Editorial

August being the month when most people get their holidays,
the B.B. is usually typed and duplicated in odd moments.  For this reason, at the time of writing this,
we have very little idea of what the contents of this B.B.  will be. We do know that it will contain more than last month’s skinny effort.

The B.B. Board has tended to change its composition of
late.  Bob Price, who finds himself very
busy with domestic matters, and “Spike”, who is having to put in a
lot of hours at his job, are not now available. We thus welcome the offer of help from Roger Stenner and Anne Gardner,
who have volunteered to help out with the B.B. production.  The postal Department, under Prew” and
Tony O’Flaherty still continues, we hope, to flourish.

Finally, we should like to thank Bryan Ellis for his very
considerable help.  Not only has he
recently edited and produced the B.B. Digest No 1, an index of the first
hundred B.B’s (copies of which are available free to any member who can collect
one) and is now working on a second Digest, but in addition he has arranged for
the new shape B.B. which will be starting next year, to get off to a flying
start by relieving us of some of our problems. Thank you very much,

Bryan!

“Alfie.”

Notices

B.B. Digest, No 1.

Some people have already booked one of these, and others
have sent in the money as well.  Since it
may not be possible to send out all of them at once, a list of those who have
booked and/or paid will be found below. If your name is not here, and you want one, let us know soon!  If you have paid and we haven’t received it,
let us know even sooner!!

Booked but not paid.

(l) “Prew”. (2) Chris Falshaw.  (3)
“Sett”.  (4)
“Mo”.  (5) Roger Stenner.  (6) Colin Smith.  (7) “Alfie”.  (8) Jill. (9) Frank Darbon.  (10) Bryan
Scott.

Booked and paid.

(11) Alan Coase.  (12)
“Totty”.  (13) George
Honey.  (14) C.R.G. Library.  (15) Jim Pembry.

It is hoped to be able to supply all the people whose names
appear on these lists within the next week or so .

A.G.M. & Dinner.

The Annual General Meeting for 1959 will be held on
Saturday, October 4 and will be followed, as usual, by the Annual Dinner which
will be held at the

Cliff
Hotel at Cheddar.  This is an early advance warning so that you
can keep this weekend free.

Nomination Forms. 

A nomination form will be found with this B.B.  Members are reminded that nominations must
reach the Hon. Sec. at least three week’s before the A.G.M.  In order to comply with articles 6 & 7 of
the club constitution, the September B.B. will be published late, on Thursday
September 17th.

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

DON’T FORGET … The date of the A.G.M. and dinner….to send
in your nomination form……to order a B.B. Digest if you want one ….. and to
settle your Belfry account by the end of September

Caving Log

For June and July

A Weegee in

New Zealand

We have just received an article from Johnny Lamb, who is,
of course, in

New Zealand
– where Lamb comes from.

My first impression of
New
Zealand was that the countryside was very much like

England.  But when you set away from the farmland and
into the native bush, it appears sub tropical, with Fern Trees, Cabbage trees
and tall Kouri forest.  The are still
large areas of this unclaimed land, although land reclamation is going on all
over the country.

For B.E.C. types,

New Zealand offers a good many
attractions.  There arc several areas
where caves are to be found. Waitomo is the most famous.  There is an active caving club here that is
engaged in exploring these caves, many of which have never been entered.  The only caving I have done over here is a
trip to the glow worm grotto at Waitomo. The glow worms were very impressive but the interest of the cave was
rather dull with very few formations.

There is also climbing in North Island around

Mount
Ruapahu
(9,000 ft) and there are a few Alpine and Ski Clubs.  There is also excellent climbing and
mountain¬eering to be had in the Southern Alps, with
Mount
Cook the highest mountain (12,350 ft).  Skiing is a very popular sport here and the
big resort is easily reached being in. the centre of
North
Island near

Mt.
Ruapehu
overlooking the active volcano Mt Ngaurahoe.

About sixty miles from
Mount
Ruapahu is
Lake
Toupo which is

New Zealand‘s
largest lake.  The trout fishing here is
reputed to be the finest of its type in the world.  All around the shores of the lake there is
deer and pig hunting to be had.  There is
no close season for deer in

New
Zealand, as they are considered to be
vermin.

The weather is ideal for motorcycling, especially in summer,
when only a shirt and shorts are needed. The roads, on the other hand, are very poor.  Many are of loose gravel and call for great
care, as “Spike” will tell you! For the tourist, or Weegie, there is a lot more of general
interest.  There are several active
volcanoes and a large number of thermal regions.  You must have your own transport, or it
impossible to visit many of these beauty spots.

Having an idle nature, most of my spare time is spent lazing
on one of the many wonderful beaches where there is good surfing and safe
swimming.  Also, there is big game,
fishing for Blue Marlin which is quite cheap to take part in.

The big disadvantage from the B.E.C. member’s point of view
is the social side.  There is no
equivalent of the “Hunters” here.  The
high pressure, super-speed drinking houses shut at 6 pm, although I am told
that the situation is better in the
South Island.  I hope to find out soon and also get a look
at the
Southern Alps.

Speleological Air Surveying

Several enquiries, received as a result of the comment in
the B.B. that a plane was available to Clevedon Archaeological Society, brought
the realization that the principles of aerial survey and photography as applied
to archaeology would be quite simply adapted to speleology.

The perspective view, for example, of converging lines of
drainage, perhaps unnoticed on the ground, could well lead to the discovery of
new sink holes.  An hour’s flying could
do the work of months of field survey. The cost is low, purely that of running the plane from Lulsgate.  Three people including pilot for 15/- for
half an hour.  This covers 60 miles.  1 mile for 3d.  Cheaper than the bus!

            Enquiries
to Keith Gardner.

Cadbury Camp

The trial excavations recently announced in the B.B. as
taking place at Cadbury Camp, Yatton, have now been successfully concluded,
with the able “assistance” of certain members of the B.E.C.  This assistance was of a varied nature and
included the services of a runner between the site and the ‘Prince of
Orange’.  Work was further impeded by the
constant flow of highly improbable anecdotes and such amusing interludes as the
writer removing his finger nail with a pick axe.

Several new features of the camp were noted and surveyed,
including a number of primitive hut sites and a pair of gate houses guarding
the main entrance on the N.E. Trenches were put through one of the latter and
pottery of the early Iron Age was found, together with other rubbish piled
against the outer wall.  Other trenches
in the central area produced some shards of Roman pottery (although no sign of
the suspected Roman building was found) and a very fine Bronze Age
arrowhead.  The most interesting remains,
however, were shards of Dark Age pottery imported from the
Mediterranean
in the 5/6th Cents.

This period, following the collapse of official Roman
authority, but preceding the foundation of Saxon cultural life, was one of
chaotic turbulence producing many legendary figures the most famous of which
was Arthur.  It seems as if Cadbury, a
pre-Roman hill fort, was re-occupied in the Dark Ages, possibly as a stronghold
against the Saxons.  A central stone
“Motte” (with a 13th Cent, Coin) may be the result of this secondary
occupation and presents a great point of interest for future work.

K.S.Gardner.

* Members will be glad to learn that they were the remains
of wine jars.

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

ODD FACT.  I noticed,
on reading the Newsletter of the L.S.G. & C.S.S. the other day, a spelling
of a word used by all caving clubs on Mendip which was new to me.  I hope they won’t mind me commenting, but it
was spelt ‘ouijee’.  The official B.B.
version is spelt ‘weegee’, but I have seen ‘weagy’, ‘weegy’ and ‘weejy’ before
now.  Does anyone know the correct
spelling?  There are, naturally, a number
of spelling mistakes incorporated into each B.B. as it is felt that this lends
a haphazard appearance, but this is one word I would like to take care
with.  Can anyone tell me?

‘Harassed Editor.’

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

The OREAD MOUNTAINEERING CLUB have a new club hut at RHYN
DDU, on the south slopes of
Snowdon.  B.E.C. members are welcome.  The charge is 3/- per night and bookings
should be made to F.C. Allen,69,

Brentford
Drive,
Derby.

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

The Belfry Bulletin. S.J. Collins, 33
Richmond Terrace,
Clifton,

Bristol
8.
Secretary.  R.J. Bagshaw,

699 Wells Road,
Knowle,

Bristol
4.