Keeping Track of Time at the Lodge

By OBHS | Posted: Tuesday March 24, 2026

At the device-free Lodge, the only people who know the actual time are those wearing wristwatches.

Watches can be an outdoor safety item; if you're back at base by a set time, you're safe and well.

One of the activities most boys get the opportunity to do at the Lodge is orienteering — navigating using a map.

Prior to 2015, there was a basic black and white map with marker posts around the Lodge, on a course created by Barrie Foote, a former OBHS Maths teacher.
In 2015, Justin Zani arranged for a professional mapper to create a specific colour map. It was funded by activities from the 50th anniversary reunion of the 1965 OBHS Hostel group, with 1965 being John Aspinall's first year at OBHS. Mr Zani, along with many student volunteers, created an extensive network of checkpoints. It traverses the entire area that the Aspinall family so generously share with the school.

One of the orienteering activities is a "rogaine", where boys, mostly in pairs, are given a set time to find as many checkpoints as possible. To avoid late point penalties, they need to return on time. This is a challenge when you don’t wear a watch.

We wonder if any members of the OBHS community have a wristwatch gathering dust that they would be willing to donate permanently to the Lodge. It would need to be old technology, no charging cables, no winding, just a (hopefully) long-lasting, simple battery. All it needs to do is tell the time. Analogue is just fine, another skill to learn! Ideally, it would have a battery life longer than a few years. Even better, if you have an old watch that needs a new battery, having it replaced prior to donating would help ensure it lasts a few more years before needing attention again.

Likewise, if anyone has any old, simple baseplate compasses, commonly used for tramping or hunting, these would be gratefully received to build a collection at the Lodge. At present, boys are told about orienting their map to north which is hopefully where the sun is on that particular day, but there are no class sets of compasses at the Lodge. No magnifier is needed, just a needle pointing north.

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