NE MAPPING SUPREMO HEADS SOUTH



DAVE CAUDWELL IS LEAVING THE NORTH EAST - the date of his departure has been set for 14th August.
Following a recent meeting of the NN Executive Committee, a presentation was made by the Chairman to Dave in recognition of his many years of service to the club.
Alan expressed his sorrow at Dave’s departure and thanked him on behalf of the club for all the work he had done, which covered coaching, mapping, events and more recently secretarial.
He re-counted their first meeting some 41 years ago at a CATI at Hamsterley and later in 1971 noticed his mapping potential at a street night event in Elgin.
His mapping prowess has since been duly recognised nationally with several prestigious awards including the Bonnington and Chichester Trophies.
He presented Dave with a small memento from the club – a framed Front Page Evening Chronicle article depicting some of his past history together with a bottle of single malt whiskey.


   After close on 40 years involvement with orieteering in the north east, Dave Caudwell is preparing
   to finally down his mapping tools and head south to be with his daughter and her family. 
   Dave's surveying and cartographical skills are well known in orienteeering circles throughout the
   region for his excellent maps of many areas used for both local and national events. 
   A long standing member of Northern Navigators orienteering club, Dave's first recorded result as a
   competitor was in the Northern Championships in 1970. Going from strength to strength, Dave moved
   on to organising, plannning and controlling events and took leading roles within the club. 
   His invaluable contribution to the club and to orienteering nationally and locally has been in the
   field (or forests and hills) of mapping. His mapping prowess was evident in the relatively early days
   of orienteering with his maps of Broomley Fell and Kellas in the 1970s. Thereafter, as one of the most
   prodigious and successful mappers, it was rumoured that he intended to have the whole of Northumbria
   mapped before he laid down his survey tools. 
   During his endeavours Dave encountered a number of difficulties, including writing off his car on a
   mapping expedition while negotiating an icy country road in north Northumberland. Not one to be deterred
   by such a minor setback, Dave went on to further major mapping achievements. In 1997 he was awarded a
   certificate of Cartographical Excellence from British Orienteering's mapping group for his map of
   Bewick Moor North. This was closely followed in 1998 by the award of the Bonnington Trophy - British
   Orienteering's highest honour for services to mapping. Most recently his cartographical skills were
   further acknowledged when he received the Chichester Trophy in 2005 for the best map by a non-professional,
   his map of the Simonside Hills was used for the BOC in 2004. 
   Dave has also employed his energies and skills to serve the wider community with the production of maps for 
   a number of schools in the region and also for groups such as The Friends of Chopwell Woods. 
   Dave's legacy to the club and his orienteering friends and colleagues will be his excellent maps that will
   continue to be used throughout the north east region - we wish him well with his new life in Somerset.
Dave seen here with the Chichester Trophy

It is hoped to have a wider biography with photographs on the NN webpage in the near future.

It was suggested that an informal send off be arranged nearer the date of his departure - this is complicated with the holiday period and the only date that would be suitable
for Dave would be Tuesday 11th August. This would be in the form of an informal night out, possibly in the Chester le Street area on that date.
	
Any intersted parties should drop me a line so that I can send out details.

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