Contents
Editorial
This is going to be very brief note this month. In fact, in the ordinary course of events,
there would have been no editorial at all there being nothing to comment on
but seeing that we only have one article to print this month perhaps this will
not come amiss.
As we stated when we took over this job, if we got a
shortage of articles and contributions, we would just press on by
ourselves. This has occurred this month,
and the following B.B. is the result. This is just a gentle hint.
Alfie
April Committee Meeting
Owing to the unavoidable absence of the Hon. Sec., no new
members were admitted to the club. Business dealt with included the decision to sell the old duplicator,
the purchase of some wood from the Shepton Mallet Caving Club for the new
Belfry kitchen renovations, an approach to be made to the National Smelting Co.
about the possibility of getting some slag for the approach to the Belfry, the
construction of some more standard ladders for club use, and the provision of a
suitable memorial for Don Coase.
Disciplinary action was taken by the committee against those
taking part on a Swildons trip on the 21st February. A letter of apology has been sent by the
Caving Secretary to the M.R.O.
Annual Subs.
The Hon. Sec. wishes to remind all members that their subs
should now be in. For the paltry sum of
12/6 you can remain a member of this club for a whole year! Life Membership, at five guineas (note the
high class currency used) is also getting popular.
Coach Trip to Clovelly
We now have a club member who is a fully qualified coach
driver! Any club members and/or friends
interested in a coach trip to Clovelly, returning via Lynmouth and
Alfie. There are about 20 spares
seats. Coach will pick up and return to
various points in
and also at the Belfry by request. The
fare will be 19/6, and the driver will be the inimitable Dave Hunt.
Climbing Guide.
A new publication, Climbing Guide to
and South West Devon, has been received from the Royal Naval Ski M.C. and is
now in the club library.
This guide contains descriptions of climbs on the Dewar
stone rocks, 8 miles from
Vixen Tor, Morwell Rocks, Hay Tor group and other Tors on
weekend. The guide is 8/- per copy and
may be obtained direct from the printers:-
Holbrook and Son Ltd.,
Change of Address
R.J. Bagshaw, our Hon. Sec., will be moving in mid May. His address will be: –
4
Summer Holidays
Ian would like to know if any other members were interested
in a Youth Hostel tour of North West Scotland towards the end of June. Write to Ian Dear, 78 Reforne,
Annual General Meeting and Dinner
Since no replies were received in answer to the request in
the last B.B., the committee have decided that these shall in future be held on
the FIRST SATURDAY IN OCTOBER each year. The next one will be this coming October. Details will be announced later.
Speleodes
A 10 inch long playing record will shortly be made of the
second, third, fourth and fifth of these poems. These are tales of the bloke who put carbide in his beer, the digging
machine, the type who made artificial stalactites and the tale of the bloke who
found caving dead easy. It is also hoped
to include Oliver Lloyd giving some of his songs to guitar accompaniment. The records people want an idea of the number
of copies that are likely to be sold, so if you want one the price will be about
25/- – please get in touch with Alfie. It will probably not be possible to re-order once the first lot have
been sold.
B.E.C. Abroad
News of some of our roving members.
DENNIS KEMP left
expedition who are going out there to climb the Biafo Glacier in the Karakoram
range in North Pakistan, and from thence climb and survey any likely looking
peak. Before leaving, Dennis said that
he intended keeping his eyes open for caves in any of the limestone regions
through which he passes, so there is a possibility of a B.E.C. caving trip in
the Himalayas at some time in the future. Better start saving now!
TOM FLETCHER, who
came home from
early last June for a spell of leave, and promptly went off on a Greenland
Expedition, has now returned to
week before sailing to tropical lands once more, we were unable to take him on
a long promised trip to the bottom of Cuthberts. How about a write up on the arctic trip Tom?
ANGUS and MAGGIE
INNES, whom older club members will remember, and who left about two years
ago to travel round the world on a motorbike, are now in
the bike over all that water!
Rumour hath it that JOHN
LAMB will be returning soon from
RICH is in regular contact with several members, and we should have some
more news soon.
We should like to thank the members who have supplied the
above information.
Caving Log
5th April Goatchurch and Rods Pot. Leader Mo
7th April Cuthberts trip to
sump. Leader Mo
13th April Vole Hole. Sinking of third shaft begun. Alfie and Jill.
Cuthberts. Maypole Survey. Survey taken out of Maypole Series
and through to Upper
Traverse Chamber. Leader R. King.
Swildons Four. Leader Ken Dawe (S.M.C.C.)
Cuthberts. Maypole survey completed. Leader R. King
19th April Vole Hole. Shaft No. 2. Alfie and Jill
20th April Cuckoo Cleeves. Leader Mike Wheadon
26th April Cuthberts. Photography and dig at first chain.
Exploring By Camera
….. or how not to take pictures round corners, by Alfie.
I have often wondered whether it would be possible to push a
camera round the odd corner in a cave which is too small for the human bod
(especially mine!) to wriggle round, and when the film is developed revealing
no doubt some huge chamber richly encrusted with formations, it would then be a
worth while matter to call in fuor Price to blast a way in.
On the face of it, the thing looked easy, so easy in fact
that I have been tempted to try it. First, a peculiar device was constructed, consisting of a lot of
assorted bits of steel rod, with adjustable joints here and there; a clamp for
the camera and flashgun, and a whacking long lead for firing the bulb when the
crucial moment arrived.
The next stage was to choose some suitable cave where there
was an orrid ole too small to admit the human frame. Luckily my partner in crime on this
expedition knew of a cave in the
area which would fill the bill, so without further ado we sallied forth.
The camera was set up on the end of the aforementioned
system of rods and joints, the shutter opened, and the camera slowly worked
into the orrid ole by the aid of a very dim light. At once snag number one became apparent. The orrid ‘le, too small to admit the human
frame as promised, was also too small to admit the camera and flashgun assembly
as mounted. The camera was slowly pulled
back again while two brains worked at high pressure to find solution to this baffling
problem. At last it came! Like all great inventions, this one was
simple. We turned the camera through a
right angle on its clamp and it now went through easily.
Snag Number two, which consisted of the question of what
direction to point the camera in when we had. got it round the corner, was
partly solved by the solution to Snag No.1. We could only push the wretched thing in one way anyhow. This we did, and when we found that it was
swinging free in space the other side of the orrid ole, we solved the rest of
the problem by the simple expedient of ignoring it and just applying an
electrical contact to the end of the cable. This should, of course, have caused the flashbulb to ignite. The camera was slowly pulled back to see what
had gone wrong with the bulb. A loose
connection was quickly diagnosed and the camera slowly lowered once more into
the orrid ole.
In order to understand the cause of the next accident, it is
necessary to describe the way an electrical connection was made at the
operator’s end of the cable. This consisted
of touching two wires together which had been carefully kept apart while the
camera was being slowly lowered in. As a
result of the use of this ingenious method, the bulb fired this time when the
camera was being slowly lowered in. Once
again, we were back to square one.
After many such amusing incidents, an exposure was finally
made, and Jill and Myself waited impatiently for the thing to come back from
Kodaks. Imaging our surprise when we
found that a correct exposure had resulted! Admittedly, it only showed a rock face very much out of focus over most
of the area of the frame, but it’s the principle of the thing that counts!
Seriously though, we have found that it is possible to
estimate the distance away of objects by noting the focus, and on one side of
the frame is a definite indication of a way on. We think the method may be of use, and have learnt a lot, the hard way,
about the design of means of holding and moving the camera.
Editor’s Note (same
bloke as Author)
After having written the above, Kangy gave me a cutting from
the Times of April 21st. It refers to
the exploration of unopened tombs by Italian archaeologists by a similar
method. A small hole is first drilled in
the top, and the equipment is lowered in.
Cooking For Cavers
With the recent introduction of more and better cooking
facilities at the Belfry, it is now possible for the inhabitants to enjoy a
more varied and interesting diet. With
this in mind, we publish a short selection of recipes from that interesting and
unusual book, Cooking for Cavers, shortly to be offered for sale to the
public at a fantastic price.
Baked Beans a la
Hobbs
Ingredients:
1 tin Baked Beans
1 bottle Coates Triple Vintage Cider.
Method:
Stagger from bed. Cast bleary eye round kitchen. Locate ingredients. Imbibe sufficient liquid from bottle to find
tin opener. Open tin. Imbibe more liquid to fortify
constitution. Wait until floor becomes
steady before lighting gas. Catch sight
of beans. Close eyes, grope for bottle. Swallow. Repeat as necessary. Turn beans
out carefully into a saucepan. Finish
bottle to settle stomach. Throw beans
into rubbish bin.
Shepton Tea. (This is suitable for
Belfry residents only.)
Ingredients:
1 motorcycle
1 Thirst
1 Idle Nature
Method:
Start motorcycle and allow to
warm gently. Add pillion passenger to
taste. Travel at moderate rate to the
Shepton Hut. Supervise tea making,
beating where necessary.
Cuthberts Surprise
Ingredients:
6 assorted tins of feeod.
Method:
Remove labels and shuffle
tins. Select three tins at random. Open and pour contents into a saucepan. Bring to boil and serve.
By following this recipe, it is
possible to enjoy an interesting variety of dishes, many of the combinations
being refreshingly novel.
On no account should a tin of
Carbide be included in this recipe.
Policemans Lot
Ingredients:
1 Coke Stove
Parafin to light
Any breakfast materials
Method:
Pour paraffin into frying pan and
light stove by sliding under coke. When
coke has caught, remove frying pan, add cooking fat to taste and place pan on
cooking stove with breakfast materials. Light gas. Dowse resulting flames
with washing up water and throw burnt clothing on stove. Replace pan on cooking stove and cook
breakfast until quite black. Remove from
gas and allow to cool in pan. Beat
carbonised breakfast into fat and use to black lead stove. Gaze hungrily at shining black coke stove and
wait for Hunters to open.
Caving Reports
Caving Report No.3, on the Construction of Lightweight
Tackle, by Bryan Ellis, will be out this month. Price will be fixed when costs of production are known.