Article In Observer

[+agneau]

anybody read this in Observer, 21/8/05

 

there is also a mention of this facility in today's sunday times which states that

"it’s all the rage in America ... At Craven Arms, the Secret Hills visitor centre has brought the craze to Brits"

 

good job i don't believe everything i read in teh papers...

[Lactodorum]

Interesting! I see

Devoted geocachers bury or hide 'caches'

Oh dear....

 

Also it's a shame it gives the impression you have to hire equipment and go on organised hunts. Apart from that though it's a pretty positive write up.

 

Interesting that it was written without any request for help from any geocachers in the area and that two articles in separate Sunday Papers appear on the same day and BOTH mention the "Secret Hills Visitor Centre" who seem closely involved with geocaching in the UK. Hmmm

Edited August 21, 2005 by Lactodorum

[+Team Maddie UK]

The article sounded very accurate to me except for the part that it should be for just kids. Mind you with all the toys in cache boxes I can see how it might give that impression.

 

Secret Hills has been doing this for several months now and The Time Lord has been helping to advise them. It was a pilot project, and if successful is going to become available around the county (Shropshire) as an outdoor pursuit for families.

 

Bringing many more into the folds of this big GC community, some will think it is a good promotion whereas others may think that there are already too many now.

 

I think that the publicity is good for all concerned.

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

Caught the article online ...

 

The Times

 

Scroll down the page

 

I'm pretty new to GC and am wondering are they setting Groundspeak caches or just ones of their own?

[+The Hokesters]

The Secret Hills project is very interesting - perhaps this would be a help with persuading "tourist attracting" land owners?

Edited August 21, 2005 by The Hokesters

[+Sensei TSKC]

... and they are CHARGING for it!!!!

 

even if you have your own GPSr.

 

[+The Hokesters]

I think you can do the caches for free if you are 'in the know' but the 'fee' is for maps and advice - or am I mistaken?

Edited August 21, 2005 by The Hokesters

[+Team Maddie UK]

I had hoped that the Time Lord would have been in here today but since he hasn't and I do have an idea what is going on,,,, The caches placed are those of the Secret Hills Centre and are not placed with GC. Although there are a few public ones in the area as well. I believe there is a charge for going around the centre grounds to help pay for the upkeep and displays.

 

One of the ideas was to help promote caching in Shropshire. If people rented GPS's from the centre and liked the results it might encourage them to buy their own and get out and do ours. If they didn't then it was no great expense to them, other than a day out which even we pay for.

 

Shropshire County Council has placed a couple of caches in Shropshire (through the Timelord) with promotional items in them (no swopping necessary). They have also been great with permission to plant caches on county property.

 

There are plans to rent out GPS units in other areas around the county through the Information bureaus to do caches that have been placed by regular cachers and not them. Again a minimal cost to see whether or not you like it.

 

How many times have we seen in the forums that people have done 5-10 caches and dropped out taking TB's with them? Or placed a cache or two after having only done 2-3 themselves, never to be seen again?

 

This just gives them an opportunity to check it out without the cash outlay for a GPS to see whether or not they like it and are willing to join this fast growing sport/hobby.

[nobby.nobbs]

not a bad idea. good way to get new victims!

 

publicity wording needs looking at though with the article. ie for kids and burying stuff!

 

they need to find a way to get it competative and then tap into the corporate market. bunch of managers who've not set foot in the country for ten years pffing up and down hills. or get the local doctors to prescribe it as exercise.

[+Tupperware Hunters]

The Secret Hills project is very interesting - perhaps this would be a help with persuading "tourist attracting" land owners?

i was cheecky and i rang them all stupid asking how you use a gps and stuff i saied i had had a look at the link from the observers web site and asked if they put there own boxes out or if it was geo cachers and she says they put one out on there land after saying no to a cacher for health and safty reasons and after they was some intrest they put mor out cheeeeekkkyyy ~~~### people i guese what they mean is hey we could make money out of this ohh yeh if you have your own gps you still have to pay £2.50p thats just not crickit is it any how i never let it slip that i was a cacher and she seemed all made up about the sudden intrest after the advertising that they have recived

[Hugh Janus]

i was cheecky and i rang them all stupid asking how you use a gps and stuff i saied i had had a look at the link from the observers web site and asked if they put there own boxes out or if it was geo cachers and she says they put one out on there land after saying no to a cacher for health and safty reasons and after they was some intrest they put mor out cheeeeekkkyyy ~~~### people i guese what they mean is hey we could make money out of this ohh yeh if you have your own gps you still have to pay £2.50p thats just not crickit is it any how i never let it slip that i was a cacher and she seemed all made up about the sudden intrest after the advertising that they have recived

????

 

Any chance of an English translation?

[+t.a.folk]

reply deleted

Edited August 23, 2005 by t.a.folk

[+Tupperware Hunters]

WHY ? ? ? ? are you stupid or some thing

Edited August 23, 2005 by fruity&doggit

[Hugh Janus]

WHY ? ? ? ?    are you stupid or some thing

Stupid? - Possibly but I hope not, just having difficulty understanding your post. In order to help I have spent some time attemptig to translate it into normal English.

I was cheeky and I rang them acting "stupid" and asked them how you use a GPS etc. I said I had had a look at the link from the Oberver's web site and asked if they put their own boxes out or if they were placed by Geocachers. The lady said they had put one out on their land after saying "No" to a cacher for "Health and Safety" reasons. After there was some interest they put out more. Cheeky!

 

People, I guess that what they mean is "Hey, we could make money out of this!". Even if you have your own GPS you will still have to pay £2.50p. That's just not cricket is it? I never let it slip that I was a cacher. She seemed excited about the sudden interest after the advertising that they had received.

 

If I have misunderstood please feel free to make any corrections.

 

Maybe its a coincidence but I notice from your profile that one of your hobbies is "playing the muppet". Perhaps this is an example.

[+t.a.folk]

attemptig

 

I have never come across the word "attemptig" before and neither has my

thesaurus .

Edited August 24, 2005 by t.a.folk

[markandlynn]

We have done the GC listed caches in this area and they are of good quality.

The cache which was in the grounds of the secret hills was also listed it was unfortunatley trashed.

The grounds and the walks are free for all. All the caches are listed on GC.

If you buy an OS map at £7.99 i am sure you could work out the walks for yourselves.

Secret hills is there to promote the hills and runs itself as an outdoor education facility as well as a visitor attraction and has been threatened with closure.

 

The maps produced by secret hills are available there with the hire of a GPS.

 

The swaps in the caches have been donated by the secret hills centre and the ammo boxes provided and placed by the time lord together with educational print outs for when they take classes of schoolchildren out to these caches.

[Hugh Janus]

attemptig

 

I have never come across the word "attemptig" before and neither has my

thesaurus .

You are right of course. At least I tried. I stand corrected for missing out a letter.

[+Seasider]

Craven Arms.... thought they were talking about a pub at first!

 

I can only see this as positive. They do state on their web page...

 

GEOcaching - Get involved yourself

 

GEOcaching is an international sport - enthusiasts place caches all over the country, almost all over the world! Details of the caches are then posted on the GEOcaching website, for other enthusiasts to go and find. There are 16 caches within 10 miles of the Discovery Centre, only one of which we created. The caches are filled with items and each time you find a cache you can take something out, as long as you put something else back in its place.

So if you've been bitten by the bug doing one of our trails why not get involved in the real thing - you can buy a GPS from around £80, visit the GEOcaching website to find out more - follow the link at the bottom of the page.

 

... so it can only draw people in who otherwise would not have got involved.

 

Cheers!

 

Seasider

Edited August 24, 2005 by Seasider

[+Tupperware Hunters]

if any one has a problam with my spellings please e-mail me and we will talk about it there as you seem to fell the need to embarass me further i have been posting for over a year now and it is only small minded people who think them selfs abouve others that feel the need to point it out the fact that you could "translate it in to english" means to me that you could tell what it seid so i think you should take your head from up your a** and eather apologise for the ebarassement or come and find my cache on my door step and we will descouse it face to face

 

thanks for the embaresment fruity

[+mongoose39uk]

WHY ? ? ? ?    are you stupid or some thing

Stupid? - Possibly but I hope not, just having difficulty understanding your post. In order to help I have spent some time attemptig to translate it into normal English.

I was cheeky and I rang them acting "stupid" and asked them how you use a GPS etc. I said I had had a look at the link from the Oberver's web site and asked if they put their own boxes out or if they were placed by Geocachers. The lady said they had put one out on their land after saying "No" to a cacher for "Health and Safety" reasons. After there was some interest they put out more. Cheeky!

 

People, I guess that what they mean is "Hey, we could make money out of this!". Even if you have your own GPS you will still have to pay £2.50p. That's just not cricket is it? I never let it slip that I was a cacher. She seemed excited about the sudden interest after the advertising that they had received.

 

If I have misunderstood please feel free to make any corrections.

 

Maybe its a coincidence but I notice from your profile that one of your hobbies is "playing the muppet". Perhaps this is an example.

At least Fruity managed to stay on topic.

Edited August 24, 2005 by mongoose39uk

[+[MF]taz]

WHY ? ? ? ? are you stupid or some thing

your the one who started calling people names.

 

they just failed to understand a post that had spelling mistakes and gramatical errors.

 

If your embaressed by your post, you could always edit it.

[+mongoose39uk]

I would suggest discussions about the correc use of English, as you see it, should take place in the Off Topic area.

 

I believe this has been done to death there.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[+t.a.folk]

if any one has a problam with my spellings please e-mail me

 

I would like to say that I do not have a problem with your spellings .

 

I cannot see reasons for anyone to have problems with other peoples spellings .

[+t.a.folk]

I have never come across the word "attemptig" before and neither has my

thesaurus .

I would not normally point out anyones spelling errors

I did this posting pointing out a spelling mistake solely because of the context in which it was presented .

[+wigglesworth]

Now for the good news - ope I ave spilled this correctly.

 

The Secret Hills are helping to promote geocaching to the members of the public who have yet to get fully engaged with geocaching. As a result of this activity we already have recruited some new cachers and there is potential for a steady stream of recruits.

 

THANK YOU SECRET HILLS and WELCOME.

 

Peter

[+Pengy&Tigger]

I have no problems understanding Fruity.

 

What I do have a problem with is people making fun of other folks who may be dyslexic for all you know, or have some other problem that can't be helped.

 

As long as people can be understood, what's the problem?

[+rutson]

What she said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

I've been away from here for a while and what _I_ have a problem with is my friends being insulted in a public forum. Fruity's spelling may not be perfect and I trust that the OA(original A... I'm sure you can fil in the rest) is perfect in every respect? No?

[nobby.nobbs]

heck as long as it's fairly legible who cares how it's spelt?

 

and secret hills..good for them, if they were charging a huge amount i'd think it was abuse but they seem to be cahrging a reasonable amount and the more like minded people get into the sport the better. i like nothing better than having new people to set caches and run into when caching.

 

i'm sure the set up costs put alot of people off as significant amount to spend if you don't know you like it. plus you may never have heard of it until you visit them.

 

chill out poeple sit back and take the shoes off.

[Lactodorum]

The original thread was about the involvement of the Secret Hills visitor centre and the validity of them charging for Geocaching.

 

However the thread has developed into one discussing the merits or otherwise of "correct" spelling, grammar and punctuation. While this is a perfectly valid discussion topic, as mongoose39uk rightly states it would be better taken to the "Off Topic" area. Rather than let this degenerate into any more name calling I am closing it.

 

Lactodorum

 

p.s. I've used a spell checker so hopefully I'm in the clear

[Lactodorum]

Having closed this thread I have just received the following contribution from The Time Lord. I feel it appropriate to add it here.

 

Thanks Jim

 

I do not usually write in the forums but I thought it time to put the facts straight on this one. 

Firstly it just shows that even the broadsheet newspapers get it wrong.

In Shropshire we (Shropshire cachers) have built up a really good relationship with the local County Council, The Forestry Commission, local organisations and the National Trust to the extent that we are able to place caches on their property without much trouble, we check the location with them and permission normally comes back straight away.  Indeed we have been asked to put caches in various locations where they would like more people to visit.

The County Council have been the best supporters and have sponsored to date 9 caches all of which are on the website – 2 souvenir caches, the Iron Age series and the WW2 series.  They paid for the boxes, contents and the interpretation that has gone into them.  I am sure that all who have done these caches will agree that they are very good and not only take you to great locations but tell you about the place you are visiting. 

They have also supported “The Secret Hills Discovery Centre” in Craven Arms who now hire out GPSRs to people who want to try geocaching.  Many people have tried this and quite a few have gone on to buy their own GPSRs and take up caching as a sport.  When you go there you get a GPSR, some instruction in how to use it, a professionally produced map showing you where the caches are and the route to take.  There is also a local small trail in the grounds of the centre for people to practise using the GPSR before they go out. The trail takes you around 5 large rocks that have been placed in the grounds to show the geology of Shropshire and then on to an ammo box in a tree stump that is there to show them what a real cache looks like.  This little practice trail is not on the website as they are not real caches.  If somebody visits the centre with their own GPSR they can buy a copy of the map showing the locations of the 2 “time trails” that is the Iron Age Series and the WW2 series.  They do not have to buy the map if they do not want – all the locations are on WWW.geocaching.com. 

None of the caches are buried!

Lastly I see nothing wrong with getting a Local County Council interested in geocaching.  The close contact that we have in Shropshire means that we can put out caches in really good locations (come and try them) and we can, through these contacts get permission from private landowners who would not normally agree to an individual approach.  Also I know that the funding used to sponsor these caches was European money – how many of you out there can say you got the French to pay for the ammo boxes!