Once again, we are afraid; there is no cover for the
B.B. The Editor has no time to contact
the printers, but a volunteer has come forward, and there may be some hopes for
a cover next month.
As the person who insisted on a printed cover when taking
over the B.B., the editor finds it particularly galling that the present state
of affaires has occurred. It is the
usual story. Promises have been made,
but not kept. Unfortunately, a mixture
of shaky transport, being away on firms business and cottage building has
prevented him from personally chasing the offender. Let us hope we have our cover again soon.
Alfie
Contents
Caving Meet
South Wales .
A Caving meet has been arranged for the
Wales
of the South Wales Caving Club, with trips to Ogof Ffynnon Ddu and Pant
Mawr. Will members who are interested in
going on this meet please contact me by Thursday, 2nd April at the latest, in
order that advance booking of accommodation mat be made. All offers of transport will be gladly
accepted.
Mo Marriott, Caving Secretary
*****************************************
We are sorry to hear that our worthy chairman, Dan Hasell,
has recently lost part of a finger in an accident. Members will be pleased to hear, on the other
hand, that Sago is now up and about again, after the recent loss of his leg.
North Wales (18th and 19th, January 1964)
by Carol Sandall.
After a restful night at the
and Wellingborough Montaineering Clubs jointly owned cottage at Gefnan, near
seven, which consisted of Roy Bennett, Tony Dunn, John Howliston, Bob White,
Lionel Williams, Alan and myself left the cottage on a sunny Saturday morning
feeling reasonably fit.
As we were making our way to some climbs on Elidir Pillar we
came upon Lake Marchlyn Mawr which was partly frozen. Alan decided to try the ice and ended on his
rear. The party scrambled round the edge
of the lake, admiring the ice formations that had formed on the rocks. On reaching the climbs which centred on
Gendarme, we split into two groups. Tony, Bob, Alan and myself climbed a short gully while Roy, John and
Lionel climbed on the arête. After a
brief lunch, we climbed up a slippery gully reaching a ridge below the summit
of Klidir Fawr. Before us was a
magnificent view of mist rolling over the Glyders and Carnedds. The way back lay over Mynydd Perfedd. This was nice walking on springy grass to the
last peak called Carnedd y Filiast. From
this viewpoint, the Elidir Fawr appears like a perfect cone. A rapid descent was made past the
to the cottage.
After a meal and a tidy up, we motored through
chapels and not one pub) to the Staffords residence. The men, accompanied by John, left to obtain
refreshments from a pub nearby. I was
told that free sandwiches were supplied at this particular pub. It was raining, so we bid the Staffords
goodnight at a reasonable hour.
Sunday morning dawned misty and damp. We packed up and proceeded to Ogwen where
John Stafford met us. Accompanied by
John Stafford, Roy and John set off to climb the direct route on Glyder Fawr;
Tony and Lionel to climb near the Devils Kitchen while Alan, Bob and myself
walked up Y Griben to the Glyders. After
spending an hour walking in circles in the mist, we eventually retraced our
route and scrambled down the Bristly Ridge. Night had fallen by the time
and his party arrived at the cars, there were explanations of wet slippery rock
and missing holds. After a bite to eat,
we set off for home. A most enjoyable
weekend.
*****************************************
The climbing secretary would like to announce that the next
Climbing Trip will be to
at Easter. Please contact him for
further details.
Personal
Congratulations to Sid and Sylvia Hobbs on the birth of
their son. The editor was told all the
details, and will buy the parents suitable drinks when he sees them next to
atone for forgetting!
Mathematical Puzzles
by Sett
First, the solutions to last months problems. (A) If we add the total length of the four
vertical steps, we find it is one inch. Similarly for the four horizontal steps. Thus the total distance from A to B is 2 inches. This argument still applies no matter how
short the steps become. Note that this
form of argument does form a feasible, but a complicated way of determining the
area of the triangle ABC. (M) Let there
be a fraction x/y reduced to its simplest terms, which is equal to Ö2. Then x squared equals two y squared. Since the R.H.S. is even, x must be even,
because the square of an odd number is always odd. Therefore we can write x = 2a and therefore
we have 4a2 = 2y2 or y2 = 2a2. We use a similar argument to show that y must
be even, but if x and y are both even, then x/y is not in its lowest
terms. Therefore the original assumption
is incorrect and it is not possible to represent Ö2 as a fraction. Therefore it must be irrational. This argument can be applied to any number that is not a perfect square.
Pam and Spike produced the correct solution to last months
(A) problem, but they admitted that they had sufficient qualifications between
them to count as mathematicians. Kevin
also guessed the right answer, but was unable to prove it. Bob Bagshaw finally claimed the pint in the
Cock Tavern near Oxford Circus. Richard
Roberts sent in a correct solution to the (M) section, but was three days
behind Bobby. Hard luck, Richard, but
try again this month.
(A) You are presented with twelve pennies all identical in
appearance, but one is different in weight from the other 11. With a pair of scales, but no weights,
determine in three weighings which is the odd coin and whether it is heavier or
lighter.
(M) If you solved the
above problem when it was bandied about in the B.E.C. many years ago, try this
one. Is twelve the maximum number for
which you can solve the above problem? Is it still the same if we do not require to know if the odd coin is
light or heavy? Obtain a general
solution for any number of weighings, together with a general method
*****************************************
Because of the inevitable lateness of the Christmas B.B., it
has been decided this year to print the list of members names and addresses in
NOVEMBER B.B. The editor realises that
this is a very early announcement of this fact, but happens to have a space to
fill up on the page!
Caving Log
Numerous trips were made to St. Cuthberts and Eastwater
during December and January, of which some were of particular interest. On the 21st December, Phil Davies, Bob
Cannicott and Nick Harte took 24 feet of maypole into St. Cuthberts to explore
the passage above
water comes from).
About five hundred feet of new passage was found which
followed the bedding that forms the roof of Quarry Corner. The way out was found via a rift which led to
Long Chamber Extension. No name has been
given to this passage yet!
On the 30th, Roger Stenner did some more survey work in
Cuthberts which included the area between Lower Mud Hall and Traverse
Chamber. Roger reports that stations
have been left for the future survey of the Rocky Boulder series.
On an evening trip into Cuthberts on 7th of January, Kevin
Abbey.
and Frank Jones went to Gour Rift and decided to climb it, just above the
duck. The object of the climb was to
investigate the possibilities of bypassing the duck. After a climb of about thirty feet, a narrow
rift seemed to continue, through which the sound of water was heard. Has anyone else investigated this?
On the 12th January, digging was continued at the back of
the Dinning room by Mo Marriott and others. Mo reports that another ten feet of passage was gained which looks into
a T junction. Both side passages of
this junction are choked and only about twenty feet of new passage was found in
all. The lower (left hand) passage seems
to have possibilities for more digging while the other leads to an extremely
small stream passage.
On the 26th January, Brian Reynolds took a tourist party
around St. Cuthberts and reports that, while ascending the Wire Rift, one of
the party slipped and a piece of wire went through her finger.
It is proposed to start digging at the South East Inlet
(Puke Swynne) in Swildons in the near future. It anyone interested? If so,
contact
On the Hill
by Stalagmite
When I started writing this feature, I was amazed at the
amount of activity going unpublished on Mendip. However, there now seems to be a dearth of interesting news, but here
goes!
February this year sees the first publication of as
Speleological year book full of interesting information on all the most likely
looking booze ups sorry dinners, of the various clubs. It may be noted that despite our own C.A.
Marriott being on the advisory panel of the publication, no mention of the
B.E.C. A.G.M. has been made. This could,
I suppose, be due to the botch up we made of the 1963 A.G.M. There is at the rear of the book a notice of
a bi-monthly magazine, the Speleologist. Obviously American influenced! I
also notice that Cerberus offer an open challenge at skittles. Im sure that, had this been shuvvers we
could have accepted their offer.
The club will soon be saying goodbye, and my personal good
wishes to Tom and Rusty who are migrating again. This time to
News of the
is that they are thinking of a change of premises, further away from the
Hunters at that, with prospect of a farm in the Haydon Drove direction. It appears it would be a toss up between
White Hart, Wells, the Slab House or the Hunters for their local. There is also a strong rumour that, after
John Cornwells dice with the floor at Hillgrove they will be erecting crash
barriers on all bunks.
Talking of bunk, someone submitted to me the other day from
C.S.S. (Kerebos) an occasional bulletin on Speleological Research sites on
Eastern Mendip in which the official
described as excavated in 1936 but closed due to dangerous rock. Do the
I cannot list the clubs from which I have heard no news at
all, sufficient that there seems to be plenty of secretive caving clubs on
Mendip! The general dearth on news does,
however, give me a chance to include one or two snippets of information which
have belatedly come my way, though not, unfortunately of a caving nature. I hear, for instance, that a B.E.C. team was
beaten at Boat Race at the S.M.C.C. dinner, by a team who I understand
rejoice in the name of Kens Crappers. Bad show, B.E.C. I also hear of a
strange Orange Squash Cult which has gained foothold at the Hunters. I find it hard to believe, but I am told it
has even caused honking. As far as I
am concerned, the mere thought is enough.
The cave research in
again emphasises the absolute (to me) stupidity of using non-cavers in these
operations. On B.E.C. interviews, two
cavers were heard to say that conditions were normal for this type of cave,
while the miners declared it to be suicidal (I wonder what the miners would
think of Tankard? Ed.) Remembering
back to Peak Cavern, it might be interesting for members to give this subject a
thought and air their views in the club magazine.
Book Review
by Ian Dear.
Rivers of London. By Nicholas J. Barton. Published by
&Leicester
Press at 21/-
From Kew to Erith, the
has fifteen tributaries, of which ten are underground. The book traces the history of these streams,
with water wheels and quays to the present day. After an introductory chapter
dealing with topography and history of the city, there are detailed accounts of
each lost river, giving its past and present courses and uses. Finally there is a chapter with the
alliterative title of Disaster, Diseases and Drains.
This is a very readable book, written by a learned author
and includes an extensive bibliography. To a Londoner, who can follow the course of rivers under streets and
buildings familiar to him, it will be a book to spur him on to further
discoveries.
I found this book quite fascinating and I feel that it could
be in the club library for our
members.
A thought for 1964
by the Editor
Looking through the Speleological Yearbook and Diary, it can
be seen that the B.E.C. is one of the twelve pre-war caving clubs listed. It is also very high up in the list for total
size. This makes the B.E.C. one of the
oldest and biggest clubs in the country. Lack of cover at present notwithstanding, does the B.B. reflect this
state of affairs?
This year, in October if all goes well, we shall have
reached the Two Hundredth publication of the B.B. It is true that we have few articles, mainly
on foreign caves, up our sleeve, but this is largely hand to mouth existence
makes for a small B.B. The Christmass
B.B. recently showed what could be done, and the editor hopes that, later on in
the year, he will have more free time to devote to the B.B. We have many members in the club most of
whom can write, and there are plenty of aspects of club activities from which
to choose if writing and article. The
B.B. has been through rough periods before, but lets try to make 1964 good
year and get enough stuff coming in to be able at least to have a bumper 200th
number as well as a large Christmas edition. How about it blokes?