Contents
Nominations.
The season for nomination of candidates for the next years
committee is now upon us. As older
members will know, we no longer print nomination forms, but ask each member who
has a nominee in mind to find out whether he (or they) are willing to serve on
the committee if elected, and then send their names to the Hon. Secretary, R.D.
Stenner, 38 Paultow Road, Victoria Park, Bristol 3; to reach him as soon as
possible after receiving this B.B. Dont
forget to add your own name and your membership number. This is to make sure that you are entitled to
nominate people for the committee. Only
paid up members of the club are entitled to do this. Another thing to remember is that all
retiring members of the committee are automatically nominated unless they
decide to retire. As far as is known
only one member Roy Bennett does not wish to stand next year.
If the Long Term Plan gets passed at the A.G.M. you will
find your copy with this B.B. then we shall want a strong committee to ensure
that the plan gets put into action in a smooth manner. It may thus be very important to have good
nominees this year over to you!
Annual Dinner.
This years Dinner should be a good affair at least from
the food point of view. The menu is a
real chunk of haut cuisine with a choice of roast haunch of venison with port
wine sauce. If required, you can have
roast Aylesbury duckling with apple sauce instead, but you must say if you
prefer this when placing your order with Roger Stenner. This fantastic meal is dirt cheap at a quid a
head. It is at the Cave Man 7 for 7.30
get your order in as soon as possible!
Club Ties.
Once again, it is possible for a caver to be well dressed in
a genuine B.E.C. tie. These ties are
100% hard wearing nylon and are woven (as distinct from another well known club
tie which is only printed on). All the
best people wear B.E.C. ties. These are
obtainable from Roger at 17/6 each.
Annual General Meeting.
In view of the amount of business to be got through, it is
being considered to start the meeting in the morning of the first Saturday in
October, and to go on after a suitable adjournment for beer at lunchtime. Details will be given in the September B.B.,
but try to keep the whole of this day free if possible.
Alfie
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Although circumstances have compelled the committee to call
a halt to the publication of the parts of the Definitive Report on Cuthberts,
make sure of your copies by placing an order for all parts when they come out
with Bryan Ellis, Knockauns, Combwich, Bridgwater, Somerset. He also has other reports, surveys, etc. for
sale and will send a list on receipt of a stamped address envelope.
Now that wet suits, space blankets and all the appropriate
by-products of technology are aiding cavers one way or another, it might be of
interest to hear from others who can remember interesting trips made under the
kind of difficulties which would not occur toady. How about it?
Monthly Notes No 6
by Dave Irwin
St. Cuthberts Report.
(B.E.C. Caving Report No.13. Parts A to O). The committee have issued the following
statement. That for reasons beyond our
control, publication of this report will be postponed until further notice.
B.S.A. Conference.
8th 11th September, 1967, is
being held at
includes lectures on Little Neath Cave (P. Standing); Giants and Oxlow Cavern
(G. Westlake); Kingsdale Master Cave (Brook); Dan-yr-Ogof (A. Coase) etc.
Aille
River
Cave
Total length of passage explored
approx. 2,600ft. This cave is subject to
severe flooding. The cave has since been
visited by the Craven Pothole Club, but whether they found more passage is not
yet known.
Proventina (
Greece
It is reported that Jim Ayres
(Red Rose) and party have descended the initial section of the shaft, landing
on a ledge some 700 from the surface. The pitch continued to a depth of 1,400 to another ledge. A stone dropped from this ledge took 10 secs.
to hit rock! Some shaft!! Alan Thomas is planning a trip there next
year.
Weather Forecasts.
For accurate forecasts of Mendip
and
444. Charge 1/6.
Swildons.
Jeanmaire,
Stream Passage. Dived to length of 30. An air bell found 6 high, 4 feet across and
15 feet long. Further dives are
planned.
Porth-yr-Ogof.
Upstream sump of the
Porth-yr-Ogof feeder. Dived approx. 90
to depth of 25. The submerge passage
(6 x 4 high) ends in a mudbank. The walls of the passage display good scalloping
and rock pendants.
Eastwater Cavern.
The entrance collapsed sometime
between the 2nd and 5th of August. At
the moment, it is impossible to enter the cave. A possible entry, if the ruckle proves too dangerous, is via Boulder
Chamber.
St. Catherines.
Doolin System, Co. Clare,
has found more passage during his recent visit to the cave.
Cuckoo Cleeves.
The base of the entrance pipes is
being supported by a brick wall. The
work is being carried out by Tony Dingle (W.C.C.) and is believed to be near
completion.
Survey Course.
Anyone interested in joining the
second course should contact Roger Stenner at
Park,
3. The date of the course is still to be
fixed probably some time in October.
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The M.R.O are organising a national conference of Cave
Rescue Organisations to be held at
30th September. If any member wishes to
attend please contact Dr. O.C. Lloyd, Withey House, Withey Close West,
Rescue Organisation in other countries and on the organisation of rescue on
caving expeditions abroad. Contact
Oliver if you have any experience on the above topics.
Laddering St Cuthberts
by R.S. (Kangy) King
About 1954 to 1955, the effort required to explore the lower
reaches of St. Cuthberts was such that some trips lasted for up to 24 hours,
and it was becoming difficult to do a reasonable amount of exploration inside
eight hours.
In this pre-wetsuit era, various devices were used to ward
off the effects of exposure. Oilskins
with hoods were employed in the perpetual stream of the Entrance Rift. The stream itself was dammed at the surface
an hour before a trip and allowed to drain during the trip, then dammed again
an hour before the estimated time out. The telephone was very useful for this purpose after it had been
installed and was used to order supplies and hot water to be prepared. Before this time, the damming of the stream
served as an incentive to punctuality on the way out. Food was usually taken down and cooked in the
Dining Room and oh, those bellyfuls of hot grub! Although the detail arrangements became a
ritual and were enjoyed for their own sakes, the intelligentsia of the club
were planned ahead to more efficient methods of exploration. These crystallised in the autumn of 1954 to
the need for a series of fixed ladders on the driest route. The route planned was that still used now
accepting the Wire Rift as an alternative to becoming wetter on the
Don Coase obtained some redundant steel ladder and this was
cut up into five and a half foot lengths the longest that would go through
the original entrance squeeze. Fishplates were made and bolted to the sections, which were suitably
identified later for assembly in the cave. These markings can still be seen on the Arête ladder. The ladders were then stacked ready for
assembly in the cave.
On Saturday evening in Mid-February 1955, I happened to join
a party of three
Eastwater. The Hunters was open and, as
Eastwater is a notoriously dry cave, we called in for a drink probably
lemonade. Don Coase and Roy Bennett were
sitting in the bar drinking lemonade and muttering about what a pity it was
that their Cuthberts trip was off because nobody had turned up. We muttered sympathetically why not go down
Eastwater instead? So later, we were
picking up piles of wire ladders and ropes and enquiring anxiously about a
rather large mound of short steel ladders while Coase and Bennett pulled on
layer upon layer of stiff, muddy clothing.
St. Cuthberts Entrance Rift was interestingly filled with a
foaming stream of water, which came straight off the frozen fields. The Coase and Bennett donned (Is this a pun?
Ed) drip deflectors; camouflage oilskins and gas cape hoods and kindly
lowered the steel ladders, ropes, fishplates, nuts and bots, the gas mask bag
of tools, spare carbide and tins of food while the ex-Eastwater party shivered
in Eastwater gear. I have learned better
since, but at the time it always seemed logical to strip if great wetness was
anticipated. We paid dearly for that
trip. A swimming costume and a wool
jersey topped by a boiler suit might have been ideal wear for a fast hot
Eastwater trip but it was sheet stupidity for a slow, freezing Cuthberts
working party. The uncontrollable shivering
started as soon as we were sloshed out at the top of the Arête and continued
for the next ten and a half hours.
The Arête ladder was laid and the prefabricated steel parts
lowered. The fitting had been well done,
and the ladder was soon assembled across the floor of the chamber on the far
side of the boulder. Eagerly, the men
who had nothing much to do while this work was going on combined to heave the
ladder up into position and we all raced up and down it to warm ourselves up. Both ledge pitches were erected in a similar
manner while the cold became more and more intrusive. By this time we were all beginning to have
had enough, and so the Mud Hall ladders were left for another weekend, and we
went hard for a hot meal in the Dining Room, taking the ritual; obstacles of
caution at Quarry Corner, and the slide down Everest briskly.
Chattering self-congratulatory noises how easy our work
would make the trip out, we finished off a scalding hot binder and then,
trying hard not to let cold wet clothing
slop against shrinking flesh, stared for the entrance. Everest was warming, the awkward climb up
into Pillar infuriating, the Wire Rift exhausting, the new ladders interesting,
and the terrible wait at the foot of the Entrance Pitch almost
unendurable. My turn for the pitch came
after ten hours of being colder than I have ever been. I have a most vivid memory of feeling of
surprise and apprehension, as I watched my swollen white fingers take a long
time to grip the final rung, and of apprehension as I pulled, because I could
not feel whether they had gripped properly or not. I wish I could remember who it was who
managed to Rift carrying two ladders.
Out in the grey dawn, hot drinks, rough blankets, and then
sleep as the first flakes of snow fell.
A Hundred years ago
Searching feverishly in the Belfry Bulletin Files for
something to fill this space, we came across this snippet from a newspaper of a
hundred years ago (unfortunately we cant say which as the reference has come
off!)
A
Somerset
California
The Mendip Hills, in the vicinity of Wells, have recently
become a scene of busy industry in diggings wherein however lead takes the
place of gold.
Professor Anstead recently discovered a consolidated mass of
lead in the parish of St. Cuthberts lying through the bed of a long dried up
stream which ran for ages through the mine workings.
It is now valued by him at many thousands of pounds and
require only the cutting out with a spade and rewashing to produce the already
granulated lead.
All this has resulted in a smelting association being set up
bearing the name of the locality. Several old Californian immigrants have engaged themselves in this matter. Powerful stamping machines have been placed
on the ground, also washing machines, and a crowd of labourers busy working in
a spot so lonely and remote recall vividly the stories of similar enterprise in
St.Cuthberts Mine has
become one of the local curiosities.