Council cash freeze has orienteers looking for support for top event

From the archive, first published Thursday 9th Feb 2006.

GENEROUS businesses and societies are being asked to help give a warm welcome to international orienteering enthusiasts as they visit Ilkley as part of a top sporting festival.

Organisers are appealing for money to buy welcoming signs in Ilkley for followers of the Jan Kjellstrom Festival of Orienteering 2006 - after hopes of gaining a grant from Ilkley Parish Council were dashed by a cash freeze in anticipation of the parish split.

Thousands of elite runners, pleasure runners and their supporters will descend on Ilkley on Saturday, April 15 - the Easter weekend - to join in the Ilkley leg of the festival.

Regional organisers were delighted to bring the festival to Yorkshire this year, and local club Airienteers was particularly pleased to see Ilkley Moor selected for one day of the competition.

The `JK' as it is known to enthusiasts is run in different regions every year, and has not often been held in Yorkshire.

The Ilkley stage of the event is unusual in that major orienteering competitions are rarely run so close to town centres.

Organisers believe many of the tournament's following will enjoy visiting and perhaps shopping or staying in Ilkley.

Airienteers gave a presentation to Ilkley Parish Council last year, hoping councillors would support the bid by making a contribution of around £150 to the festival, to buy signs and perhaps a banner, welcoming visitors to the town.

It was hoped that the parish council would debate and approve giving the sum from its parish precept pot in the run-up to the festival.

But the council last month put a freeze on committing any further cash to projects, in preparation for the Ilkley Parish Review, which is likely to see Burley and Menston break away to form their own parish councils.

The expected £90,000 of uncommitted cash in the council's funds will be split between Burley, Menston and Ilkley, based on the number of voters in each proposed parish.

Local organiser, Neil Stevens, is now asking if Ilkley businesses, organisations or clubs would consider contributing to signs

"We would be pleased to organise the signs but can't justify them coming out of event funds," he said.

He would like to see special signs put up at the main routes into the town, and believes it would also add to the Ilkley's appeal if a banner could go up in a prominent position in the town centre.

Mr Stevens is busy distributing information about the orienteering event to businesses, informing them about the expected influx of visitors on April 15.

Parking arrangements are expected for the orienteering festival visitors at East Holmes Field, Denton Road, and much of the action will take place on the moor at by Darwin Gardens. But Mr Stevens wants to make sure that everyone is prepared for the expected 3,500 visitors coming to town.

It was noted at one orienteering event, for example, that local shops sold out of bananas as many orienteers eat them as a healthy way to maintain their energy levels.

Anyone who would like to help the festival is asked to contact Mr Stevens on (01943) 817326.

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