Contents
Silver Jubilee
This month, the B.E.C. becomes twenty five years old a
quarter of a century; or, if you prefer to express it another way, the B.E.C.
has been in existence for 3% of the time which has elapsed since the Norman
Conquest!
It is now reasonably safe to say that the average bloke
joining the club was not born when the club was founded, and this, we feel,
entitles us to have a history of our own. You will find a little of this history in this copy of the B.B.
As well as being sent to club members in the ordinary way,
an attempt is being made to send each past member where we still have his or
her address a copy of this issue. We
hope that it will bring back some pleasant memories of your days in the club. We send you greetings from all our present
members and assure you that we are still batting on. (Note the clever B.E.C. type pun).
We should also like to send greetings in advance to the
Editor of the Golden Jubilee Number and warn him that, as we sit in our bath
chairs, we expect to receive a magnificent bound volume all covered in gold
leaf!
Alfie
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This month notices
will be found somewhat nearer the back of the B.B. that is if we remember to
type them.
The recent M.R.O.
experiment in the use of sump rescue apparatus was successful. Donations are required now to equip the
M.R.O. with apparatus of this type. Send
them to Bob.
The Climbing
Section are arranging meets during the summer inn the Avon Gorge on
Thursday evenings. Get in touch with
Geoff.
March Committee Meeting
What must be a record number of nine new members were
elected at this meeting. They are: –
George Pointing; David Berry;
George Blankhorne; R.G. Grace; David Smith; Robert Jones; Trevor Knight and
John Flook.
It was suggested by the Hut Warden that large parties should
always book bunks before coming, and that very large parties (greater than 10)
should, in general, be discouraged. The
Belfry finances are going very well and the first six months of this club year
have resulted in 601 bed-nights. The
meeting closed after discussing damaged formations in
May Committee Meeting
The May Committee Meeting elected Pam Russell and Derek Ford
as full members of the club. It was
decided that all non-members would have to book at the Belfry; that visitors
fees would be increased to 3/6 with a remission of 1/- if they had done some work;
and that the lights out rules should be more rigidly enforced in the
future. The Caving Secretary announced
that the memorial to Dan Coase is now cemented in place and the Climbing
Secretary announced the start of Thursday meets in the Avon George before club.
A Short History of the
Bristol
Exploration Club
Based on an account
by T.H. Stanbury and others
Since the early records of the club were lost in the blitz
during the last war, and since there are very few club members who are
accessible and whose association with the club goes back to those days;
accounts of the very early years of the club bound to be a little hazy.
The story of the founding of the club is an established part
of Mendip folklore by now, but, like most folklore, it is probably greatly
embellished. At any rate, a small group
of fellow employees of our founder, Harry Stanbury, formed themselves into a
caving party in 1953 and visited Goatchurch. The trip was a success, and, after acquainting themselves with the
procedures of existing societies; they decided to form a new club.
Initial membership was about a dozen, and an inaugural meeting
was called later in the same year at which a set of rules were drawn up and the
bat adopted and the emblem of the new Bristol Exploration Club. The basic phraseology of our present
constitution come straight from the initial rules, and it is flattering to
think that at least one other caving group The Westminster has drawn
heavily upon it in formulating their own constitution over twenty years later.
The few years between the founding of the club and the
outbreak of war in 1939 found the club constructing tackle rather differently
from the methods we use today and running trips to most of the caves which
existed on Mendip at the time. The
membership remained small and steady, as the club made little attempt to
persuade others to join until they felt they had acquired enough experience on
to be able to offer new members a reasonable standard of caving knowledge.
At the outbreak of war, club membership was 15 a figure
which the subsequent call up soon began to reduce, until it was hardly possible
to get a caving trip together. The
Emplex Caving Club, composed of employees from the Bristol Employment Exchange,
found themselves in a very similar position, and in 1940, the two clubs
combined.
Matters continued to get worse, even with the extra manpower
provided by the merger and by 1943; the club existed in little more than
name. All its forces members were
naturally not available for caving, and the few left behind found it almost
impossible to get caving trips organised.
However, at this time, one or two other cavers contacted
Harry Stanbury and a meeting was held at which it was decided to renew caving
activities. The club membership numbers
date from this meeting, at which Dan Hasell, who usually presides over our
A.G.M.s and dinners, was present his membership number being 4.
The end of the war in 1945 found the club shaky, but still
functioning. On most trips, since most
of the early members lived in the Knowle area of Bristol, trips were organised
from the Stanburys house in Redcatch Road; but on occasion, members would
change at Maines Barn at Priddy. It was
those visits to The Barn which were mainly responsible for the dramatic
growth of the club during the next two years from a handful of cavers to one of
the major caving clubs of Mendip.
Barn in 1945 was the home of a collection of cavers from a variety of
sources. The only club represented was
the Bridgwater Caving Club, who were mainly employees of the Puritan Explosive
Factory. Don Coase was one of these. Another of the organised groups was a small band of ex-U.B.S.S. cavers
which had found the Burrington hut too far from caves of the Priddy
district. This group provided members
like Sett, Pongo Wallis and myself.
As these cavers got to know each other, it became obvious
that it would be a good thing if all banded together in one club. The B.C.C. members realised that, now that
the war had ended, their works, and hence their club, must eventually close
down. In the end, all these cavers joined
the B.E.C., and this increase in membership was further swelled by returning
forces members, some of whom brought friends along with them. At about this time, the Mendip Speleological
Group were also absorbed into the B.E.C. and by the end of 1946, the membership
had risen to 80.
The need for a permanent Mendip Headquarters was now
becoming of great importance, and accordingly money was lent to the club by
some members and a hut purchased. This
was the old Belfry, which started life as a sports pavilion on Purdown and was
erected by the club next to what is now the S.M.C.C. tackle shed. On Saturday 1st of February 1947, Doan Coase
spent the first night in the Belfry. Exact records have not been kept, but something approaching 10,000 bed
nights have been spent at the Belfries by club members and guests since.
In January 1947, the first issue of the Belfry Bulletin was
published edited by Dan Hasell. This
is number 147, which seems to need no comment.
With the possession of a hut, the club continued to attract
more members. An active group from
the discovery of new caves on Mendip. In
1947, Stoke Lane Slocker was transformed into a large cave by the discovery of
Brownes Passage by Pat Browne, and by the subsequent forcing of the sump by
Don Coase, Pat Browne and Sett. In
addition to this, club members assisted Les Browne in the digging out of
Brownes Hole, and Withybrook Swallet, in the same area, was entered by the
club.
At about this time, the Bridgwater Caving Club was formally
incorporated into the B.E.C. For many
years, a B.C.C. membership card and a key hung in the Old Belfry to commemorate
this event.
By 1948, membership had risen to 98 and to the clubs
activities grew in proportion. A survey
of
was exhibited at a caving exhibition held in
the Clifton Caving Club were absorbed; a London Section of the club was formed
and a new loan amongst members resulted in the purchase of a new and bigger
hut. The original hut was moved and
re-erected on the present site and the New Belfry built nearby. Meanwhile the clubs interests continued to
expand. An active climbing section spent
most weekends in North Wales and elsewhere; the club supplied most of the
Somerset Section of the C.D.G. and club trips began to be organised to
other European countries.
By 1949, the membership had reached 120 and the original
weekly meetings at
had begun to suffer from some overcrowding. The idea of holding meetings on Thursdays was to organise the next
weekend. A room was therefore hired at
Redcliffe Church Hall, to which we have now returned after meeting at St.
Matthews Hall and the Education Centre in Old Market.
In 1950, the first Club Annual Dinner was held at the
Hawthorns Hotel in
Belfry by the then Belfry Engineer Tony Jackson.
In 1951, the club ran a stand in the Our Way of Life
exhibition in
which was held as part of the Festival of Britain arrangements. The stand aroused considerable interest and
members obtained a great deal of fun answering some of the questions asked by
weegeees. In this same year, some
changes in the running of the club occurred with the object of distributing the
work of running the club amongst a greater number of people. The present system of club officers and the
constitution of the club committee date from this time.
From 1949 to 1952, the membership remained steady at
120. This period marks the end of the
rapid post war expansion of the club. In
1953 it dropped to 117. Membership has
remained at about this figure ever since, although it looks as if we are in for
a further expansion at the moment.
In 1953, accommodation on Mendip was again improved by the
addition of a six foot length to the New Belfry, which was used to enlarge the
kitchen and the ladies room. This year
also saw the most important discovery the club has yet made. By permission of Mr. T.C. Cunane, excavation
was started during the early part of the summer, and, after a few months
continuous work, a cave system was entered in October of that year. St. Cuthberts is too well known to need any
further comment.
In 1953 and 1954, the club surveyed the Redcliffe caves in
copy of the survey to the City Engineer. In 1954, Hunters Hole was opened.
During 1955, the land on which the Belfries stand came into
the market and was purchased by the club in 1956. The future of the Belfries had been worrying
members since the Town & Country Planning Act had come into force, but now
the land was the clubs all was well and the redecoration of the New Belfry was
put in hand.
During 1957, the ladies room and the mens room were
redecorated, and mains electricity connected to the New Belfry. A sad event of this year was the demolition
of the Old Belfry, to make room for a new building to be built of stone. Also during this year, the management of the
Belfry Bulletin passed into the hands of the present editorial staff; a printed
cover was first introduced and the size of the magazine increased. The club assisted during the digging out
stages of the re-opening of Pen Park Hole in
of the digging required to get in. After
running one tourist trip, the club abandoned its co-operation with the other
societies owing to disagreements with The Management. This however was offset by the new
discoveries of the Maypole Series, Rabbit Warren Extension etc. in Cuthberts.
On January 31st 1958, Don Coase died after an
operation. On the Whit Monday of the
same year, Herby Balch also died. He
was an Honorary Life Member of the B.E.C. and the father of caving on Mendip.
Much work continued to be done in Cuthberts and on the
Belfry. The kitchen was completely
remodelled and, later in the year, permission for the new stone hut was granted
and the foundations dug. In the
September of this year, the beautiful September Series was discovered in
Cuthberts.
In 1959, mains water was connected to the Belfry; the new
stone hut was half completed, and work was done on Tankards Hole and other
caves.
This brings us to 1960 and the present day. The new stone hut might be finished this
year; the car park will be extended and the site tidied up; the clubs finances
are sound; membership is increasing; we still lots of work to do in Cuthberts
and we will shortly be combining with the S.M.C.C. in digging out Emborough
Swallet. Our own land and the Belfry is
the busiest caving hut on Mendip.
In this account a few peoples names have been mentioned
from time to time. This should not be
taken to mean that only those listed have played an exceptional part in the
formation and prosperity of our club. To
list all those members whose efforts have made the club what it is today and
who have produced by their hard work, the facilities which members now enjoy,
would be impossible. All have helped in
some way or other and a full list would have to include items like the writing
of the club song which curiously enough was composed by Hal Perry, a
teetotaller!
Chiefly, we owe more still to all those members who have
helped to maintain the free and easy democratic good fellowship for which the
B.E.C. has always been noted, and in this connection the words of our founder,
Harry Stanbury, although written in 1947, are still, we hope, true today.
We look to the future with every confidence, and we still
claim, as we did in 1935, that the Bristol Exploration Club is unique in that
it is a personal club, wherein everyone, whatever their age and standing is
welcomed and encouraged to take an active part in the running of their club.
Personal
Congratulations to Daphne and Roger Stenner on the birth of
their second son on the 19th December. He has been christened Roger Anthony Dunning Stenner and
Godfather.
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Future topics to appear in the B.B. will include more on the
use of barometers in cave surveying an article on the formations in
Cuthberts. The trip to
Series.
Caving Log
For March and April
5th March. St.
Cuthberts. Norman Petty, R.
Stenner, Jim Hill, Garth and Pat Irwin. Start made with new wire in the Wire
Rift. More cement taken to Dining
Room. Also tourist trip via
Swildons. An excellent
5½ hour trip to Swildons IV. Uncertain of the way beyond St. Pauls, the party visited the
stimulating, unfrequented dead ends that are common, obvious and misleading but
convincingly appear to be the way on. The last section from Blue Pencil to IV caused chaos. The change from head first to foot first in a
confined space gave us unexpected joy. The trip was ill-timed. We got
out at 10.10.
Priddy
Green. Worked for an hour or so
removing assorted stones ready for the next bang. Sybil.
6th March. Swildons
to Sump I. Geoff Mossman, Pat Irwin,
Garth and Sybil. Long wait above the
forty and even longer wait on return journey due to other cavers. Clinkered boots are fine for caving but hell
on ladders. Geoff and Garth out via
12th March. Eastwater. Colin Knight, Trevor, George and Garth. Trip to top of Twin Verticals. Returned and went to top of Dolphin Pot. Wandered around the bedding plane on way out.
St.
Cuthberts. Mo and O.W.S.S.
party. Trip to sump via Cascade Chamber
and Railway Tunnel. Returned via the
Cerberus Series.
13th March. Longwood
Swallet. Colin Knight, Trevor,
George and Pat Irwin plus two
members did Longwood to Great Chamber and followed the stream until it became
too tight.
19th March. Swildons I. Leader R. Roberts plus party of 5 B.C.S.S.
members. Collected insects in
Goatchurch. Beginners trip. Leader Sybil and seven members of
club. Main entrance so many holes from
Boulder Chamber that rocks seem to have grown in many new places since last
trip 8 years ago. Drainpipe for the very
few. Three fatties caused much
amusement in Bloody Tight. Must go down
again to inspect the numerous extra holes. Out via the tradesmans entrance where each member was duly christened
with dollop of face mud.
20th March. Swildons. Beginners trip to top of Forty and out via
the Long
Goatchurch. Anthony OFlaherty, Prew, and large party
down small cave. Little purpose was seen
by some in thrutching through the Drainpipe only to have to return on
discovering the dead end. Prews
guidance was appreciated.
26th March. St.
Cuthberts. Bryan Ellis, Nigel and
Pat Irwin. Surveyed from Cascade Passage
through Rabbit Warren to Dining Room including all side passages. A satisfying trip from the surveyors point
of view.
Swildons. Garth Dell, John Flook, and three bods from
flooded. Went on to Sump I and out.
Heron
Pot,
party. Not a large system but
interesting sink to resurgence trip. One
flake removed would give a nice through trip. Roger Stenner.
27th March. Cuthberts. Leader B. Ellis. Rapid trip to sump via Cerberus Series. Much enjoyed. Even surveyors can get lost at times!
28th March. Swildons. M. Budd, A. Fincham. Visit to inspect Sump I. This was found to be functioning very well
despite warning notice from Brecknock County Council to the effect that Bathing
is not advisable.
2nd April. Rods Pot
& Reads Cavern. Garth Dell,
Rowena, Richard Roberts, Caroline and 4 theological students. Trip to bottom of Rods. Changed in rain at cave entrance. Walked to Reads in rain.
Eastwater. George Honey. The Dolphin Pot is very much shattered. The rest of the cave appears to be stable.
9th April. Eastwater. To Terminal Rift via Twin Verticals. R.OF, Roger Latimer and Terry King on a
laddering trip. This was the first
vertical descent for Terry. He survived. Seems to thrive on them. There is a rope belay at the first
vertical. It will probably be easier to
take the rock belay out of the cave than untie the rope belay. Rawlbolts embedded in rock are the thing.
Swildons. Frank Darbon, Terry King and Garth Dell
caught up with M.N.R.C. chaps at the forty and continued down to Sump I. Retuurned to have a look at Trats
Terry!
St.
Cuthberts. R. Stenner with four
Liverpool University M.C. members and Richard Roberts. Tourist trip with many diversions for
photography. Enjoyed by all.
10th April. St.
Cuthberts. Photographic trip with
Kangy; John E. and John Attwood. Water
in
one to float into the passage opposite.
Swildons. Photographic and specimen collecting trip to
lower series. Richard Roberts and four.
16th April. Swildons. Roger Stenner and Tony Johnston. Short trip to the forty owing to lighting
troubles.
Eastwater. Party, Garth Dell, Richard Roberts. Bruce
Lynn and Martin Longford. Down to the
top of Primrose Pot after begging an extra ten feet of ladder from the Shepton
(thank you!) Kit was /-+: heavy. Descended to the bottom of the pot in three
stages leaving Bruce at the top of the .): tight squeeze because he was too
big. We all express real thanks to the
thoughtful persons who fixed the horizontal bar and eye bolts in the rock. On arrival at the bottom of the ladder, I
found that the ladder was approximately 15 feet too short so finished the pitch
on rope. Whilst climbing back, snatches
of vile songs floated down from the squeeze. On the way out, everyone was rather tired. Note 3 out of 4 went all the way to
the bottom.
Swildons. Trevor Knight, Norman Brooks. Photographic
Swildons
well worth it.
18th April. Eastwater. Terminal Rift via Twin Verticals. Nigel Clarke, J. Coote, H. Williams, C.
Llewellyn and R. Horton. Started to go
into Beechams Series but the approach of opening time stopped us.
Swildons. To Sump I, same party as above.
Sandford
Levvy. Super Severe trip for the
Stenner Family. Roger, Daphne and Edwin.
Eastwater. Terminal Rift via Twin Verticals. Leader Richard Roberts.
Reads. Rowena Lewis and David Kinsman. General potter around.
August-Longwood. Rowena Lewis and David Kinsman. Bottomed Longwood and August. Comprehensive trip in Longwood. Direct Route to water sink in stream passage
in August Hole. Water moderate.
Swildons. Sump I and
Regained. Water lower than Sunday. Nigel Clarke.
18th August. Hawkes
Hole, Raiders Rift and New Dig East Devon. Party, Sett, Alfie, Jill and Spike. The party paid a visit to the E.D.S.G. meet
at
via a back entrance to the quarry cos the owners dont like cavers. Sett, Alfie and Jill visited Hawkes Hole
guided by Chris. This is a small cave by
Mendip standards, about half the size of Sidcot including 3 squeezes, some nice
salmon pink stal and a bat. Spike did a
dicey climb up the active quarry face for about 40 to the entrance to Raiders
Rift. Jill went down it with some
E.D.S.G. members and reports a very large entrance and a cave about the same
length as Rods Pot. It has a reasonably
big main chamber and some bright red stal. Alfie and Jill finally went down the new dig at the east end of the
quarry. It might prove interesting. R.A. Setterington.
23rd April. Hunters
Hole. Ian Dear, George Honey and Jim
Hill had a general look around and did a little work in Dears Ideal which
still looks very promising.
30th April. Black Hole
Series Swildons. A trip to the
second Boulder Ruckle. Part of it fell
nearby. Carl and Roger Luttmer, A.
OF. Started down
Eastwater. Primrose Pot. Unsuccessful attempt. Pam Russell
and Pat Irwin the only people to get past the squeeze. Got so far down and backside wedged
firmly. Peter Smith got further wedging
his shoulders at the same point. Roger
Luttmer (42 chest) could not pass the squeeze entrance. Other members became interested in the
Hunters and went out. Party A.
OFlaherty, Pat Irwin, Pam Russell, Peter Smith, Derek Edge, Ted Smith and R and
C. Luttmer.
The Night We Heard The Wild Goose Cry
We always try to include an
account of any rescue trip as soon as possible after the event. Especially one which involves the press, so
that members and others can receive a reasonable account of what really happened. This one has been sent in by our M.R.O.
Warden, Keith Gardner.
It is not unknown for false alarms to be sounded in the
field of cave rescues but when the Trumpet of the
be excused for thinking that it is genuine.
About midday on Monday 2nd May 1960, the RMA at
request that they be put in touch with the M.R.O. Two officers cadets were absent from the academy
and it was thought that they had left on Saturday for a weekends caving on
Mendip.
Howard Kenny, the first warden to be contacted, organised a
surface check to see if any clothes or other gear had been left in such places
as
Barn or near the entrances to some of the more popular caves. When this search failed to produce any
results; other parties, including local B.E.C. members, were sent from Wells to
Swildons, Eastwater,
and other caves. The Burrington caves
were checked by the U.B.S.S. and the Axbridge Caving Group covered the western
extremities of Mendip.
At 8 pm, the B.E.C. were alerted and an initial party of ten
warned to stand by. St. Cuthberts had
been left open during Sunday and it was considered possible that the two men
could have got in without anyone noticing.
information in the matter and it was uncertain whether the two men, Barnard and
Humble, were experienced or not.
At 1am, the alerted B.E.C. party was awakened and left for
Priddy. The only signs of activity to
greet them were a number of police officers looking for Swildons with miniature
searchlights. Having assisted them, and
with a growing party, K. Gardner joined B. Prewer and L. Devenish at Howard
Kennys H.Q. in Wells. A party
consisting of A. Sandall, N. Petty, J. Stafford and R. King were despatched to
St. Cuthberts, while G. Mossman waited in the Belfry for Ken Dawe and Derek
Ford. This party was to check the
verticals in Eastwater.
With the large caves taken care of, H.Q. started to organise
parties to check the numerous small swallets and at 5.30 am rang Spike Rees to
wish him a bright and breezy Good Morning. Spikes reply was unprintable, but was no doubt similar to that he himself
received on hammering at Sod Obbs door a few minutes later. Keith Gardner joined these at the Belfry with
a police patrol car and with Dick Hartley, checked over a dozen small caves and
some mineshafts between the Belfry and Chewton, radioing the results back to
H.Q.
With Tuesday dawning bright and sunny, Anne Gardner got in
touch with other B.E.C. members in and around Bristol and members of them,
including our secretary, joined the parties at Priddy. Some of the ex-Cuthberts team now centred
their attentions on Ebbor, while a Sump IV team entered Swildons. Support parties were waiting on call in
help were coming in from our friends in Yorkshire,
All over Mendip, every club was co-operating. By 1pm, ninety of the most likely caves had
been searched. Police radios were
humming with reports to and from the new H.Q. set up in Wells Police Station
the biggest ever Mendip Rescue search was on with no results whatsoever.
Two potential officers from
disappeared into this air. Schoolboys
could play truant; lesser soldiery desert; but officer cadets! They would surely have the integrity to
contact their unit if humanly possible if they were still alive
.if
.!
Meanwhile, at H.Q. reports were coming in that they had been
seen everywhere from
OGroats. Even, said one rumour, in the
Mrs. Le Masurier of
Barnard, had seen him in the streets of that town, and had invited him to tea
with his friend Humble of Sunday afternoon. At
that neither of them had drawn caving kit a fact that could surely have been
asserted earlier and that the suggestion that they had gone to Mendip had
been based on the flimsiest of evidence. At 1.30 pm, the message was relayed. Emergency over. M.R.O. stand
down.
So all that energy all that lost sleep all that money
was wasted on a wild goose chase. But
perhaps not altogether wasted. For the
first time, a full scale search of
the M.R.O. Next time it might be genuine
and lessons learned on May 2nd and 3rd may well save someones life.
Easter in
Cornwall
By Kangy King
Roy Bennett and Geoff Mossman combined to hire a chariot of
exceeding splendour and infinite capacity in which eleven of them hurtled
through the night to
for Easter. Numbers at the rendezvous,
Porthgwarra, were increased to the unprecedented total of 15.5 by the arrival
of Attwood and family, Kangy and Alan and Carol Sandall.
The aristocracy has recently caused to be erected at this
cave large Thou-shalt-not-camp-or-bring-Mossman-again type notices. These may be safely ignored as the land is
not owned by the local lord, who only hopes to save the peasantry from what he
considers to be bad sanitary arrangements. The notices did not engender a gay atmosphere when viewed from the flap
of a tent and so the party adjourned to a farm near St. Ives containing the
mostest barn it has ever been their pleasure to live in. It was superb. Long, large, light, clean and airy and never
the sight of a rat. Sandall has been
congratulated and thanked and allowed to throw a few members from one to the
other.
Living arrangements completed, recreation began. The majority were intent on climbing on the
sea cliffs. Inactivity included
sunbathing and photography enjoyed by most, and not exploring tin mines
enjoyed by Norman Petty mostly. The
party got enthusiastically wet on the rainy first day, and sunburnt and fit
doing climbs on the other days. It was
nice climbing on granite, which surprisingly required to be treated with care,
as Bennett clutching teeteringly at a large loose lump of seagull enwhitened
smelly seacliff can testify.
Mention must regrettably be made of an enterprising climb
planned and executed by Bennett near Wicca Pillar. A good looking route of about 800 feet making
use of a natural line up a slab. The
climb starts at the right of the dirty black looking slabs behind the pillar. The first leads to an open corner and belay
15 horizontally from this corner is a ledge which easily leads to about twenty
feet of open slab work, rising on the right to a chimney on the edge of the
slab. The step into the chimney is
somewhat similar to the step across on knights climb at Cheddar. Alan Bonner took a couple of photographs
which show the route well.
Attempts to climb at
were frustrated by the scenery blonde, mostly.
is beautiful at the edge.