Nottinghamman

I was grateful to Tim, Adam and others who's expertise and love of the game made the forum a very witty and enjoyable place to be. At times the exchanges were hilarious but.... I'm not sure about heads being held high. From the outside it appears to me that neither "side" in this development have covered themselves in glory. But just as an observation, as someone who did occasionally look-in and who contributed financially to site maintenance it struck me that in taking the site down there was only one person "holding emcache to ransom". That was the person who disbanded the site without consulting the membership or giving notice. Apparently, the Police became involved - in a caching forum ? What on earth was going on??? Too much playground politics perhaps..... I'm struggling here to see any heads being held high, and quite frankly I don't understand why forum members have not been offered the chance to pick up the pieces if Tim found the carry on so objectionable. For the record, I'm not on any "side" in this business. Be interested to know if anyone has a different slant.

Hi From a Newbie perspective, ie less than 2 years old, I'd like to add it can be quite daunting to join this club. Every time I go to an event my daughters remind me about the advice I give them not to meet strangers who you only know after getting into coversation online. (And for the crowd I run with "strangers" is an apt description - (Only joking guys )). For my first event I had to drive nearly 40 miles at night to a pub I'd never been to, and walk into a room full of people I'd never met. But it was ok. I met some great people and had a laff. For many it's too much of a leap into the unkown, especially the single female - take a look at your next event and tell me I'm not wrong (btw am happily married, in case you are wondering where this is going). Nonetheless I do appreciate your observation on the quality of caches and here I do feel I have benefitted from the experienced cachers I've met in a regional forum and for my part try put a cache down in a spot where you will learn something about the locality, stand in a particularly fine spot or find a really unique type of cache. So don't give up on us Newbies - some of us do "get it" eventually. The issue is how the "community" reaches out and educates the novice - I'd suggest an approachable tone in forum threads is probably a good place to begin. IMHO threads which start "Wen ah were a lad, it wer like this" aint going to cut it in the reaching out stakes. Thanks for starting something really enjoyable for me to find. Cheers NM.

Great Idea Shame I'm 4662 miles away

From the Royal Parks website: http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond_park/sport.cfm "In season, the wooded areas and hill climbs in the Park offer unrivalled opportunities this close to Central London for orienteering and cross-country running." Go figure!

I live just down the road - Sutton would be about half way - Name a pub - I'll take you through it over a pint. PM if you want to arrange a meet.