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Church Micro History

7th November 2007

The very first cache of the series Church Micro 1...Earlswood was published late evening.

8th November 2007

The FTF of above cache and the series went to BaSHful at around 8:25am. The cache was found four more times that day by Cache U Nutter, tjapukai, GeoCotch and sham69

The next three caches Church Micro 2...Merstham, Church Micro 3...Leigh and Church Micro 4...Shere were published this day. The first two were both found, both times by Cache U Nutter.

9th November 2007

The fourth cache (see above) is found when tjapukai finally got his first FTF in this series.

The fifth cache Church Micro 5...Wotton is published and provides tjapukai with his second FTF of the day and the series (with many more ahead).

15th December 2007

The franchise is opened up and the first cache not owned by sadexploration is published. This is Church Micro 51...Send by Woking Wonders and provides tjapukai with yet another FTF.

24th December 2007

The first puzzle (the third icon of the series) appears. This is Church Micro 59...Dark Ghost Prowl also by Woking Wonders and again tjapukai gets the FTF though this time he shares it with garyhoney.

August 2008

The first version of the Statistics page appears. At this stage it consists of only the Finder Ranking Table.

7th November 2008

The first anniversary of the series. The number of published caches has risen to about 351.

12th September 2009

The first letterbox hybrid (the fourth icon of the series) appears. This is Church micro # 840 St Matthews Church by mundy family. The FTF goes to Tizzie.

7th November 2009

The second anniversary of the series. The number of published caches has risen to about 896.

26th January 2010

The first wherigo (the fifth icon of the series) appears. This is Church Micro 1,000...Wherigo to Church by sadexploration. The FTF goes to Insp-Gadget.

And in case you hadn't noticed, it's also the 1000th in the series!
Note: but probably not the 1000th published, as there will have been earlier numbers issued that hadn't got passed the reviewer yet.

21st February 2010

The two front runnings, Woking Wonders and mcwomble, briefly put aside their (friendly) rivalry and met up to jointly do the recently published (see above) Church Micro 1,000...Wherigo to Church so as to simultaneously reach 500 in the "Finders" table. At the time this seemed a phenominal achievement but over the following years many more cachers would reach this milestone.
Note: At that time the "Finders" table also included owned caches in the series, so the real 500th find was not until 22nd March 2013 (see below).

22nd March 2010

mcwomble, by finding Church Micro 953 St Marys Church - Bocking, becomes the first person to reach 500 finds of Church Micros.

16th October 2010

mcwomble, by finding Church Micro 1...Earlswood, becomes the first person to reach 1000 finds of Church Micros.

7th November 2010

The third anniversary of the series. The number of published caches has risen to about 1442.

27th November 2010

Church Micro IE 1 - St. Pius X, Templeogue published in Ireland, the first sister series.

31st December 2010

mcwomble ends a period of temporary insanity by finding the appropriately ferociously difficult Church Micro 1429...Westcott-St Johns Free Church, his 500th consecutive Church Micro find and then finally bringing his streak to an end at 502 with the find of Church Micro 1439...Westhumble.

22nd July 2011

Publication of Church Micro 2000...Turners Hill by sadexploration. The FTF goes to martletsman.

14th August 2011

The facility to display an award becomes available.

2nd October 2011

The first Church Micro challenge cache is published, appropriately called Church Micro Challenge by natterjacktoad. The FTF goes to Broyleboxers.

17th October 2011

The first earthcache (the sixth icon of the series) appears. This is Earthquake! CM2180 - St Mary's, Wivenhoe by geotrowel. The FTF goes to foxscout.

7th November 2011

The fourth anniversary of the series. The number of published caches has risen to about 2162.

9th April 2012

The number of published caches in the series passes 2500 and award level 8, "Primate", becomes theoretically possible. The Woking Wonders start the long chase to get there first.

14th July 2012

The Woking Wonders become the first to find 2000 Church Micros with Church Micro 2807...Salfords Christ The King.

21st September 2012

Publication of Church Micro 3000: London St Paul's Cathedral by jazzyjessups. The FTF goes to Pja_cz.

7th November 2012

The fifth anniversary of the series and the first "Church Micro Day" when cachers were encouraged to find a cache on this date. Many took up the challenge and these statistics were produced.

15th January 2013

The second version of the statistics page goes live. Now there are ranking tables for both finders and owners, data about placed caches and a selection of 'top ten' tables.

2nd March 2013

The Woking Wonders finally make it to their 2500th Church Micro find at Church Micro 2879...Ditcheat to become the first "Primate".

16th June 2013

The THE KOSCIOWS become the first to find 100 Church Micros in a single day. Read more.

23rd July 2013

With perfect timing Church Micro 4000 - London Westminster Abbey by qrang is published. Why perfect timing? Well, Kate Middleton and Prince William got married here and their first child, George Alexander Louis, was born today. The joint FTF goes to The Creepy Crawlies and Sludge bucket

21st September 2013

It now requires at least 100 Church Micro finds to be listed in the top 500 of the 'Finder Ranking Table', and the cutoff point continues to rise!

29th September 2013

With the publication today of Church Micro 4302…Farewell and Church Micro 4303…Armitage, PickNMix became the 1000th cacher to contribute to the series.

27th October 2013

The Woking Wonders become the first to find 3000 Church Micros with Church Micro 3903…Gatcombe.

4th November 2013

The Trackables page goes live. (It lists trackables associated with the series.)

7th November 2013

The sixth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache on this date. Many took up the challenge and these statistics were produced.

14th January 2014

Publication of Church Micro 5000...Chichester Cathedral. The joint FTF goes to MrCryptic and Broyleboxers.

20th January 2014

The number of caches in the series passes the 5000 mark (including archived caches). The awards have been extended to level 9 - "Saint" or "Grandmaster 2nd Dan".

21st June 2014

Publication of Church Micro 6000…York Minster. The FTF goes to St.Nicholas (now there's an apt cacher name for this series!).

23rd June 2014

The number of caches in the series passes the 6000 mark (including archived caches).

12th August 2014

The number of finds passes the half million mark.

7th November 2014

The seventh anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache on this date. Many took up the challenge and these statistics were produced.

20th December 2014

The number of caches in the series passes the 7000 mark (including archived caches).

31st December 2014

The Woking Wonders become the first to find 4000 Church Micros with, very appropriately, Church Micro 4000 - London Westminster Abbey.

3rd January 2015

Publication of Church Micro 7000...Portsmouth Cathedral. The joint FTF goes to TheHarleyRebels, 1gowild, GeoJaxx and zephyrsailor.

16th March 2015

You now need at least 200 Church Micro finds to be listed in the top 500 finders table.

25th May 2015

The number of caches in the series passes the 8000 mark (including archived caches).

30th June 2015

Publication of Church Micro 8000 ... Fountains Abbey. The FTF goes to Ed2Ed.

7th November 2015

The eighth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache on this date. Many took up the challenge and these statistics were produced.

6th December 2015

The Woking Wonders become the first to find 5000 Church Micros with, very appropriately, Church Micro 5000...Chichester Cathedral. This also takes them to the next and 9th award level "Saint". Furthermore, this is their 15,000th cache!

23rd December 2015

The number of caches in the series passes the 9000 mark (including archived caches).

21st January 2016

Publication of Church Micro 9000....Leicester Cathedral. The joint FTF goes to Nightworker33 and ratcliffe.

11th July 2016

The number of caches in the series passes the 10,000 mark (including archived caches).
This means award level 10 (Angel) has become theoretically possible.

7th August 2016

The number of unique finds of Church Micro caches passes the million mark.

29th August 2016

You now need at least 300 Church Micro finds to be listed in the top 500.

20th September 2016

Publication of Church Micro 10000 Tintern Abbey. The FTF goes to pr2105.

7th November 2016

The ninth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache on this date. Many took up the challenge and these statistics were produced.

1st January 2017

There are now more than 100,000 different cachers (i.e. caching accounts) that have found one or more caches in this series.

18th March 2017

The number of caches in the series passes the 11,000 mark (including archived caches).

15th May 2017

qrang, after a long, long chase, finally topple Woking Wonders from the top of the leader table, where they had reigned for the last five years.

There are now 2000 different cachers who have set one or more Church Micro caches.

10th August 2017

qrang become the first to find 6000 Church Micros.

29th August 2017

The first virtual (the seventh icon of the series) appears. In fact, two were published today:-
Church Micro 11093... Buckler's Hard by thebuttonmushroom. The FTF goes to SeekingSalters.
Church Micro 11100...Kilgwrrwg by Razorfishy. The FTF goes to evsbaggsy.
See the Placed tab on the statistics page for the total eventually published.

1st November 2017

Publication of Church Micro 11000...Coventry Cathedral. The FTF goes to toothscout.

7th November 2017

The tenth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache or attend an event on this date. Many took up the challenge and these statistics were produced. For the first time, events (the eighth icon of the series) were held, between 3rd and 11th November, to celebrate the occassion. 51 events were held in total wih 815 people attending one or more events. There were 970 attendances in total. Yet more statistics: Lists of events and attendees.

4th December 2017

You now need at least 400 Church Micro finds to be listed in the top 500.

12th January 2018

The number of caches in the series passes the 12,000 mark (including archived caches).

30th March 2018

Publication of Church Micro 12000...Hereford Cathedral. The FTF goes to SOAPY chickens.

7th November 2018

The eleventh anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache or attend an event on this date. Many took up the challenge. See the Church Micro Day page for a table of statistics produced.

22nd January 2019

The number of caches in the series passes the 13,000 mark (including archived caches).

11th February 2019

qrang become the first to find 7000 Church Micros.

17th June 2019

After just over two years in the top position, qrang are overtaken by Baghunter.

21st September 2019

The first CITO (the ninth icon of the series) appears. This is Church Cito 001…St Peter's by martletsman.

7th October 2019

You now need at least 500 Church Micro finds to be listed in the top 500.

7th November 2019

Publication of Church Micro 13000... Dunblane Cathedral. The FTF goes to stirlingstew.

The twelth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache or attend an event on this date. Many took up the challenge. See the Church Micro Day page for a table of statistics produced.

Church Micro BE CMB001 - Eke, Oude St-Amanduskerk published in Belgium, the second sister series.

12th November 2019

Baghunter become the first to find 8000 Church Micros.

15th February 2020

The number of caches in the series passes the 14,000 mark (including archived caches).

5th October 2020

Baghunter become the first to find 9000 Church Micros.

12th October 2020

Church Micro NL001 - Ede, Grote Kerk published in Holland, the third sister series.

7th November 2020

The thirteenth anniversary of the series but a bit of a damp squid due to Covid-19. No events but some caches found. See the Church Micro Day page for a table of statistics produced.

26th April 2021

The number of caches in the series passes the 15,000 mark (including archived caches).

2nd June 2021

Publication of Church Micro 14000...St Albans Cathedral A.L.Bonus. The FTF goes to Team Hippo.

25th July 2021

The number of unique finds of Church Micro caches passes the two million mark.

8th October 2021

Baghunter becomes the first to find 10,000 Church Micros. This also takes them to the next and 10th award level "Angel".

24th October 2021

1cachefinder, Baghunter's long time companion on the Church Micro trail, becomes the secord to find 10,000 Church Micros and obtain "Angel" status.

7th November 2021

The fourteenth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache or attend an event on this date. Many took up the challenge. See the Church Micro Day page for a table of statistics produced.

31st December 2021

Somewhen this year the Spanish and fourth sister series got going.

7th February 2022

You now need at least 600 Church Micro finds to be listed in the top 500.

1st June 2022

Baghunter becomes the first to find 11,000 Church Micros.

17th August 2022

There are now more than 200,000 different cachers (i.e. caching accounts) that have found one or more caches in this series.

7th November 2022

The first Community Celebration Event (the tenth icon of the series) appears. This is Church Micro 10115…15 Year Anniversary Event by Hammer66.

The fifteenth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache or attend an event on this date. Many took up the challenge. See the Church Micro Day page for a table of statistics produced.

21st November 2022

The number of caches in the series passes the 16,000 mark (including archived caches).

18th June 2023

Baghunter becomes the first to find 12,000 Church Micros.

7th November 2023

The sixteenth anniversary of the series. Cachers were encouraged to find a cache or attend an event on this date. Many took up the challenge. See the Church Micro Day page for a table of statistics produced.