DRAFT AOG 2027 planning portal

Terms of reference

This page summarises the planning resources to the Northern Home Counties AOG 2027 planning team.

This page and its contents will change over time, as future decisions refine our choices.  Those interested in this page should keep an eye on it without waiting for prompts about changes.

Live planning chart, actions & vacancies

The following chart sets out:

• the draft programme of events;

• the volunteers and vacancies;

• the planning diary from Aug2026 to Aug2027;

• actions on whom to do what by when.

Hint: open the sheet full-screen for a better view of it.

Walk route design criteria

Our designs for our walking route must follow the criteria  defined in the prospectus.  In addition, we have received feedback from AOG 2026 which we ought to include in the walk design.

In summary:

• on day 1 Saturday and day 2 Sunday, there is a strict curfew by which all AOG attendees must be in their bedrooms by 5pm, to prepare for the evening events.

• the more popular events were shorter than 8 miles distance.

• the gardening events are astonishingly popular, with one garden event in 2026 attracting ~70 members!

• provision of up to 2 events on day 0 (the Friday, arrival day);

• provision of up to 10 events on day 1 (the Saturday);

• provision of up to 10 events on day 2 (the Sunday);

• provision of up to 3 events on day 3 (the Monday, departure day);

• where the events must include a variety of easy walks, moderate walks, difficult walks, garden events, history events and arts & culture events;

• all events need clear marketing: members must know how they benefit from the event purely upon the advert on the GOC website, with no ambiguity in the joining instructions.

Event difficulty - walks

Deviating from the prospectus in light of feedback from AOG 2026, the event difficulties are:

• an easy walk is up to 5 miles and an amble of less than ~1.6mph;

• a moderate walk is up to 8 miles and a pace of less than ~2.3mph (most of Herts GOC walks are moderate by this measure);

• a difficult walk is up to 12 miles and i) a pace greater than 2.3mph; or ii) a running/jogging event.

Event difficulty - cycling

The cyclists have yet to provide definitions for cycling difficulties.

UH Campus maps, postcodes & parking on the campus

The campus is University of Hertfordshire, College Lane Campus, Hatfield.

• postcodes: please do not use postcodes to navigate anywhere under any circumstances.   They are too unreliable.  Instead, use the links to the map systems provided below.

  • of the university's office: AL10 9AB (this is meaningless for navigation)

  • of the Car Park M, AL10 9DL, or http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=521464&Y=207056&A=Y&Z=115 or https://w3w.co/finger.proper.repair or https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/56672613 or https://maps.app.goo.gl/tuLZ8i1r7wy6V6P16 (Google thinks the postcode is AL10 9EJ... qed).

  • of the Car Park E, AL10 9PA, or http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=521314&Y=207673&A=Y&Z=115 or https://w3w.co/zones.loaded.seats or https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/51086875 or  https://maps.app.goo.gl/q2phHZsz2MTAvZd49 (Google thinks the postcode is AL10 9TB... qed).

  • of the south-eastern corner of the residential blocks, X or http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=521954&Y=207205&A=Y&Z=115 or AL10 9WX, or https://w3w.co/hotels.demand.face (now, that is a sign of the times: hotels demanding your face) or https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/467643193 or https://maps.app.goo.gl/iFbEHkjaiKiU3a68A (Google doesn't think a postcode exists for this point... qed).

The campus has a map.  Volunteers either planning routes or meeting-and-greeting on campus must learn the campus map.

• UH's general basic campus map is here.  It is suitable for initial orienteering, but obviously does not relate to how AOG2027 will use the campus.  Zoom in to see more details.  It is not printable.  We'll develop our own overlay on a map at a future date.

• OpenStreetMaps has designated UH over all of its sites, of which the College Lane campus designation is here.  OSM is particularly well detailed.  Zoom in to see more details, including the public works of art.

• To walk from two opposite points across the campus is ~16 minutes (~1 mile).

Campus car parking:

• the main car park is Car Park E (Students), located at the most north-west point of the campus.

• Car Park M (Multi-Storey) is located at the most south-west point of the campus, next to the Forum (students' social place).

• Car Park R (Residential) is a series of parcels of parking spaces alongside the eastern edge of the campus, immediate behind the student residences to which they relate.

• staff car parks are likely out of bounds for the AOG, but tend along the northern edge.

Campus cycle parking:

• there are cycle parks everywhere.  For further guidance, use OpenStreetMaps, zoom right in and browse.

Public transport to & from the UH campus

Volunteers planning routes must account for the time required to travel from Hatfield railway station to the UH's campus.  The choice of bus routes can be dazzling, but there is one salient choice.

• to walk from Hatfield railway station to UH's College Lane campus is ~40 mins, plus additional time around the campus.

• to bus from Hatfield railway station to UH's College Lane campus varies by bus route (Google Map live query).  Some routes take as little as 10 mins, others 20 mins, others 30 mins.  Some routes drop off on the western edge of the campus, others the eastern edge, the primary drop-off is the north-west corner.  As at Aug2026, we need to know more about the AOG's use of the campus before making hard choices about navigation instructions.

  • UNO is the preferred bus company of UH students.  The company has published this page for students of UH, which in turn links to this route map and this page of relevant timetables. 

  • UH itself refers to UNO here.

  • Intalink is the umbrella organisation that covers bus routes in Hertfordshire, of which UNO is only one participating bus company.  Maps and journey planners are available from this page, with a PDF of Hatfield town's bus routes here.

Email distribution list

Volunteers may subscribe to the following email group to receive planning updates during the planning process.  This protects the wider GOC membership from receiving planning correspondence.

The group address is at https://groups.google.com/g/planning-aog2027/about , from which interested members can subscribe.

Subscription to the group is recommended!

Event advert contents

By default, event adverts will contain core details to meet the requirements of the GOC website (e.g. date, time, grid reference etc). 

However, a successful advert requires more accurate data than the GOC website can automatically enforce.  This section sets out some of the additional text that ought to appear on all event adverts.

Summary:

• consistency of logistical content is the best way to eliminate ambiguity and loads of telephone calls to you on the morning of your event.  Use the suggested standard texts below where applicable.

• sketch out what members need to plan and prepare in the public description.  It will re-assure and attract them.

• summarise what members will gain from your joining event.  What will they see, hear, smell, taste?  What will they experience/feel?  For those living outside the region, what differences might they expect to see?

Feature image

If you don't yet have a feature image for your event, then use the "coming soon" image in the image gallery.  In the search box, type "coming soon", wait five seconds, then one image should appear.

The filename is "P1110967-as-GOC-temp-banner_sml.jpg" and the url is https://www.goc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P1110967-as-GOC-temp-banner_sml.jpg.

Event category

You must:

• if a walk, then select the right walking category (see definitions of easy, moderate and hard) above;

• select "Annual Outdoor Gathering" (for events of the AOG only, not pilot events);

• if starting at a railway station or bus station, then select "Public transport accessible".

You may select additional categories relevant to your event, e.g. cycling, history & heritage, city,  social etc.

Group selection

You must select:

• Annual Outdoor Gathering (AOG) (for events of the AOG only, not pilot events);

• Bedfordshire

• Cambridgeshire

• Essex

• Hertfordshire

• London

• Milton Keynes and N. Buckinghamshire

This reflects that this AOG is the Northern Home Counties AOG.

You may select additional groups relevant to your event (e.g. cycling, gardens, history & culture).  But do not add it to every group in the world: members in, say, Scotland, who are not attending the AOG will not appreciate the spam on their list of "events in your groups".

You should select the womens' group only if you:

• are running an event intended primarily at women only; and

• you have permission from the Women's Group Co-ordinator to select the group for your event.

General public description

Example of a first paragraph: "This is a circular/point-to-point walk/cycle-ride of X miles."

Use no more than four paragraphs to describe:

• what the members will see, hear, smell, taste, feel, experience.  Go big on this.

• if you think, "Well, it's.... normal... dunno what to say", then think of a member who walks only in the Pennines visiting Hatfield Herts.  His idea of  "normal" will be radically different to yours!  Think hard: what differences about your event might he enjoy?

Typical standard texts.  Copy & paste-without-formatting as applicable:

• Route is mainly exposed.  Wear sun protection and/or windproofs.

• Wear walking boots. {Use this where the route is mainly off-road and on churned, dried clay.]

• Wear sturdy trainers. [Use this where the route is mainly pavement, and the off-road bits are hard, dry ground.]

• Expect mud. [Unlikely in July, but if it has been raining and you are using a bridleway, warning members about mud meets many members' hygiene factors.]

• Bring packed lunch, plenty of water and something to sit on.

• Takeaway food and drink is available to buy at the start point.

• Takeaway food and drink is available to buy during the walk.

• The start point is not reasonably accessible by public transport.

• The start point is at a railway station/bus station.

• Optional pub stop at the end of the walk.

• There is a cafe at the start point.

Meeting point

• Meet at <time> at <precise location>.  [If you fail to mention the time here, you will receive loads of telephone calls from those members who can't/won't read the website carefully enough.]

• Correct Streetmap, GoogleMap, OpenStreetMap, What3Words, postcode, grid reference. [This is because the GOC website relies upon the grid reference, and it is never accurate enough to join an event.  One of the Herts group co-cordinators will "top-and-tail" this bit for you if you don't know how to fetch the URLs.]

Parking

Tell the members:

• free or paid?

• if paid, who sells tickets to it?  How does the vendor identify the car park?  Is it payable on the web, at the car park?  Does the car park machine accept cash?  Must the car park ticket be purchased in advance?

• if on-street, how many cars do you think might be safe to park there for one day?  Will this limit the numbers of members who can join your event?

Travel

Tell the members:

• whether there is reasonable public transport access to the event (thus repeating the line in the general public description);

• where there is viable public transport access:

  • name the station/bus stop; and

  • get a Google Map link or a link to the National Rail page of the station;

  • you know which Hatfield to pick, because you are local.  Don't assume that somebody from Wales knows which particular Hatfield hosts the AOG....  Eliminate the risk of confusion entirely.

• Specify the latest bus/train arrival times to your event, in each direction, so members know what journey to plan.  Some members will not be local: they won't have the familiarity about local transport that you do.  Eliminate the risk of confusion entirely.

• Specific the latest bus/train departure times from your event, so that members can guage the chance of getting back to their UH campus bedrooms by 5pm.  The clearer you are about this, the more you shall re-assure them that they can safely join your event without being late for the evening events.

Food & drink

Normally a copy-and-paste of the phases that you have selected in the general public description.

If food/drink is available before the walk, or during it, outline the choices available to reduce members' decision time on the day.

Event specific risks

Normally, you should leave this blank.

If your event has risks which are already described in either https://www.goc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Generic-Risk-Assessment-Walking.pdf or https://www.goc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Generic-Risk-Assessment-Cycling.pdf , then don't add anything more to it.

If you believe there is a risk that you really should mention in this box, seek guidance from a group co-ordinator as soon as possible before you submit your advert for moderation.  And expect the group co-ordinators to tell you to design a different route.

Limit the capacity of the attendance list

Leave this section set to "No" for the time being.

The moderators will change this on publication.  We will be using this facility for every AOG event, but its parameters have not yet been defined.

Hi-vis jackets

As at Aug2026, GOC-branded hi-vis jackets for walk leaders and large-walk marshalls are voluntary.  This is, in part, because they are not available from the GOC shop.

Document change history & status

Aug2026: draft.