Somehow I ended up as the organiser for this event as well as the organiser for the National Qualifier in June. I must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time!

I chose three areas for the stations and then left Steve and Min to find suitable sites in their areas and I found a couple of potential sites for Colin. Station A, manned by Min, was in a small copse near Shiplake Row close to a larger area of woodland where we hoped most competitors would start searching. Station B, manned by Colin, was near Eton and close to the Jubilee River, otherwise known as the flood relief scheme. There are lots of footpaths in this area but only a few of them are marked on the OS map and we hoped this would cause some confusion. Cover was provided by a small clump of bushes close to a small stream running parallel to the Jubilee River. Station C, manned by Steve, was in a small wood to the north of Seer Green and not far from the A355.

Six teams assembled for the 1620 start in Lane End car park. Good signals were heard from A and C but B, being the furthest from the start, was fairly weak and approximate bearings were given. It was expected that most teams would opt to do the stations in alphabetical order ending up at C which was nearest to the supper location. As usual with a DF, teams don't do what you expect. The first report of a team clocking in was Peter Lisle at station C closely followed by 2 teams clocking in to station A all before 1800.

At station B, we weren't expecting any activity so it was a bit of a surprise when Alan turned up at around 1830 and discovering that it was his first station. At station B we then had a steady stream of visitors from about 1900 onwards. The first team to arrive at B for their second station was Graham. Justin, with his portable searchlight had spotted us through some bushes. Much amusement then followed as, instead of finding the easy way in, Justin sent Graham through a very prickly Hawthorn hedge to the operator. Even though we showed him the easy way out, Graham insisted on going back through the same prickly hedge. Unfortunately all the other teams found the easy and non-prickly way in to the site.

By the end of the contest at 2100, 5 of the teams had found all three stations and the remaining team who had problems with the sense aerial on their set had found 2 stations. We all then assembled at the Queen and Albert in Wooburn Green for an excellent supper, followed by the announcement of the result and the winners' speeches.

Thanks to Min, Steve and Colin for offering to run a station and to Peter Lisle for arranging the supper.

John Mullins