MORE than 100 primary school children came to Cartmel woods for an orienteering event. There were three runs through the wood finding flags and seeing who would be fastest: lots of exercise, a little brain activity, and loads of fun for all.

It was just what you’d want for your kids.

I put the flags out half an hour before the kids arrived and a group of us from Lakeland Orienteering Club supervised and kept everybody safe.

It was a shame then that in that half hour one of the few walkers in the wood decided to steal or throw away one of our timing boxes.

I guess he was feeling angry that our flags had ‘invaded’ the tranquillity of his wood and if that's the case I would have explained that we were there with kind permission of the Holker Estate, and how great it is for the kids to be having an adventure in the countryside.

He never gave me the chance though so I need to let him know that he didn’t manage to ruin the event for the children, who all went away tired and happy.

The timing box, however, will cost us more than £100 to replace so if that person is now feeling a bit less angry, or even a little abashed, he could find a way anonymously to get it back to us, preferably before our next event at Brockhole next week.

And, by the way, many thanks to Ulverston Leisure Centre, Fellfoot Park and Brockhole for supporting all the events, and to all the teachers and parents who bring the children along.

Selwyn Wright

Lakeland Orienteering Club

Broughton-in-Furness