Contents
Obituary Ian Dear
It is always a sad occasion when we have to inform members
of the death of a club member, but particularly so when that member has been as
well known and well liked like as Ian.
A keen caver and active caver throughout his long
association with the B.E.C., Ian was always ready to help younger members and
many of todays experienced cavers must look back with gratitude to their early
trips with Ian and remember his happy knack of imparting caving knowledge in a
tactful and pleasant way. Although he
spent much of his time on Mendip introducing novices to caving, he still found
the time to do much work underground and will be particularly remembered for
his work in Hunters Hole. Now Dears
Ideal must join other underground places such as Brownes Passage, C.B.
Chamber and Dons Delight as reminders of the work of B.E.C. members who are no
longer with us.
For some years, Ian served on the Club Committee and was
Tackle Officer. His help to the club
however, went further than this and on many occasions he generously donated
sums of money to help build up the amenities we now enjoy. The club was always in his thoughts and his
last act has been to donate a very large sum of money to the club in his will.
To his family we offer our sincere condolences. His passing we are sure will be deeply felt
by all his many friends amongst caving clubs on Mendip.
Practice Rescue
The purpose of this article is to describe the sequence of
the practice rescue in St. Cuthberts Swallet, for the benefit of those who
were unable to attend the trip. The
accident was assumed to have occurred in the lower part of September
Chamber. The first victim went into
the cave in company with two others and made for the scene of the accident.
Shortly afterwards, a party of six people followed taking
with them the carrying sheet plus all its associated bindings etc., some of the
hauling ropes and ladders for the short pitch from Upper Traverse Chamber to
Maypole series and the Traverse Chamber Pitch. The main section of this party went straight into September Series, while
the tail enders paused in Traverse Chamber to ladder the two pitches mentioned.
In September Chamber, the victim was laced into the carrying
sheet and the rescue proper began, along the normal exit route through the
boulder ruckle. On this section, the
pace of the rescue was steady if somewhat slow and, although one or two places
were found to be a bit awkward, no serious difficulty was encountered until the
final section of the ruckle, near the entrance to Catgut Series. This tortuous and constricted section took
some time to negotiate, largely due to the lack of room for the helpers rather
than the actual tightness of the section. Once clear of the boulder ruckle, the pace became quite rapid, and the
victim was soon brought to the top of the first short ladder pitch.
While all this was going on, a second party of seven people
has descended taking with them the remaining heavier hauling ropes, plus the
ladders and the lifelines for Pulpit and Gour Passage Pitches. This party took charge of the rescue at
Traverse Chamber, starting with the descent into Lower Traverse chamber, where
the victim was changed.
The first party remained to take the tackle off the Traverse
Chamber Pitches and then some left the cave, while the others waited at the top
of Pulpit Pitch to assist in the hauling. The second party continued the rescue to Gour passage Pitch, and at that
point handed over to a third party of six people. While the third was moving towards Pulpit
Pitch with the victim, the second party left the cave.
At Pulpit Pitch the third party, assisted by the remaining
members of the first party succeeded, after one or two delays in the rigging of
the hauling ropes, in getting the victim to the top. It was then decided to call it a day, and
everyone returned to the surface.
Conclusions.
It can be concluded that the rescue problems posed by St.
Cuthberts are not as fearsome as had been expected, since the rescue party
chosen encountered a range of situations representative of most parts of the
system, and no insurmountable difficulty was experienced.
It is important that considerable care should be taken when
strapping the victim in the carrying sheet, otherwise adjustments may have to
be made during the course of the rescue, and these can be very time consuming.
A helping party of seven or eight seems to be about the
right size for Cuthberts, while a minimum of three such parties will be
required for a full rescue.
It is not necessary to employ complicated systems for
hauling in St. Cuthberts, since a single hauling line with a strong hauling
party proves to be the simplest and most snag-free arrangement. The only exception to this would be in the
Entrance Rift, where the size of a hauling party would be restricted by the
available room.
In view of the soaking experienced by the victim on Gour
passage and Pulpit Pitches, the question of the Wire Rift as a rescue route is
still open. However, this should be
resolved by a further practice rescue along this section only.
Finally, it remains to thank all those who turned up to
assist. In particular the victims for
their patient co-operation and Oliver Lloyd for valuable service.
A Quiet Whitsun
by R.S. (Kangy) King.
Well named, the Exploration Club, enabling examination of
the Pembrokeshire coastline to proceed with a clear conscience even though the
activity that drew us there was not specifically climbing or caving.
The subtle demands of family tend to modify the routines of
Mendip or
not without compensation, because parts of the country previously unvisited can
now be explored. The recently increased
party that went to Pembrokeshire at Whitsun was made up of the Eatoughs, the
Attwoods, the Quickes and the Kangies a dozen in all. The purpose of the trip was to reconnoitre
the country, particularly the coast, from the naturalist and sporting point of
view. As always, good weather ensured
success. Several days were spent camping
at St. Gowans Head. The site we chose on
the Saturday for its superb situation and isolation was vacated on the Tuesday
evening. A timely call by that virtuoso
of the blower Attwood, had revealed that the army training area we had camped
on was due to be shattered by R.A.F. high explosive on Wednesday. We left without regret and commended the site
to the brave.
Standard excursions from this campsite are Broadhaven, with
limestone scenery and beach, where attacks by oyster catchers are to be
expected, especially when one is clinging to thin slab, and white winged black
Terns (I know!) are to be seen; to Stack Rocks, where the Guillemots are
disguised as Blegugs and the Green Bridge of Wales doesnt go anywhere.
The cliff scenery is splendid and the sporting opportunities
boundless. In the more massive
limestone, horizontal beds containing many voids broken into by the sea. The more spectacular blowholes have free
ladder pitches of 150 or more and the vertical and overhanging cliffs have few
easy routes
While this sort of cliff scenery with simple geology may be
an acquired taste, the
bound to appeal. There is plenty to see
all along the coast, particularly North of St. Davids Head, which is a
National trust Area. Our campsite at
Littlehaven was Weegee but pleasant, good view, fresh loos and water and
flushing toilets for only 3/- per outfit. Tortuously convoluted O.R.S. with sea caves added interest to a
colourful coast with the further attraction of islands and a famous drowned
river valley at Solva. Sport as we know
it is lacking a hungry look at Myndd Prescelly was disappointed by the
rounded nature of the beast, but they tell me the surfing is good.
Editors
Note: Some additional facts to would-be
campers in the area (which are probably out of date by now) are that you can
camp free a bit further along the cliff top from Littlehaven that
the
Café at Littlehaven is (or was) run by an ex-Wessex member
and that it is most inadvisable to run out of petrol halfway up the hill out of
Littlehaven village!
Book Review
by Dave Irwin.
Volcanoes- In
History, in Theory, in Eruption. By
F.M. Bullard, Ph.D. Published by Nelson
1962 Price 45/-
Following the excellent film
shown by W.C.C. earlier this year, the book outlines the classification of
Volcanoes (derived from the word VOLCANO an active volcano in the Lipari
Islands north of
with detailed descriptions of the many examples to be found throughout the
world. He also deals with the historic
volcanoes such as Vesuvius,
Krakatoa and Pelle which destroyed a town in 1902 having a population of over
30,000 in less than 2 minutes.
The book, although written for
the layman, is packed with detail. The
text of over 440 pages is accompanied by 37 plates and 71 line drawings.
Club Trip to Derbyshire (June 27 and 28th)
by K. Franklin
Seventeen to eighteen people said they would be going on
this trip, but the number finally dropped to nine. These were Roy and Joan Bennett, Dave, Mary
and Helen Quicke, Keith and Peter Franklin, Dermot Statham and John Dryden. Roy and Joan arrived first in Buxton, located
the Eldon Pothole Club and decided to camp at Stanley Moor. Keith, Peter and John were next and, as it
was dark stayed in the Eldon Club. Dermot, who travelled up with the Quickes, also stayed but the latter
went to find the Bennetts. Despite
several interruptions in the night by the Eldon lot returning from a party,
some sleep was possible and the party assembled in the forecourt (mark you!) of
the Hardwick Hotel on Saturday morning to await the arrival of the Eldon
Secretary, Chris Ineson. As there was no
sign of him by 11.45am, a decision was made to camp at Router Farm, at the top
of the
difficult job of deciding how to spend the rest of the day. The original intention of the trip to do
Giants Hole on Saturday (with Chris Ineson) and Nettle Pot on Sunday. The lack
of numbers made it imperative that all the fit and able members should go
caving, but as some of them had different ideas this presented a problem. After acrimonious discussions and preliminary
exploration to find Nettle Pot and Oxlow House Farm (both failed) the weather
closed down and a decision was taken to do one of the largest pitches in
Derbyshire, viz. the 200 free pitch in
Eldon Hole as a training exercise for Castle Farm Pot Series
One (or Alfies Hole? Ed.) and then Giants Hole on Sunday
(to get into training for the Lower Extension of Castle Farm ) so, being led by
a local bloke not from Rodney Stoke, but
and lifeline to themselves and set off across the misty moor. After completing a circular tour and rapidly
approaching Giants Hole, it was realised that Eldon Hole had been moved to some
safer spot which was duly located and tackled up. Then we waited, looked at each other, looked
down the 200 pitch, looked at each other again and waited. Eventually Peters nerve broke and he
volunteered to make the fisrt descent. Dermot and Dave Quicke followed soon after. The intrepid Bennett decided to abseil the
pitch and after a couple of abortive attempts reached the bottom much to the
amazement and admiration of those below. During this interval a rescue had been performed and two very weak
jackdaws were placed in a sack and pulled to the surface.
climbed up the pitch and Keith, who had been lifelining, went down. John decided that 14 and a half stone was too
much to expect anybody to pull out of Eldon Hole, and took over the lifelining. This proved very prudent as the ascent turned
out to be very arduous for most of the party, emphasising that Nettle Pot would
have been foolhardy to attempt by such a ladderwise inexperienced party. Eventually everybody was back on the moor,
the pot de-tackled, the jackdaws released and the way to Router Farm found
without difficulty. After a good meal of
three or four pints in Castleton, the happy cavers settled down to a good
nights sleep, broken only by the ear-splitting yell from Dermot who fell off
while climbing with Mo fast asleep in the Bennett tent. He now pegs himself to the tent pole to
prevent further recurrences! On the
Sunday the weather improved greatly, and breakfast was enjoyed in the pleasant
sun. Roy and Joan were going walking
with Dave, Mary and Helen went into
Giants Hole. They arrived at the cave at
about midday, expecting to find the sump bailed out, but this turned out to be
a false hope. However, the B.E.C.
bailing team took over, the sump was lowered sufficiently to leave an eight
inch airspace. This proved enough for
the Mendip cavers who entered the cave first and proceeded to the first pitch
a fine pot with a 30 fixed ladder. This
led to the Giants Crab Walk which is a meander passage extending for three
quarters of a mile. The meanders are so
abrupt that the last person hardly saw the person in front until the party
reassembled at the end of the long passage. The first sump was reached soon after and steps were retraced to find
the junction leading to the Geology Pot Series. Here the wrong turning was taken and when the way was barred by a sump
(St. Valentines Sump) it was decided to call it a day and get back to the surface
and some sun. The sump was about four
inches higher on the way out and the first dam would have been a pleasant swim
but for the texture of the water! Coffee
was provided at Giants Farm as part of the 2/6 fee, if a point was made of
asking for it! The camp was then broken
up, with Keith, Peter and John leaving first, Dermot waited for the Quickes to
return from Nottingham, and
and Joan stayed on until the Monday. A
pleasant weekend, in spite of early disappointments.
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Our regular contributors seem to be getting a rough deal
lately, and the latest victim is Sett. The Editor has unfortunately mislaid one page containing vital
information on Setts Puzzles and so the next instalment will have to wait
until Sett can be contacted. Meanwhile,
here are some anagrams sent in by Dave Irwin
.
Clues
1. B.E.C.. v Gran. (2,6)
2. Cave men Ll.B. Rare? (4,4,6)
3. Tip cat here! (5,5)
4. I see early mops (7,6)
5. Wells can rate this bus T.T. (5,9,7)
6. Top toy off tor. (5,4,3)
7. Gerald B. Hoe (6,4)
8. A western Vat Race (9,6)
9. Stop me, Prior! (8,3)
10. Initials are important here.
11. Is this worth £100?
12. Possibly awkward if you have short legs!
13. Could be May Day.
14. Is this consecrated ground
15. Things aint what they sem.
16. Animals hideout.
17. Chinese water?
18. Cave garden.