Harlequins Orienteering Club was founded on April 1st 1968 at the Area Youth Office, Kinver. The name Harlequins was given to the new club because of the foundation on All Fools Day and to avoid naming the club after a place, which might prove a hostage to fortune later.

The club has evolved over the decades. In the 1970s Wrekin Orienteers became a club in its own right from HOC origins and in 2023 we merged with the City of Birmingham Orienteering Club.

To mark the club’s 40th Anniversary, David Nevell compiled a four part history of the first forty years, published in the January – April 2008 editions of AdHoc. Individual clubs do not exist in a vacuum and this piece puts HOC’s evolution into context with the development of Orienteering in the UK.

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A few firsts….

• 01 Apr 1968 – Foundation of HOC
• 22 Sep 1968 – First open event at Kinver
• 13 Jan 1969 – Effective amalgamation/absorption of HDOC
• May 1969 – First Badge/National event at Wyre Forest
• Apr 1970 – First club newsletter
• 1981 – First night street event
• Apr 1983 – Newsletter titled AdHoc
• 1983 – First Springtime In Shropshire
• 1983 – First June Jaunter
• 1988 – First Bewdley International Mountain Marathon
• c1993 – First use of OCAD
• 1995 – HOC has a website
• 1999 – Launch of SMILE (Saturday Morning Low-Key Introductory Events)
• Nov 1999 – HOC’s first use of SI at Ribbesford Woods
• 2005 – Launch of MADO Initiative