North Gloucestershire Orienteering Club is the orienteering club for Gloucestershire and its surroundings.
- We hold 20-30 events each year in Cheltenham and Gloucester, the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean. We provide courses for novices and experts, 10 year olds and 70 year olds, runners and walkers; you can choose a course as long and as navigationally challenging as you wish, and can be as competitive as you would like to be.
- Everyone is welcome to try the sport at one of our events, and help is always available for newcomers. You do not need to be a member, there is no need to pre-book, and the entry fees are modest.
- We have over 150 members: although based in Gloucestershire, we have members in surrounding parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Monmouthshire. Find out about the benefits of becoming a member.
Club info
- The NGOC Committee
- Club kit
- Reference documents
- Where we orienteer: mapped areas
- Permanent orienteering courses in Gloucestershire
- The NGOC newsletter: Legend
A Bit of History…
North Gloucestershire Orienteering Club (NGOC) was officially formed on 14th January 1970 and was the idea of Derek Thompson, a lecturer at what is now Gloucestershire College. As its name implies, the club is based around Gloucestershire although the ‘North’ may stem from the North Gloucestershire Technical College at which the club was formed. Despite its age and experience, the club’s members have had relatively little success at winning trophies! There are some exceptions, though, and we always get a large contingent together for the CompassSport Cup (the UK’s inter-club orienteering competition).
The early days of NGOC (kindly provided to us by John Parsons, one of the founding members):
As I recall I noticed a advert in the local paper, probably The Echo, in late 1969, about an event on Cleeve Hill. Following the event Derek called the inaugural meeting, which I attended. There were just an handful of us in the beginning. An extract from the first handwritten minutes reads:
At an opening meeting held on 14th January 1970 in the Gloucester Teacher’s Centre, under the Chairmanship of Mr G Reynolds (C.C.P.R.) the following resolution (proposed by Mr D Thompson and seconded by Mr R Johnson) was passed unanimously: “That an orienteering club for North Gloucestershire be formed”. Mr D Thompson agreed to form a small steering committee to organise the club and set up a constitution. The committee was elected unanimously as follows: Chairman- Miss A Gregory, Secretary/Treasurer – Mr D Thompson, Committee members: Messer’s J Parsons, P Powell, A Pritchard and H Taylor…
Over the next few years we developed the club, draw maps, organised regular events and increased the membership. I was heavily involved for about 20 years and held the offices of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, event organiser, etc. and spent hundreds of hours in the forest mapping, and loved every minute. It is good to see that you have retained the club badge that we designed.