the Long course was Gemma and first man was Martin. First man on the Short was Ben with Janice taking the prize for first woman. 'Vintage' awards (at the discretion of the organiser) were made to Margaret and to Bill.
It was a surprisingly warm evening for October and the cool drinks on return were very welcome along with the splendid repast. Kirsteen, although unable to be present on the night, had provided delicious home-baked gingerbread and shortbread, which Rachel had supplemented with lots of savoury and sweet snacks. Those of us who had just turned up for the social and food, bringing the total number of people up to about thirty, had a very enjoyable evening too.
Very many thanks to the Fawthrops and to the Kershaws.
Eleanor Pyrah
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