In this issue of the B.B., you will find the annual list of
member’s names and addresses in the form of a supplement fixed into the centre
pages.  It has been decided to include
this in the November B.B., rather than the Christmas edition, as this will give
members longer time to have these before Christmas.

There is plenty of space for adding new addresses or changes
of address during the year – you will find the first few of these alterations
in this B.B., and it is hopes to print more in each B.B. during the coming
year.  You will also find a list of
useful addresses of committee members etc.

In spite of our publishing the list in this B.B., it is
still hoped to make the Christmas B.B. its usual size.

“Alfie”

*****************************************

It has been suggested that a competition will be held at
next year’s dinner for a Photographic Essay on a caving or climbing
subject.  The essay should consist of
between ten and twelve photographs.  The
essay may be either a black and white essay or a colour slide essay. In the
latter case, it should be accompanied by a short ‘script’.  Suitable prizes will be awarded.  It is appreciated that the preparation of
such essays will take some time, so this is a first announcement giving nearly
a year’s notice.  Further reminders will
be issued at intervals during the year.

Caving Programme.

December 11/12 
Yorkshire.  Easegill.
December 11/12  Mendip.  Lamb Leer.

Access to St. Cuthbert’s.

Parties requiring trips into St.
Cuthbert’s should write to Pete Franklin,

20 Clayton Street, Avonmouth,

Bristol, giving at least 4
weeks notice.  Please make this widely
known to all cavers.

St. Cuthbert’s Library.

Phil Kingston still requires
photographs, notes, logs, etc.  Please
give him any details you may have.

Whitsun in Pembroke

The article which follows was
submitted some time ago, and it has unfortunately had to wait until now for a
suitable space for publication.  We
apologise to Kangy and others for its lateness, but rust it will bring back
pleasant memories to those who took part, and prove useful to those who may be
thinking of a holiday next year along similar lines.

It was noticed on a visit last year that the area of
limestone coastline between Stack Rocks and St. Govan’s Head abounds with caves
and potholes.  The potholes very often
have a sea connection and “blow” in stormy weather.  The cliff height is of the order of 150 feet
and the strata are mainly horizontal. The area is also an army range.

This year, two of the most interesting pots, the first for
its promise and the second for its sensation, were laddered by Alan Thomas,
Eddy Welch and Kangy.  Our leisurely
campaign was brought to an unexpected conclusion because the range was closed
after two days, forcing us to sunbathe idly on a beach while Thomas went to be
psychological somewhere in St. Cuthbert’s.

The first pot, laughingly called B.E.C.1 for want of a local
name, is the furthest inland of two potholes midway between St. Govan’s head
and Stack Rocks (Map Ref: 151/947938). The first forty feet is roughly circular and shattered in cross section
after which it becomes more solid and rectangular.  An enormous quantity of ladder was assembled
and lowered into the hole and belayed to outcropping rock.  There was an awkward start for the first
twenty feet, then a free section to a ledge at forty feet.  The next eighty feet was free after the
initial few feet although quite close to a fine wall.  This is very similar to the last pitch of
Primrose Pot, Eastwater.  Sufficient
light filtered down the shaft to show us the bottom with its sandy floor,
driftwood and old iron.  To seaward there
is a low crawl which was not pushed. Opposite the ladder was a slit like passage leading to a chamber with
aven and a low crawl which seemed blocked. Inland, the interesting direction, the line of weakness led to a narrow
rift.  The rift was a tight fit for
twenty feet and then opened up into two consecutive small chambers, the final
one of which ended in a small aven and contained small calcite flows and stalactites.

The leading dimensions are: – Depth, 120 feet, laddered in
one pitch and 100 feet of passage inland from the ladder.  The second pot attempted, by precedent
laughingly called B.E.C.2 is the obvious narrow slot near the edge of the cliff
at the greet hole between Elegug Stake and Flimstone Ray (Ref: 929946).

This is a 150 foot pitch and not really a laughing
matter.  The ladder was laid from a stake
driven into an odd foot of top soil.  It
followed four distinct sections.  After
approximately thirty feet of crumbling limestone, it twisted onto about twenty
feet of earth and stones at the angle of repose to a ¬boulder wedged into the
earth at the narrowest point of the shaft. Below the boulder, the shaft continues vertically and the ladder hung by
a wall similar in composition to the previous earthy section, except here it is
vertical.  Twenty feet below the boulder
and eighty feet above the floor, the shaft opened out into the side of a
wonderful hall or tunnel in massive limestone open at both end to the sea.  The final eighty foot section twisted
initially and then hung free.

Because of the danger of falling stones, only one descent
was made.  The first section was
descended slowly removing most of the loose stones within reach and sending them
crashing below.  The sloping earth was
treated similarly.  The boulder gave rise
to much thought.  To remove it was to
remove a bung holding up a mass of debris. As the ladder had to rest against it to climb below it was to risky
disturbing it.  Emotion receded as
experiment showed that the weight of the ladder put to boulder into
compression, so it was alright.  Emotion
still demanded a rapid climb down to section of the junction of shaft and
tunnel where what fell, fell clear of the ladder.  All continued well until with about twenty
feet to go, the lifeline jammed. Shouting failed.  Jerking the line
failed.  A pause then a careful look
around showed that it is possible to reach this part of the cave by swimming in
from the sea.  This determined, the
ascent began, clipping on to the rope to take up the slack every twenty feet or
so, being cautiously aware of each rattling stone.

Once at the surface, the ladder was retrieved – a protracted
and difficult manoeuvre which released even more stones.  We bemoaned the lack of a suitable
transmitter and receiver and hand hoped that the Club Dachstein party would
have these for their convenience and safety.

More descents of other pots had been planned including
shooting a film of B.E.C.1, but the “good old Territorials wot fave death wiv a
smile” had the range for the remainder of our holiday, and so that was
that.  We are intrigued to know more of
these pots.  The locals could not help,
and we thus welcome information.

“Kangy”

The

Mendip
Cave Registry

The Mendip Cave Registry is a collection of all known
references to Mendip caves.  The actual
registers are thick “twinlock” binders and may be inspected at the

Bristol reference Library
on College Green and the Wells County Public Library.

It must not be supposed that the Registry is a sort of super
guide book to the Mendip caves.  It does
not itself contain any but the briefest information on the caves
themselves.  What is does contain is the
most complete set of information as to where you will find published
information on any particular cave.

All the caves are listed under map references, and a
complete set of maps of the Mendip area is included in the Registers
themselves, so that the whereabouts of every cave may be found and the information
looked up.  For many year now, a group of
Mendip cavers have put in a great deal of work to bring the Registry up to its
present state, and it may well be wondered how useful is all this information
to the average caver.  The purpose of
this article is to try to explain how the ordinary caver can make use of this
information, which is by far the most complete for any caving area in the
British Isles, and possibly in the world.

The caver who is doing some form of research will obviously
find the Registry of great use.  Let us
suppose that some caver has the idea of writing an article (or even a book!) on
the Exploration of Swildons Hole.  He
will no doubt be familiar with the early writings of H.E. Balch, but may well
be at a loss to sort out the bewildering amount of exploration carried out by
so many clubs in parts of Swildons since the last war.  On consulting the Registry, he will find
nearly six feet of entries on single spaced typing all dealing with this cave,
and all will have brief notes beside them as to what they are about.  All he then has to do is to copy out those
which have something to do with exploration, and he is then armed with a
complete list of published references to the exploration of Swildons Hole.  Many of the books referred to may be obtained
from the reference libraries, and he should remember that any library will
obtain books for from any other library. Some of the books might be a little more difficult to get hold of, but
at lest he will know what he has to obtain and where it may be found.

On the other hand, the caver may have been wandering on
Mendip and seen a likely looking depression or swallet.  His enquiries may not produce anyone who
knows whether it has ever been dug in the past. A visit to either of the libraries will rapidly show whether there is
any known reference to the site (since the register is arranged in order of map
reference, it becomes a very easy matter to look up a site which may well have
no name or no ether way apart from the map reference of describing it).  A good example of this was the enquiries made
by cavers some years ago about Emborough swallet.  This is a fine looking swallet containing an
active stream, and it seemed unlikely that it had never been investigated.  Nobody who was asked had even heard of the
place.  Eventually – much more by luck
than by judgement – a reference was found in an early edition of the ‘British
Caver’.  This reference was not under the
heading of the cave name, but a reference to it in some miscellaneous notes on
Mendip generally.  To find this sort of
reference, you would have to comb’ through all the caving magazines you could
think of and this could well take months. This has all been done, once and for all, by the registrars of the
Mendip Cave Registry and it is continually being kept up to date.  If the B.E.C. restarted work on Emborough,
within a few weeks of an article or reference to this cave being made in the
B.B., an appropriate note would appear in the books in the libraries at

Bristol and wells.

It is possible that you have no actual object in mind apart
form a desire to read up a bit more about Mendip caves.  Perhaps you have already read Balch’s books
and are wondering what other books there are to be read.  A browse through the Registry will show you what
books are being referred to for what caves and this will give you a very good
idea as to what you are likely to find in any book mentioned.

It is hoped that this short article has given some of the
uses of the Registry.  If interest is
shown, another article will follow explaining things in more detail.

“alfie”

Overheard at the B.E.C. Dinner

Three cavers, belonging to the

Wessex, the S.M.C.C. and the B.E.C.
respectively, were discussing what clubs they might have joined, if things had
turned out differently for them.  Said
the
Wessex member, “Before I
joined the

Wessex,
I was thinking seriously of applying to the Shepton.”  To which the Shepton member replied, “If I
hadn’t joined the Shepton, I should have certainly joined the

Wessex.”  The B.E.C. member, listening to this drivel
said, “If I hadn’t joined the B.E.C., I’d join the B.E.C.”

Letter

19 Greencroft Ave.,
Northowram,
HALIFAX,
25.10.65

To the Editor of the Belfry bulletin.

Re. the pipe in Swildons

Dear Sir,

When I first came to Mendip fresh form the tumbling waters
of Lost John’s, Rumbling Hole, etc, I thought “What a weegee idea to have a
pipe in a cave at the top of a pitch!” As it happened, this was the summer of 1959 when Swildons was bone dry
anyway, so the pipe to my superior northern eyes looked even more
ridiculous.  However, after a few trips
in a wet Swildons, I began to change my mind, particularly when I had met some
of the amazing collection of odd bods who manage to stray down under all
conditions.

It was therefore with alarm and disgust that I read of the
removal of the pipe, just as I was thinking of fitting one to Gaping Gill Main
Shaft.  Must the so-called tigers take it
upon themselves top do such anti-social things? The pipe had been there for years – accepted as part of the scenery.  Why, then, remove it?  Surely, if you want a really sporting climb,
then hang your ladder over the end of the pipe – thus getting the full force of
the water where it will do most good.  If
the tigers must spend their time removing things from caves, let them make a
start on carbide and old sardine tins, not on things serving to make a cave a
safer place.  Having removed the pipe, I
suggest the tigers take the next logical step and do without ladder.  One must not be artificial!

Yours faithfully
D.D. “Grassy”

Greenwood.