Inishowen’s first-ever orienteering course for children is currently being mapped out and is expected to attract youngsters from throughout the county as well as further afield, the Inish Times can reveal.
Community groups and bodies from around the peninsula have come together to kick start the initiative in Buncrana’s Swan Park, including Inishowen Development Partnership (IDP), Buncrana Tidy Towns, Youthreach, Buncrana Environmental Group, Crana College, Green Schools and Buncrana Town Council.
The facilitators have also been in consultation with Gartan Outdoor Education Centre in Letterkenny and have enlisted the expertise of experienced orienteering and mapping expert John Spence, who has been a member of Thames Valley Orienteering club in England for over 40 years.
Sean McGrory, Youth Development Officer with IDP, one of the key facilitators in the project, joined Mr Spence and Brendan McLaughlin, of Buncrana Environmental Group, to install the first “dummy” marker posts at Swan Park last week. They were used as a guide for Buncrana Town Council to install the official markers later in the week.
Speaking to the Inish Times, Mr McGrory said the facility would have huge benefits for everyone who used it and would greatly enhance the area.
He said: “This will be here in the town, for all to use – for example schools, clubs, scout groups, visitors and everyone throughout Inishowen and beyond.
“The benefits of it are huge. It gets people involved in something practical, allows them to learn new skills, learn spatial reasoning, think three dimensionally, improves map reading and much, much more.
“We’ve been paying to take groups to orienteering courses for ten years and had this resource right on our doorsteps. It’s something we always wanted to do and is neutral cost and carbon neutral.
“It all came about after I was approached by the Tidy Towns, who were keen to get even more young people involved in their initiative. A key player in getting it moved forward too was Youthreach, who went around the orienteering courses in Gartan and Roe Valley and completed an environmental impact study. They were fantastic and got involved in creating a public amenity that will be used for decades to come.
“We’ve been in consultation with a number of groups and really hit gold with John Spence, his expertise has been invaluable.”
Michelle McKenna, youth co-ordinator with Buncrana Tidy Towns, said they were “over the moon” the project was going ahead.
She said: “I approached Sean and he was incredibly enthusiastic. He came up with the idea for the orienteering course and it all went from there. I thought it was a fantastic idea as we have the facility right here in Buncrana.
“We did a presentation to Buncrana Town Council who were very much on board with us. Cllrs Lee Tedstone and John Ryan gave us a lot of help and myself and Sean had meetings with Gartan to discuss how we could progress it.
“The children, scouts and groups are very excited by it all. All Inishowen schools will be able to take advantage of it and we can also change over with other schools throughout the county – they could come down to us and we could go up there. There’s so many possibilities with it.”
Mr Spence explained the maps used were “very specialised”, detailing every tree, bend etc. and revealed Swan Park was an “ideal location” for an orienteering route.
He said: “Orienteering is fabulous. It teaches young people so much. And it’s always changing; there are different routes for different days. You’re always thinking and questioning.”
With the first phase complete, the official route is expected to be launched around mid-May.
Mr McGrory said there were many more possibilities for expansion and new ideas.
“The only thing stopping us is our imagination,” he said.