Annual List of Member’s Addresses.

In accordance with recent custom, we are printing the list
in the November B.B.  Without increasing
the size of the B.B., this means that half is taken up with the list  We hope to minimise the delay caused in
holding back articles by getting out the December B.B. early this year, so that
in fact such a delay will only amount to two or three weeks.

Information for inclusion in the Christmas edition of the
B.B. should be sent to the editor as soon as possible, since it is hoped to
publish this early in December this year.

Four to Gaping Gill

by Roy Bennett.

Although the Main Shaft has been booked on previous
occasions, the weather had prevented attempts to ladder it.  This was becoming a bit of a joke among
certain of our Northern friends, and a weekend trip was arranged to remedy the
situation.  Numbers dwindled as the day
approached, until there were just four from
Bristol
with the possibility of some more from
London
and
Yorkshire.

On arrival, no possibilities were found and the four set off
with vast amounts of tackle to see what could be done, encouraged by reports of
‘little rain for a week’.  Fell Beck was
found to be quite low, and seventy minutes sufficed to dam it effectively and
divert it into the Rathole.  This was
done by placing large stones and earth-filled sacks on top of turfs in a line
at right angles to the steam on the smoothest part of the bed.  Some additional work diverted more of the
water into holes further upstream.

This pleasant activity completed, attention was turned to
the pothole itself.  The only point where
a straight pitch can be obtained is in the far right hand corner used for winch
descents.  The four hundred foot ulstron
lifeline was rigged through a pulley belayed to a stake left in the moor above
and a man sent out to sit on the edge of the ledge on the right hand side and
feed the ladder down in the corner.

A large block provided the main belay, while a tether was
looped over an old iron spike on the far side to hold the ladder against any
sideways slippage.  A telephone cable was
then sent down with a bag of stones on the end, and all was ready.

It was decided by the rest of the party that Norman Petty
should be first down, and he duly descended with only brief halts, lifelined by
Keith Franklin.  The usual whistle
signals sufficed on the way down, with the telephone being used only from the
bottom.  Phil Kingston then joined
Norman, who came up do that

Roy
could go down.  On reaching the surface,

Norman made the
categorical statement that this was far preferable to Southern Stream Passage
in Agen Allwedd – this condition is known as ‘horozontigo’.

The actual descent is quite interesting.  The first part is well lit and somewhat
alarming; with the ladder dropping free to disappear past the ledge into
blackness.  The damming as done does not
interfere with the lateral passage water, which comes in on the right to form
an impressive unbroken waterfall of over three hundred feet – the highest in

England.  The ledge was put out of reach by the
positioning of the ladder, but this was compensated for by the straightness of
the descent.  Below the level of the
ledge, the shaft assumes a more benign aspect and the gravel covered floor of
the Main Chamber appears quite near until one remembers that the ‘gravel’ is actually
stones and boulders.  A little lower, and
one is on a level with the roof, the ladder drops across a knob of rock which
makes a fine seat to admire the scenery. This viewpoint can be strongly recommended, with all the waterfalls
visible and the walls of the Great Chamber receding into the blackness.

Back on the surface, it had been raining for some time, and
it was decided to start de-laddering.  It
was then that things started to go wrong – the ladders would not come up, even
though pulling was tried from all possible positions.  Keith fixed a rope a little way down in case
the obstruction was right at the top, but to no avail.  By this time, it was getting quite late and
there was no alternative but to leave ladderless and despondent for the valley,
and return in the morning.

It seem fairly certain that the ladder was catching towards
the bottom, and the best scheme would be for somebody to go to Main Chamber via
Bar Pot and pull the ladder away from the rock with along rope, while it was
being lifted from above.  It rained quite
a lot during the night and by the morning this was only a scheme, as a direct
descent of the Main Shaft was ruled out. The Northern Pennine Club lent some tackle, and several of their members
generously offered to lend a hand.  Two
of the party laddered Bar Pot, Roy going to the Main Chamber, while Phil came
out to help on the surface.  With a two
hundred foot line attached to the bottom, the ladder was readily pulled clear
of the rock, and it came up quite easily much to the relief of the hauling
party.  All that remained to do was to
collect man and ladders from Bar Pot with apologies to the party who had booked
it.  They seemed somewhat surprised at
the present day small size of B.E.C. parties.

In conclusion, one may say – G.G. Main Shaft laddered –
time, two days – and many thanks to the N.P.C. members for their much needed
help.

Long Term Planning – 1

In accordance with the instructions laid down at the recent
A.G.M., the first meeting of the Long Term Planning Committee took place at the
Hunters on November 6th.  The committee
have arranged to meet monthly until its work is completed.

The fist meeting began by electing a chairman (Pat Ifold)
and a secretary (Alfie Collins) and then went on to agree on how the job should
be tackled.  It was decided to concentrate
on one aspect of the job at each meeting – at any rate to start with.  We realise that, later on, we shall have to
do some backtracking – because later decisions we take will affect those we
have already taken, but we will do our best to arrange matters so that this is
kept top a minimum.

One thing on which we are all agreed is that the meetings of
this committee must not be allowed to degenerate into a general nattering
session.  There is a very great deal of
hard work to get through.  For this
reason, we have reluctantly decided that we shall not be able to accept
visitors at our meetings.  On the other
hand, the last thing we want to do is to stifle discussion outside the
meetings, so we have decided to keep the club fully informed of our doings
month by month via the B.B.  We hope that
members will write to us with their views and suggestions, but would ask them
to keep to the ‘Subject of the Month’ so that we can work as tidily as
possible.  Any correspondence we receive
will be read out and discussed at the next meeting of the Committee, so no
member need feel that his views do not count or will be ignored.

The subjects, in order of out dealings with them, will be
described next, in some detail….

This, then, is our basic working plan for the first few
months.  Having sorted this out, the
meeting then went on to discuss the first of these headings – that of
finance.  This is what was decided….

Finance

We don’t know, at this stage, how much money we are talking
about.  The situation will vary according
to whether we can get any assistance from public funds, and in any case the sum
will obviously depend on the size and type of building we later will decide on,
and also the amount which we consider to be practicable of building by
members.  We must, however, start
somewhere – so we took the arbitrary sum of £3,000 and set out to see how we could
raise it.  We think it should be
emphasised here that this does not mean that the building will cost us
£3,000.  We have chosen this sum so that,
whatever happens in the way of grants etc., we shall be adequately
covered.  We can always ask for less in
the end.  This is much easier than aiming
too low and having to realise later that we must find additional sources of
money.  Bearing all this in mind, we
suggest……

MEMBERS’ GIFT SCHEME.

It has been suggested that an appeal be made for some club
members to agree to donate (by Banker’s Order or by some equivalent means) a
sum of £1 per month for a period of three years.  While we realise that members in this
category already have considerable commitments, we think that it might be
possible to expect a response to an appeal of this sort to result in up to 25
members contributing.  It is expected
that members in this category will be mainly those who have been connected with
the club for many years and that most of them will be life members.

Amount expected……………….£900                   Amount left……………£2,100

INCREASE OF CLUB SUBSCRIPTION.

The B.E.C. subscription is about the lowest of any caving
club in the country.  This alone is no
excuse for raising it, as owing to the way in which the club is run, it
normally is enough to keep everything running. We have, in the past, raised some things, like Belfry Dues, for specific
periods – to pay for such items as the installation of water, electricity and
calor gas to the Belfry.  In each case,
this surcharge was removed as soon as the thing for which it was imposed was
paid for.  We thus feel that members need
not feel apprehensive about any temporary surcharge.  If this surcharge was 10/- p.a. for three years,
it would bring in about £200.  If,
however, we made the annual sub. two guineas for three years only, reverting to
its present value afterwards, we should undoubtedly lose some members.  It is however, estimated that, even with this
effect, we should obtain about £600. Present life members would not be affected, as it is expected that they
would mostly be included under the first scheme.  Incidentally, we expect the committee to
investigate the case of any members who leave the club for three years and then
reapply for membership when the rate has reverted to its present level!

Sum expected…..£200 – £ 600                            Sum left….£1,500 –
£1,900

INCREASE OF BELFRY DUES.

An extra 1/- would probably bring in about £150 in the three
years.  We could also run an appeal to
visitiors for donations.  Many visiting
clubs are grateful for the ‘Open House’ policy favoured by the B.E.C. for many
years, and will benefit from the new building. We might count on about £200 altogether.

Sum expected…….£200             Sum left……£1,300 – £1,700.

MEMBER’S LOAN.

So far, we have suggested measures designed to obtained money
from (1) Those who have been staunch club members/Belfryites in the past (2)
Those who are at present members of the club, and (3) those who use the Belfry
at present. We feel that those who will obtain the main advantage from the new
building should be called upon to pay their share of the cost  This can be done by arranging a loan,
carrying interest, which will be paid for by increased charges for the New
Belfry (We really must find a name for it, incidentally – we can’t keep on
calling every building the New Belfry. How about SUPER Belfry?)  It is
estimated that we could possibly raise £500 by this method.

All this would leave between £800 and £1,200 to raise.

Any other sums, we feel, must come from sources other than
from members.  One suggestion already
made is to hold a Jumble sale which its sponsor estimates would raise over
£100.

Money from Public funds has not been discounted.  We are investigating this and, providing no
strings are attached, we are in favour of accepting any such grants which may
be obtained.

Over to you!

Please write in and tell us YOUR reactions to these
proposals.  Any suggestions you may have
for ways of raising money, with offers to organise things will be welcome.  Please keep to this month’s topic – FINANCE –
and send your letters to the secretary, Long Term Planning Committee, at the
following address: –

S.J. Collins, “Homeleigh”, Bishop
Sutton,

Somerset.

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Information for inclusion in the Christmas edition of the
B.B. should be sent to the editor as soon as possible, since it is hoped to
publish this early in December this year.

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The Council of Southern Caving Clubs have recently produced
a Handbook which, besides giving information about the C.S.C.C. list
requirements concerning access to caves in the South of England, and their
secretaries; National and Regional Organisations, Reference groups, and
accommodation available on Mendip.  This
21 page mine of information can be obtained from, The assistant Hon. Sec.
C.S.C.C., I.J. Standing, 4 Springhill Lodge, Spring Hill, Nailsworthy, Glos.  2/- plus 6d postage.

B.E.C. Members’ Addresses