A Happy New Year to all our readers and Good Caving in 1958

Editorial

We must, unfortunately, start 1958 with an apology from the
Editor, who has been on the sick list for the last month.  As a result of this, the B.B. will be a week
late this month and some of the letters about water Temperatures in Cuthbert’s
again cannot be published until he can return to work, where they have been
left.  He hopes that he will be ‘back to
normal’ by the time the February B.B. is due to to written.

As a result of several requests for a back cover, we have
had the covers printed for this year to fold over and make a complete cover for
the inside pages.  This should, again,
improve the appearance of the magazine. We have retained the colour and design of last year.

We should like to take this opportunity to ask our
contributors to indicate on their articles etc.; whether they are agreeable to
having it condensed if necessary.  This
has been done on some occasions in the past, so that it will fit into a
particular issue of the magazine; and on most of these occasions, the author’s
agreement has been given.  We should,
however, like people to know that, where they consider this to be a bad thing,
their wishes will be respected.

Finally, an appeal to vote for the 1958 committee.  There are plenty of names to choose from this
year!  Make sure you get the people YOU
want, and turn up in your thousands to the A.G.M. at Redcliffe Hall on Saturday
afternoon, 25th January.  The Annual
Dinner follows at Cheddar that evening.

 “Alfie”

December Committee Meeting

Two new decisions have been made concerning grades of club
membership.  Joint membership is to be
free if the husband is conscripted and would thus qualify for free
membership.  This was passed Nem. Con. (5
for and 2 abstaining).  In addition, a
new class of membership has been agreed to. This is Joint Life Membership and will cost 7 guineas.

The trees have been planted on the Belfry site and some of
the fencing necessary is in position. The arrangements for the new Belfry, mains water, accumulator disposal
etc., continue.

New Members

We should like to welcome John Cundy and James Goodwin, who
have recently been elected to membership of the club.

Changes of Address and New Addresses.

For those who are determined to keep their annual list of
addresses up to date, see the following: –

Delete the 5 from

Bristol in Bryan Ellis’s
address.

Add      389.  R. Burky,

52 Sedgemoor Road,
Coombe Down,
Bath,

Somerset

G.B. Dates

The following Dates have recently been received form the
U.B.S.S.: –

18th January; 1st March; 12th
April; 31st May

Water Temperatures

December 15th, 1957.

Some more temperatures were taken in Cuthbert’s on December
7th by Norman Petty, Paul and Tessie Burt, together with a party of visitors
from

Leicester
University led by Alan Coase.

To begin with, the party showed odd fluctuations in numbers
and we were beginning to wonder whether we could ever count bods, let alone
degrees; but it settled down at six and remained more or less so for the rest
of the trip.

Surface water temperatures were taken in Cuthbert‘s pool and
Plantation Stream.  At this stage, it was
discovered that the party had no less than three thermometers for water
temperature as well as a wet and dry bulb thermometer for humidity
readings.  This seemed rather a lot, but
the number was adjusted on the way down the entrance pitch, at the bottom of
which, one was found to be broken.  This
sacrifice must have placated St. Cuthbert, as all went smoothly afterwards.

Temperatures were taken at most of the places suggested by
Don Coase (see B.B.118) and he saw to it that the temperature of the Wookey
Rising was also taken (at 2.30 a.m.!)

All temperatures so far taken are summarized in the table in
degrees Centigrade.  The thermometers
used for water temp. could not be read accurately to better than 0.25OC, so
that differences of less than half a degree must be disregarded.

Air temperatures were also taken in December, in the same
places as the water temperatures and they were consistently 10.1 to 10.2 except
in two places, and the pools in the Rabbit Warren and on the Great Gour, where
they were 10.5O

In December, the air temperature outside the cave had
recently risen considerably, so that it was well above the temperature of the
stream entering the cave.  Under these
conditions, the larger the volume of the stream and the more rapid its flow,
the lower would its temperature when it entered the cave.  Thus the

Plantation stream entered around 0.9 degrees
cooler than the slower, smaller St. Cuthbert’s stream.  As no other stream as large as these enters
the ground in the area, it seems likely that any other water entering the St.
Cuthbert’s system would be seepage water entering the ground at a temperature
close to that of the St. Cuthbert’s stream or even higher.

From the table, it will be seen that the Cuthbert’s stream
had risen about one degree between the surface and Plantation Junction.  All other cave water tested, except the
Plantation stream, was at about the same temperature (9.1
to 9.5) but the

Plantation
stream at Plantation Junction was nearly a degree cooler than the Cuthbert’s
stream at the same place – about the same difference they showed on the
surface.  This seems to support the view
that the

Plantation
stream in the cave is correctly named, for had this stream been caused by
seepage water, its temperature would have been at least a degree higher.

The situation in October is much harder to sort out, since a
true air temperature is lacking.  It was
assumed that this was 9.2 degrees, the temperature of the Cuthbert’s stream at
the Dining Room, but it seems surprising that the cave air temperature should
be lower in October than December. Perhaps drier air entered the cave and the stream cooled to below air
temperature by evaporation?  If it is
assumed that in October, the cave air temperature was between 9 and 10 degrees,
then the fact that the Plantation stream changed less in temperature between
the surface and Plantation Junction than did the Cuthbert’s stream in reaching
the Dining Room, is not surprising, since, although both streams ended up close
to cave air temperature, Cuthbert’s left the surface much further from it.

More readings are needed. The situation that would throw most light on the problem would be to
have both plantation and Cuthbert’s streams entering the cave at the same
temperature, this temperature being at least 3O different from cave air
temperature.

Fortunately, it may be possible to get more direct evidence.  Water samples were taken from the two streams
on the surface, and the Cuthbert’s stream was found to contain a great deal of
chloride, the plantation stream little. It is hope to take water samples from the cave during the next
temperature trip.

It is interesting that pools, such as the one in the Rabbit
Warren and on the Great Gour, both very large compared with the volume of water
entering them, should be able to remain up to 0.8O different from cave air
temperature.  In December, their supply
was cooler than cave air temperature, and it would be of interest to see if
they maintain their temperature differential when the water supply is warmer
than cave air temperature.  This seems
unlikely.

The air temperatures of the cave were remarkably
constant.  The difference of 0.4OC
between the air close to the stream and the situations of the roof of the cave
was probably due to air cooled by the stream tending to underlie warmer,
stagnant air above; the direction of the temperature gradient tending to make the
conditions stable in a similar manner to ‘frost pockets’ on the surface.  Presumably when the stream is warmer than the
air, convection would occur and the temperature differences would not be
observed.

The temperature of the Wookey Rising agrees well with the
St. Cuthbert’s air temperature, and is probably the temperature of the whole
mass of Mendip at this depth.

The relative humidity of the cave was at all times above
99%, the instrument used being sufficiently accurate to distinguish humidity
between 99% and 100%.  It seems that an
instrument having a sensitivity of not less than 0.025OC would be necessary to
record the very small differences from 100% humidity to be expected in caves.  December 7th was not a day when humidity’s of
much lower than 100% could have been expected in the cave, as the surface
humidity at the time was 100%.  (A
typical Mendip mist, in fact! D.A.C.)

N. Petty and P. Burt

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

I hope that our Ed. will not
think me derogative,
If I say that this space seems to be his prerogative.
So creating a precedent is now my intention
With this little rhyming of my own invention

Mervn Hannam

Answers to Problems in Christmas B.B.

Xmas Xword.  Across: – (1) and (6) Electrolysis.  (9) Fluorides.  (10)

Ghana.  (11) Not Home.  (12) Whorled. (13) Inhales its smell.  (15)
Climbing reports.  (18) Ensigns.  (19) Alpacas. (22) Viola.  (23) Overthrow.  (24) Reels. (25) Needler.  Down.  (1) Elfin. (2) E Boat.  (3) Turmoil.  (4) Old and Sandstone.  (14) Hailstone.  (15) Cleaver. (16) Bog Oaks.  (17) Pipette.  (20) Coral. (21) Sewer.

Puzzle Corner:  The normal argument runs as follows: –
Calling the three men A, B and C; A says to himself. “My disc is either black
or white.  Let me assume it to be white.  In that case, B can see a black disc on C and
a white one on me.  He will know that his
own cannot be white, for if it were, C would see both the white discs, and
since there are only two white ones, would know his own was black and would
speak up.  By this reasoning, B would
thus be able, to deduce his own colour. But he has not done so.  Therefore
my original assumption was incorrect, and my own disc must be black.”

A much quicker solution has been received from Jill
Rollason.  In this one, A argues that
since the Governor sets Great store by intelligence, he is not likely to set a
problem that gives any of the three men an unfair advantage.  There is thus only one way in which they can
all have an equal chance.  Therefore they
all have black discs.

Tankards Hole

A report on Tankard’s Hole will eventually appear in a
B.E.C. Caving Report on work done in some of the smaller caves on Mendip, but
as this is not due to appear for some months, here is a short article on ths
wave.  It is situated ‘In a shakehole by
the roadside not so far from the Hunter’s Pub’ – thank you Mr. Lawder! – and
many people have heard rumours about its doubtful stability in places.  Now for some facts.  Although several boulders look unsafe, the
direct route to the lowest Chamber is safe, provided reasonable care is taken
and that the urge to wander off the beaten track is suppressed.  However, every exploration trip in which Tony
Rich, Russell Jenkins and myself took part, has included some incident and we
were all lucky many times to escape injury, even though we were not taking any
rash chances.  There is every likelihood
of this element of risk to exploration parties continuing, if not even
increasing, for the way on from the lowest chamber is very unpleasant.

Briefly, the cave is about two hundred feet deep vertically,
and most of it is contained in two vertical boulder ruckles.  It contains no large stream, but in wet
weather there are many small streams and the cave shows signs of intense water
action.  There is quite a bit of work to
be done in this cave.   First of all,
there is a way on at the present end which requires exploring.  The cave has not been surveyed, although this
is hardly worth while at this stage.

In a couple of places, there are alternative routes between
boulders, an obvious way and a short cut. In one such place, the short cut avoids a very awkward squeeze but the
boulders are unstable to such a degree that Mr. Rich did not even think of
using it,  in passing tackle through.

I know of no photography yet, but there is nothing, but the
boulders to photograph.  It would have
been useful to have been able to confirm with photographs that a big change did
take place in a collapse triggered off, in all innocence, by Maurice Isles
during an eventful trip in September 1956, and there are a couple of fossils
that may be worth a photograph.

Roger Stenner.

Date For Your Diary

Thursday, 23^rd January ’58 at 7.30PM
St. Mary Redcliffe Church Hall.

“CLIMBING IN

AUSTRIA”

Colour Transparencies by Ron King and Allan Bonner

A Trip to O.F.D.

Where’s my speaking trumpet? Ah!  Hello folks!  The B.E.C. go caving abroad.  I mean
South Wales,
in fact Ogof Ffynon Ddu.

Saturday morning dawned (at 11 0’clock) to see Norman Petty
and myself bustling up the

Gloucester
Road.  We
had made good time till we got just outside Monmouth where a bald front tyre
and a slippery bend added up to two lads sliding off towards Monmouth minus one
m/c.  The damaged was assessed and a
motorcycle shop soon straightened things out and brazed pieces on and after an
hour and a half, we were on our way.  Here I must boast to being the only B.E.C. member who has fallen off a
motorbike with Norman Petty.  I believe
this is his first accident since 1946, which only goes to show what a good
driver he really is.  We arrived at the
S.W.C.C. cottage at about 3.30pm and met Roger and Daphne.  We visited the resurgence of Dan-yr-Ogof and
also the Gwyn Arms.  A pleasant warm
night was passed at the spare cottage.

First thing next morning (about 11 o’clock again) we left
for O.F.D., and after paying our 1/- entrance fee, disappeared into the bowels
of the earth.  It is quite unlike any
Mendip cave, for you can walk around for an hour without bending your
back!  We visited the stream passage, the
Wire Traverse, the Column Series, Crystal Pool Chamber, Rawl series and Low’s
Passage all ably led by Bill Little.  We
also saw some of the formations – such as the fingers – which appear as photos
in ‘British Caving’.

We regained the surface at 4.15 and left for the
cottage.  We were held up at the

Patti
Hospital
where it was visiting day, and two really wet and dirty lads were surrounded by
people dressed in their Sunday best.

Eventually we left, after enjoying the hospitality of the
South Wales Caving Club, and after an inmensly cold journey back, arrived in

Bristol some 3½ hours
later.

I’ll put my speaking trumpet away for now.  That’s all folks!

Russell Jenkins

Annual General Meeting

To be held at Redcliffe Community Centre at 2.15pm on sat.
25^th January 1958

Agenda

1.                  ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

2.                  COLLECTION OF BALLOT PAPERS

3.                  COLLECTION OF MEMBER’S RESOLUTIONS

4.                  ELECTION OF TELLERS FOR BALLOT

5.                  ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF LAST ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING

6.                  HON. SECRETARY’S REPORT

7.                  HON. TREASURER’S REPORT

8.                  CAVING REPORT

9.                  CLIMBING REPORT

10.              TACKLE REPORT

11.              BELFRY REPORT

12.              LIBRARY REPORT

13.              MEBER’S RESOLUTIONS

14.              ANY OTHER BUSINESS

THE HON. SECRETARY HAS, SO FAR, RECEIVED NO RESOLUTIONS FROM
MEMBERS FOR THE ABOVE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

 (Financial Statement
follows on Page 6 overleaf)

Financial Statement For The Year To The Thirty First December 1957

The Belfry Bulletin. No. 120.  January 1958.
Editor: S.J. Collins  , I

Kensington Place,
Clifton,
Bristol 8
Secretary: R.J. Bagshaw,

56
Ponsford Road, Knowle,

Bristol 4