The New England Orienteering Club

[as published in the NEOC 10th Year Anniversary booklet, 1982]

NEOC Breaks Up Into Chapters (sort of) 

At this year's meets you might have noticed some new club abbreviations, like NEOC-WM and NEOC-MQ. And here we have some new and exciting developments. We have started to get local chapters (WM = Western Mass.; MQ = Musketaquid, made up of Acton, Concord and adjacent towns).

The idea is to bring orienteering in on a more local level, more local meets and clinics, more community involvement, less traveling, more car pooling, easier administration of meets, etc. The chapters will schedule their own meets and clinics, make maps, etc., but still enjoy a central newsletter, treasury, and equipment pool. A committee consisting of Peter Gagarin, Skip Knuttgen, and Tom Taylor are looking into establishing guidelines for the chapters right now. 

We hope to get more chapters shortly - areas like Southern New Hampshire, Upper Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, and a couple in Connecticut would be logical. So step forward and call a local meeting to form a chapter. I have club rosters so you can locate your next door orienteers. 

Hans Bengtsson (May 1978 newsletter) 

Musketaquid Formed 

Members of NEOC living in the general area of Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln were called together on March 30, 1978, and a local chapter of NEOC was formed. 

After a discussion of a variety of names that were easier to spell and pronounce, it was decided to adopt the old Indian name that described the general area which includes these communities. "Musketaquid Chapter" it shall be. Subsequent research has determined that the Indian word translates loosely into "Land of Easy Control Placements."

Regional chapters of NEOC should have an important role in the developement of orienteering and the expansion of NEOC's educational and competitive program. The Musketaquid and Western Mass. chapters are paving the way in this new venture of the club. 

Skip Knuttgen 

Western Mass. Chapter

NEOC's Western Mass. chapter, NEOC's "oldest and most distinguished chapter" (that's one of our slogans), was founded in December 1977. The first meeting, attended by charter members Fred Pilon and Peter Gagarin, took place in Fred's Toyota on the way to a meeting of NEOC's voting members in Boston. 

Due to some preparatory discussions congerning chapter by-laws and rules, 5-year plans, etc., it is quite likely that, at the exact moment of birth, the Toyota was actually in Eastern Mass. (If so, this would represent Just the first of many successful forays by chapter members outside of Western Mass.) 

Later in 1982 the chapter will celebrate its fifth anniversary. plans are already underway to make this the biggest and the best fifth anniversary any NEOC chapter has ever had. Current thinking is to rent a fleet of Toyota buses and hold the party on the Mass pike.