Contents
Brickbats Dept.
The notice at the bottom of this page we find a trifle
disturbing. While nobody would suggest
that cavers deliberately try to avoid paying what nowadays is a small sum to
the farmer, it is evident that many members tend to forget this item when
changing to go underground. It would be
a bad thing if we got a reputation of dodging this sort of thing, and we hope
that readers will take the Caving Secretary’s notice seriously.
Censorship Dept.
Having told our anonymous correspondent ‘Stalagmite’ to be
as forthright as he likes, we have had to delete a passage from his
contribution this month, as we feel that – however justified his comment might
be – it is hardly in the best interests of our sport, all this is not intended
to make a mystery out of this subject, but to make clear to any contributors to
the B.B. that criticism of other organisations are best dealt with by a direct approach, and not through the medium
of the club magazine.
Articles.
In spite of everything, we are still living very much from
hand to mouth. If you have done anything
worthwhile, which you feel would interest other club members (especially
original caving) PLEASE send it along.
Apologies.
Finally, apologies for the lateness and lack of ‘finish’ of
this B.B. This is due to ‘pressure of
work’!
Alfie
Notice
Would all club members PLEASE NOTE that a fee of ONE
SHILLING is payable for each person going down G.B. cave and that this should
be paid to the leader of the trip or some other person nominated to collect the
money ON THE DAY OF THE TRIP. On each of
the last four occasions when the club has visited G.B., there has been a
considerable discrepancy between the number of people on the trip and the
amount of money collected and this has resulted in either the Caving Secretary
or the leader of the party being OUT OF POCKET. At the time of writing, the discrepancy for the latest trip is
£1.12.0!! In addition, the leader of the
party should ensure that some paper and a pencil are left at the entrance and
ALL members should sign their names when entering the cave and cross them off
when leaving.
Caving Secretary.
New Discoveries in Stoke Lane
by Mike Thompson.
Previous to the recent dive in
to pass the final sump. On the 10th
Septembers 1956, John Buxton ran into technical difficulties and was not able
to do more than probe the sump without equipment. He found what appeared to be the way on at a
depth of about eight feet and to the right of where the stream entered the
final pool. On the 9th May, 1959, Phil
Davies carried out a solo dive. Passing
through the opening discovered by John, he emerged into a chamber with a small
air space. Beyond, he entered what seems
to be a submerged bedding plane four feet wile and eighteen inches high at a
depth of five feet. This sump was
penetrated for about eighteen inches.
In 1960, those of us who dive in
than because we had any real hope of making progress. Never¬theless, on the 16th September, we met
at the farm, “we” being a large party of
members. We made our way to Bone Chamber
where diving commenced without delay. Steve Wyne-Roberts took first turn and vanished for an unconscionable
length of time. We got to the point of
wondering whether to send in second divers when he returned, and, with a
splendidly dead-pan expression, announced that he had passed the sump and that
Stoke Lane III went marching on”. The sump was approximately twenty five feet long and contained a
ferocious underground squeeze at presumably just beyond the point where Phil
had turned back. His consolation for
having been so near must be that, with the type of equipment that he was wearing,
it would have been impossible for him to have passed the squeeze. Fred Davies then dived towing a line, and I
followed. Steve had not underestimated
the squeeze, which would be tight above water, let alone below it. Once past it, we emerged into a small pool,
the commencement of a tunnel ten feet high and about as wide. As soon as Steve rejoined us, we set out to
explore. This part of III is very
similar to II. At two points there are
great piles of boulders similar to the Main Chamber, holding out promise of a
high level system. Further on, in a big
passage entered on the left, are magnificent stalactites. All this was too good to last, and after
about four hundred feet, we found ourselves ruefully gazing at another sump. The passage had become very tortuous and low,
the sump occupying its full width, about twelve feet. We turned back, but within a few feet I
noticed an ascending tunnel. We found
ourselves in a complex of passages about four feet high, their floors covered
in orange gours. More by luck than
judgement, we took the right turnings, passed a very low duck, and dropped back
into the stream, having bypassed the sump. Once again the passage was big enough to walk along, but this time it
rapidly decreased in height, developing into a wide bedding plane half full of
water. We crawled along this for about
two hundred feet until we suddenly entered a cross rift. Our combined electric lights were unable to
show us the top, which must be seventy or eighty feet above the stream. The continuation of the waterway now entered
a waterlogged fissure, reminiscent of Buxton’s Horror in Swildons V. We penetrated this for about thirty feet
before calling it a day. We still had
not reached another sump, but, judging from the quantities of foam on the water
it was not far away. The passage appears
to widen below the surface, so we still have another diving prospect.
“And there” as Balch would have said, “the
matter rests.” and I would add but not for long!” We hope to be back in III this year, our
first task being to open the sump for non-divers, or even create a new
entrance. There will be plenty of work
for everyone if we are to explore, photograph and survey the new series.
Changes of Addresses
Jill Rollason is now at 141,
Noel McSharry’s present address
is 4267236 J/T N. McSharry, 303 S.U., R.A.F. Khormaksar, B.P.P.0.69.
Climbing
With the advent of the lighter evenings, climbing has been
recommenced in the Avon Gorge and it is hoped to meet every Thursday between 6
and 7 pm. Information about any
particular Thursday can be obtained at the Waggon & Horses the previous
Thursday or by telephoning Roy Bennett during working hours at Avonmouth 3631,
Ext 208. New members are very welcome.
On the Hill
(or T.W.T.M.T.W.)
The spring has sprung; the grass is riz, I know where some
weegees is. Theyre down in Burrington
Coombe, in Goatchurch. Scouts combined
with the Bristol Cine Club are doing a film on a rescue in a Mendip cave. Can Goatchurch be flooded?
Judging by the water which was going down Pete Bird’s dig
the other day, it could be. This dig was
taking an impressive amount of water. Pete certainly deserves to be right about this dig, and it would be nice
to see this sort of persistence rewarded.
The M.R.O., in the shape of Luke, arranged for some cavers
to appear on T.V. sometime in the future. A suspense film, provisionally called Operation Mole supposed to be
taking place in Derbyshire, actually filmed at Wookey by the
Leaders nowadays are getting to be an ever increasing
problem, from our own elaborate St. Cuthberts Leader System (I wonder how many
actually know the system?) to the question of who is qualified to lead trips
down most Mendip caves. Surely not
anyone or we merely repeat the latest Longwood debacle. Unfortunately, I have no constructive ideas,
so I will leave it to those who have. Comments please.
Clubs are having a comparatively quiet time, only a few gems
of information have reached my shell like ears. The Shepton brood have appeared in a new type of caving headgear, which
has also spread rapidly to some parts of our own club – Firemen’s helmets,
reminding me ‘for arl the whorld of an old rhyme’. With additional accessories, this could be
the ideal equipment to deal with Firemen’s Hole.
Nothing new has come from
older ’empire builders’ visiting again, I thought that maybe a new empire was
in the offing, but no.
chilly. A bit more digging has been
going on, it is rumoured, on
Cerberus and their minions, Border and H.M.S. Ariel, at St. Dunstan’s
Rising. Working upstream from a rising
has not so far proved very successful on Mendip (C.D.G. at Wookey excepted). I wish them
the best of luck.
The M.N.R.C. nowadays leaves a big query. No one seems to know what they are doing and,
apart from a few members to be seen at the T.V. audition, they seem to be dead
or at least dormant.
Axbridge are still doing their odd digging (I can find out
nothing specific) and not only in caves. I see recently that they corrected the B.B. thinking that IT was the
only monthly caving magazine on Mendip. Shocking!
News from our own club is by far the most startling this
month. Garth has taken leave of his
senses (about the only sort of leave he’ll get! – Ed) and has decided that 22
years in the army will help him recover them. Maybe it will. It took me about
two days in the service to find out that I’d had enough, and two years
compulsory is more than enough for anyone. My spy reveals that there is a movement afoot which will put caving
before drinking. Surely the last
possible thing to happen in a caving club of such repute.
In accordance with the B.B. article on writing an article it
seems that on average already I should have retired and YOU should be writing
this article. This could be a good idea.
Thought for this month: Ponder on how difficult it is to think of a thought that will last a
month.
P.S. Can anyone tell
me via the B.B. whether any work has been done at Cross Swallet since Fincham
had his bang?
Stalagmite
Climbing in
North Wales
The
gone, at least the snow in our area had, and so the ice axes were left
behind. Instead of the anticipated snow
climbs it was decided to walk to the cwm on the North side of the Carnedds,
from the Manchester University Club hut at Tyn-y-Maes and attempt a roped
climb. Though the snow had melted and
gone from the peaks and ridges, the cliff, being a North Face, was covered in
unstable ice and a moderate route to the ridge was decided the safest. The day was completed by some members of the
party bagging the
following the ridge parallel to the Capel Curig-Bethesda road and dropping down
to the hut.
Saturday evening was spent at the local pub where four
members of the party gave a demonstration of snooker (Whats the purple ball
for?”) while another two of the party took on a team from the local
populace.
Tryfan, being convenient, was the obvious choice for
Sunday’s climbing and after some hair raising situations due to the intensity
of the wind plucking climbers from the rock face, Gashed Crag and the First
Pinnacle Rib were climbed. Up to the
moment when the two parties rendezvoused by Llyn Ogwen following the climb of
Tryfan, the weekend had been conventional enough with numbers of the party
remarking that the weather, apart from the wind, being extremely pleasant; but
a minor drama was to follow. Noreen.
Crockford, who had declined to climb either of the two routes, walked to the
summit to wait, but after an hour of intense cold, moved off the summit to the
wall on the saddle between Tryfan and Glyder Fach. The first party to the summit, Tony Dunn,
Peter Scott and Mo Marriott, descended to the wall, not finding Noreen and
returned to Llyn Ogwen. The second
party, Geoff Mossman, Steve Tuck and Lionel
Williams, unaware of the events, returned to Llyn Ogwen without going to the
summit. When it was confirmed that
Noreen was not with any party, Peter Scott and Mo Marriott returned to
Tryfan. However, soon after their
departure, Noreen returned and after ascertaining that she was safe and well,
the rest of the party departed. The
weather on Tryfan had meanwhile closed in with snow and freezing rain on the
saddle and summit and the cloud base had lowered to almost road level, making
conditions fatiguing. After two hours on
the mountain, the search party returned to Llyn Ogwen. It was then decided to spend another night at
Tyn-y-Maes and return to
on the Monday.
Caving Log
The only trip of note in January was the caving meet to Lamb
Leer which has already been reported in the B.B. On February 10th, John Cornwall, Kevin Abbey
and Garth did some further pushing in the Long Chamber extension, and also removed
some more of the telephone wire.
Various trips were done to Swildons, Eastwater, St.
Cuthberts, August and Goatchurch during February and March. These were of a routine or a photographic
type except one quick look at the Cuthberts entrance situation on the 10th
March to examine the effects of the cold spell with particular reference to the
new subsidence at the top of the old entrance shaft.
P.S. Kevin Abbey (9th March) wishes to point out to Val
Jones that he has also done Swildons Sump I twice!