Hon. Sec: – A.R. Thomas,
Uphill,
Editor: – D.J. Irwin,
Road
Contents
- 1 Address Changes: –
- 2 Current List of Cuthberts Leaders.
- 3 Dates for Diaries
- 4
- 5 Destruction and Discovery in Fairy Cave Quarry
- 6
- 7 Caving & Climbing Meets June to September
- 8 Monthly Notes No. 14
- 9 From The Caving Log
- 10
- 11 Magpie Mine, Sheldon, Derbyshire.
- 12 From Other Clubs
- 13
- 14 Coruisk
- 15
- 16 Letters To The Editor
- 17
- 18 Outdoors
- 19 New Access Route to August Longwood System
- 20
- 21 Hillgrove Swallet
- 22 The BEC in Yorkshire
Address Changes: –
C. Priddle,
C. Hall,
Fishponds,
5.
M. Hanham, Lowlands, Orchard Close,
Berks.
J. Laycock, 41 Woodlands Park, Quedley, Glous.
T. Marston, 3
G. Selby,
R. White, c/o
Knowle,
R.M. Chandler, 83 Spring Place, Pound Hill,
A.C.J. Davies,
Clevedon,
Current List of Cuthberts Leaders.
R. Bennett, P. Kingston, B.
Lane, C, Priddle, J. Hill, D.
Irwin, M. Palmer, D. Palmer, Dr. O. Lloyd, A. MacGregor, J.
Eatough, R. Stenner, P. Franklin, K. Franklin, B. Prewer, S. Tuck, M. Luckwill, M. Calvert, J. Cornwell, A. Sandall, A. Meadon, N. Petty, B. Ellis, R. King and A. Coase.
*****************************************
Grateful thanks to Ralph Lewis for the gift of two fine
digging ropes.
*****************************************
Gordon Tilly has ONE Helmet left at 10/-.
CARBIDE is available at the Belfry at 1/6 a pound. Please supply your own tins.
*****************************************
IF
YOU
HAVENT
PAID
SUBS THIS IS
YOUR LAST B.B.
Dates for Diaries
BEC BARBECUE BEC BARBECUE
JUNE 29th in the CUTHBERTS
DEPRESSION
TICKET ONLY PRICE 6/- or 10/- on the
day get yours from Zot NOW. Limited
number only.
ANNUAL DINNER at the CAVEMAN FIRST SATURDAY IN OCTOBER
Destruction and Discovery in
Fairy
Cave
For many years Fairy cave Quarry
has been a centre of cave discovery from the armchair but it goes without
saying it has contained, and still does, among the most beautiful of Mendip
caves. The following article sums up the
present position.
By Prew
During recent quarrying operations at Fairy Cave Quarry
certain parts of Balchs Hole have been destroyed, these include Cascade
Chamber, Maypole Chamber and crystal Chamber. At present the way to the Stream Series has been blocked at quarry floor
level and the way on to the final chambers has not yet been reopened. This entrance lies some 20ft. above the
quarry floor level in a pile of
extremely unstable boulders. Of the
remains of Balchs some parts such as erratic Passage and Pool Passage have
been damaged and little of their former beauty remains. Other parts such as Bulrush way and Gour End
still remain in reasonable condition. The cave at present has three entrances, one of which is extremely
dangerous, another is only accessible by rope from the top of the quarry and
the third is at floor level and is safe. The third entrance is the end of Pool Passage where it entered Maypole
Chamber. It is therefore possible to
enter Pool Passage and reach
Way
at the quarry face at the entrance of what used to be Cascade Chamber. This entrance is the dangerous one. Higher up the quarry face it is possible to
enter Erratic Passage but for anyone who saw it in its original condition I
would recommend that they stay away; at least the photographs remains. I recently went into Pool Passage and Bulrush
way and found the whole length of the passage dried out and covered in a layer
of grey quarry dust. This is probably
due to the through draught caused by having two entrances. The survey shows the areas of Balchs that
may be entered. The hatched areas are
blocked but not quarried away. (see
page 65).
The problem of dust extraction at the quarry was solved
recently by mixing it with water which formed a slurry similar in consistency
to that of Magicote, the slurry was then fed down Hilliers Cave with the
effect that over a period of a few years the cave gradually filled with slurry
until the 20ft. crawl just near the entrance became completely filled to the
roof. It is hoped to dig the crawl out
soon when enough mud loving diggers can be found. When the blockage is removed it is not known
whether Tar Hall Boulder Choke has collapsed or not due to the recent blasting
in the vicinity.
Most of the other caves in the quarry have now been lost or
blocked. Fernhill lies under a waste tip
along with Ducks Hole. It is possible
that these two caves cloud be entered from
but a lot of work would be needed.
itself is still open although care is necessary at the entrance and for the
first 50ft. or so. This again has been
caused by blasting nearby. Finally
Christmas Hole is blocked at the entrance and could probably be cleared fairly
easily.
That deals with the destruction that has occurred in the
Quarry over the last few years. During
the later part of 1967 a few new interesting discoveries were made. The one known as Conning Tower Hole consists
of a hole in the quarry floor 15 feet deep, at the bottom of which there are
two ways on. The first ends in a muddy
pot, the second is at present blocked by a large boulder that has peeled away
from the wall. It is far too dangerous
to proceed until the slab has been removed by a little chemistry. The hole has been temporarily covered with an
oil drum hence the name given to the hole. Would be explorers should equip themselves with a heavy duty tin opener.
Shortly after the discovery of Conning Tower Hole, a small
hole in the quarry face at floor level was cleared out to reveal a new cave
Balchs Extension. This cave is 250ft.
long and contains many fine and unusual formations. Some photographs of these are included in
this article. The floor formations are
exceptional and great care is needed not to damage some of the crystal
pools. The colour photographer has vast scope
in this cave for the contrast of colour is quite outstanding. Near the end of the cave a 40ft. drop down a
muddy rift gives rise to a deep pool of water, to date no outlet has been
found. This short section of cave is in
complete contrast to the rest and because it is so muddy it is best left as mud
removed from the series would certainly spoil the rest of the cave. The final chamber of the cave is a rift like
feature, about 40ft. high, with some stalagmite flows. Recently some high level passages in this
chamber were maypoled but without success, all the inlets are blocked with
stalagmite.
The small annex chamber to the right, Red Pool Chamber,
contains some fine formations including pink and white candy like crystals
and most of the walls are covered in flow; in fact one might observe that
there is very little limestone showing at all.
Survey of
by D. Warburton et. al. 1962 with their permission)
This article was written for the B.B. and published with the
kind permission of the Cerberus Spel. Society.
LILY PADS IN BALCH EXTENSION
CRYSTAL
COLUMN IN BALCH EXTENSION
FERNHILL CURTAINS
On January 1st 1968 a new cave was entered in the quarry
after several hours of gardening. It
proved to be a short but high rift containing some mud formations and one
gigantic stalactite that has fallen and partially blocked the rift. No further passages were found and New Year
Hole was left to the mercy of the quarry owners. A fortnight later another hole was entered
which although at first sight showed great promise was found to be blocked some
20ft. down. It consisted of a large hole
on a ledge near the top of the quarry. Unfortunately due to blasting, about 300 tons of rubble has fallen into
the hole and completely blocked it.
The day after its discovery many tons of rock had slipped
into the hole. This hole was probably
one of the largest that had ever appeared in the quarry.
As to the future, well the few lines of a well known hunters
ballad sums up the situation: Caves
are discovered for us, from digging we can shirk.
Caving & Climbing Meets June to September
June 9th Sun. STOKE
LANE AND BROWNES HOLE
JULY 14th Sun. G.B. Including Ladder Dig series
AUTUMN
Date to note: – St.
Cuthberts Full Scale Practice Rescue Sunday September 15th 1968
For local caving meets 11 a.m. at cave entrance.
The Autumn Holiday will be camping at Penwylt.
For further information contact Andy MacGregor, The Railway
Arms, Station Road, Theale, Reading, Berks.
Climbing Meets: –
June 22/23 North Wales or
July 27/28 North Wales or
For further information contact Eddy Welch, Frenchay Lodge
Bungallow,
Frenchay,
Monthly Notes No. 14
by WIG
THE COMMITTEE GO UNDER
.ground!!!!!!
May 12th was quite an event for the B.E.C. Committee
it – wait it WENT CAVING! Wonders will never cease. The cave G.B., meeting place the Stal.
Bridge. When Chairman WIG called the meeting
to order, watched by several club members, the Minutes Secretary Phil
Townsend regretted that he had forgotten the book and so with the Minutes 15
miles away in Bristol the Committee 200 feet underground the meeting was
closed. The party of 14 split several
ways a group led by Wig went to the Ladder Dig Series where it was intended
to show Bob Bagshaw the new chamber and Bat Passage. To Bobs disgust Wig failed to find the Great
Chamber though one could hear him muttering something about Didnt have this
flaming trouble before and the Climbing
Secretary sabotaged the route finding to Bat Passage for nearly half an hour by
continually asserting that this hole doesnt go it did.
The remainder of the party toured the old cave and on the
way out Alfie managed to squeeze through and at the same time empty the pools
at the Devils Elbow even though he was wearing a label on his jacket marked sub-standard.
WOOKEY HOLE
Recent dive by Savage. He reports that the system beyond Chamber 19 degenerates into a 100ft.
long bedding plane only a few inches high. Is this the end?
From The Caving Log
Edited by Phil Coles
10th March 15th May 1968
Over the past two months St. Cuthberts has, as usual,
proved the most popular cave with 24 trips encompassing a variety of activities
including surveying, digging in addition to the many tourist trips. Swildons came second in popularity with 17
trips; although they were all tourist.
A big push was made by Alan Thomas and Co. on Masebury but
mow seems to have petered out, probably due to Alans sceptic hand (the result
of a trip into
granted for work to start again at Emborough Swallet and a dig in
are known. Geologically the site is very
promising (say Roy Bennett and Dave Irwin, whose dig it is) and there is
certainly a large stream sinking nearby (its 200-300 times the size of
Emborough Stream! Ed.)
Other caves visited have been Cuckoo Cleeves, Hunters, G.B.,
Nine Barrows, Sidcot, Goatchurch and
Lane
foreign soil there have been trips to OFD. Long Kin West and Simpsons. One
of the G.B. trips was attended by most of the Committee (minus Caving Sec who
was working and Hon. Sec who was caving in Derbyshire) and the highlight of the
visit was Wigs failure to find Great Chamber in the Ladder Dig Series!
The past two months has seen two rescues. The first in Sidcot was relatively a minor
affair some bod became stuck in the 30ft. rift but was extracted by a BEC
party led by Robin Richards. The second
in Nine Barrows was a more serious incident. A member of the East Somerset Caving Club was climbing in Crystal
Chamber when he slipped, fell and broke his ankle. His fall was broken by his cousin standing
below him and prevented him falling on down into the 10ft. pot in the floor of
the chamber. The MRO were called out and
Luke Devenish directed surface operations. Don Thomson went down and set the ankle in plaster. The subject was able to help himself with his
arms enabling the rescue to go smoothly apart from the fact that the squeeze
approaching Crystal Chamber needed widening. He was out of the cave in about 2 hours.
Magpie Mine, Sheldon, Derbyshire.
by John G. Riley.
The mine is situated three miles S.W. of Bakewell, standing
on a limestone plateau 1025 1050 feet above sea level. It is said, locally, to be over 300 tears
old, but its history can only be traced for half that time.
was the chief ore extracted although some brown ore, zinc blend, calcspar and
barites were removed during some periods.
During its history the mine changed hands several times,
there was always a problem of flooding and the cost of removing the water from
the shaft caused the return of lead to be minimal at times and as the price of
lead fell the mine closed.
It was not until 1882 that things began to look up for the
mine when a sough was driven through at a depth of 579 feet to drain the water
away into the River Wye. In this year a
record amount of ore was produced. Pumps, however, were still required to drain away the water standing
below the level of the sough. Some idea
of the extent of the flooding is indicated by the flow rates of 8,000
gallons/minute from the sough in 1913.
During the period 1907 1951 the mine was closed and
reopened twice and at one period remained closed for 25 years. In 1951 a
using electric pumps and by 1953 had succeeded in draining it to a depth of 620
feet where two large, partly natural caverns, Chatsworth Cavern and Devils Hole
became accessible but proved to be disappointing. By 1958 the price of lead had fallen
drastically and it became no longer economical to work the mine and it lay in
peace once more (that is until the B.E.C. arrived!).
On 11th and 12th May, party from the B.E.C. (including two
Alan Thomas) visited Debyshire with the intention of descending the shaft by
ladder. On the Saturday afternoon Eldon
Hole was visited as a warm up and the night was spent in Magpie Cottage after
being fortified in Buxtons answer to The Hunters. The tenancy of Magpie Cottage was taken over
by the Peak District Mines Historical Society who use it as their base for
study on mining antiquities. A certain
young member of the society was somewhat apprehensive of our venture, after
being convinced in the pub by Alan that we had no knowledge of such
sophisticated equipment such as lifelines, caving helmets, wet suits etc!
The shaft was laddered on Sunday morning and descended first
by Alan Thomas (the somersaulting window smashing one) who descended the
shaft to water level (i.e. the flood level of the sough at -579 feet). There was obviously no question of leaving
the ladder but it was possible to rest adequately (or even sleep if required!)
using an excellent harness loaned by Ken Kelly. After Alan had slogged up 500 feet of ladder the word was passed down
that according to the lifeline there was another 400 feet to go. After a few oaths and curses (the joke was
not appreciated!) and rapid calculations the climber realised this to be untrue
and on reaching the top the classic remark was Funny how your sense of humour
goes after climbing 400ft. of ladder!
Successive valiant attempts at reaching the bottom were made
by Martin, Alan Thomas (the one who doesnt somersault and smash windows) and
the writer to no avail and finally by Mike Luckwill who was privileged enough
to gaze on the stagnant water at the bottom!
Dr. D.T. Ford of the Department of Geology, University of
Leicester wrote this of the mine which is not without interest: Both the blende vein and the shaft show
natural solution features indicating the passage of underground water in the geological
past. In both cases the water table was
above these until the sough was driven, so they are examples of phreatic
solution by slow-moving waters beneath the water table. The sources and outflow points of such water
before the driving of the sough would form an interesting study, which might
lead to the discovery of other caverns and water courses. One such water course is apparently still
active and is responsible for the main feeder of water (or boil-up) into the
sough beneath Sheldon village. In
forming such deep-seated water-courses it may be that surface water has
utilised a series of interconnected, incompletely filled mineralised fissures,
as the route from the surface catchment well to the west of Magpie with the
water subsequently rising to feed springs at a lower altitude near
Bakewell. The position of toadstones
would at least partly control such a flow and solution under such circumstances
may have been partly responsible for the caverns such as the Chatsworth Cavern
found beneath the present flooded deep levels.
From Other Clubs
By G. Tilly.
Speleo. Vol. 6 No.2 Spring 1968
This edition of the S.W.E.T.C.C.C. newsletter is a 72 page
octavo publication containing reports on Cave Hydrology and Water Tracing and
Karst Relief and Caves. Articles range
from Cave Surveying including the use of a simple Water Level. To The
Dangers of using dissimilar materials.
Wessex
Journal No.116 Vol.10. April 1968
The
seem to have another pursuit (other than caving!) namely the scrap metal
business if you dont believe it read it for yourself. The Journal itself, however, again contains
some very interesting articles. One in
particular is a factual account of the Mossdale Caverns Disaster by Alan
Fincham. This report includes the
history of the survey attempts and the events up to and following the disaster.
Other publications were received from Axebridge.
Coruisk
The following articles triggered off a series of letters on
behalf of the Club. The story is
reproduced for your information.
Letter from the Guardian: –
Sir, I thank you from your leading article (May 10)
discouraging Inverness County Council from opening up Lock Coruisk next month
by bridging the Scavaig and Camasunary Rivers, blasting the Bad Step and
building a Land-Rover track to Camasunary. This first test given to unwitting army engineers has untied all outdoor
organisations in the
Kingdom
ramblers in hostility to a legitimised vandalism.
Most ironically the plan was first mooted by the police in a
well-intentioned notion of aiding mountain rescue. The effect would be the reverse of what they
desire. The un-bridged burns, rough
track, and rocky ground, have hitherto acted as a filter ensuring that unfit
walkers think twice of going into hills that for them are dangerous. Remove the natural obstacles and the accident
rate will leap up. Accidents are meantime
rarer on this side of the Cullin and injured men are evacuated by motor-boat to
Elgol.
Lock Coruisk, ringed by the Cullin Horseback of 20 sharp
peaks, is in of the outstanding landscapes of
refreshing to the mind of all who come even if only to look even by steamer
from Mallaig. Such rare places are fast
becoming too few in this small island. We need every one we can save, both for our own delight and health and
for future generations. If any man can
help influence
unnecessary disfigurement of Coruisk and its ancient footpath let him do so all
at once.
I am etc. W.H. Murray,
Goil, Argyll
The next day appeared: –
PLAN FOR SKYE JEEP PATH TO STAY.
adhere to its proposal for making rescues in the Cullins in Skye easier by
improving the footpaths into the hills. It also said that the work had to start in a fortnight or the Army would
all go on holiday.
A telegram was immediately sent to
county council asking them to reconsider and was followed by this letter: –
Dear Sir,
While it is well intentioned of you to clear a track vehicle
route into Coruisk for the purpose of rescue, with our experience as a rescue
organisation we beg you not to act in haste. Other ways can be found.
We would council against altering natural features in any
way that would prevent new generations gaining our experiences. For example we understand that the Bad Step
is to be blasted. This is a feature of
renown in mountaineering and is to the mountaineer a place of great interest
and importance and its loss would make us much poorer.
The men of the crowded areas have a deep need of rare places
such Coruisk and its unnecessary disfigurement would cause spiritual hardship.
Please delay the approval for at least another year so that
your proposals can be given mature consideration. You have control of our heritage. We are sure that as responsible people you
will want to do right.
Yours
etc.
Letters were also sent to an M.P., to a Bristol City
Councillor and to Bill Murray offering help.
Dear Sir or Madam,
Mountain Rescue
Cuillins Lock Coruisk
I refer to your recent letter making representations against
proposals for certain improvements to the access from Camusunary and thereafter
to the Mountaineering Hut at Lock Coruisk.
The many representations received against the proposals were
duly considered by the Planning Committee of the Council.
That part of the scheme which envisaged the making of the
steps across the face of the Bad Step has been discarded and been replaced by
a proposed improvement of a path which goes round the Bad Step.
It appeared to the Planning Committee that the proposals
particularly as amended, did not offer any threat either to the amenity of the
area or to its quality or satisfactions as a mountain sanctuary. As to whether the works will encourage people
to go into the area who would not at present do so the Committee feel that is
not so; the track which is to be improved for the use by police Land-Rover
vehicles will not be available to private cars because (firstly) it will be
unfit for private cars and (secondly) it will be made available by the estate
owner only to his estate vehicles and police and rescue vehicles; as to people
on foot it does not seem to the Committee that more people will walk along the
altered track than do so on the present track.
The Council as police authority have inescapable
responsibilities in the matter of mountain rescue (and of search until it is
established that a feared mishap has not in fact occurred) and they therefore
owe to the police and others who assist them the fullest practicable
assistance.
Only a brief reply to your letter is practicable. The views of the Committee have been set out
in detail in a letter to the Countryside Commission for
copies of that letter have been sent to what appeared to be the nine principal
organisations who had made representations. The matter is now being considered by the Countryside Commission.
Yours faithfully
An encouraging number of letters have appeared in the press,
all anti. The essence of the matter is
neatly summed up by this letter: –
Sir,
My brother and I visited Elgol by motor-cycle in 1932, and,
seeing the track marked on our ¼in. Ordnance map, had intended to ride to
Coruisk. But, of course, we had to walk
it; and the memory of that day, and of the Bad Step in particular, has
refreshed me at frequent intervals over the past 35 years. Please leave this path unimproved.
Yours faithfully
(The Rev.) George Jager.
Sutton Courtney Vicarage.
Abingdon.
The crunch comes on 1st June 68, the original date for the
work to commence. Let us hope that it
doesnt.
Kangy.
Letters To The Editor
Dear Sir,
There can be no real argument against the gating of
caves. Quite apart from the preservation
angle, one must also consider the safety factor. It has been suggested many times over that
if Swildons, for instance was properly gated there would be a great reduction
in the M.R.O. callout figures. Ah but,
you may say, This does not prevent accidents!! This I agree, but is does reduce the risk of
people entering caves against the advice of the local landowner when the
weather is very unsettled and the risk of flash floods is greater. Another point to remember is if that all
caves were gated and application for the key had to be made to either the
farmer or an appointed club, at least the farmer would be able to receive his
bobs more regularly and more important the owner would know how many parties
were in the cave at any time.
Gordon Tilly
1st June 1968
Dear members,
With the sudden change of weekend weather it was necessary
for the M.R.O. to be in action, yet again, on two successive days.
In both cases, the cause was due to inexperience of caving
under conditions that exist in Swildons during wet weather, but in particular
it was a complete underestimation of the severity of the system. Coupled with this, it was necessary for one
of the parties, having missed their way on the trip through Double Troubles
and had to return by the same route.
Whereas this situation is easily summed up by the general
caving society with word like, so what! it is time that more serious thought
was given to the obvious need for control of access to Swildons Hole.
There are undoubtedly many arguments that support and reject
this proposal, but at the moment Swildons has the highest (and almost the only)
accident history in any
I believe it is true to say that Swildons is the only major
system on Mendip that is not controlled.
It would seem that with the ever increasing popularity of
caving, there is certain to be a high density of novices, so it is time for the
major, responsible, caving clubs on Mendip formulated a simple system of
control; I see no reason why the B.E.C. should not start the motion in this
respect.
The control need not in fact be any different to several
systems that already exist for caves such as G.B., Lamb Leer, St. Cuthberts
etc.
This may sound, at first, to be rather Northern in
attitude, but why wait until another fatality is added to what at present is a
short list in the history of Swildons, but one which is very likely to increase
because WE have done nothing about it.
Michael A. Palmer
30th May 1968
Well there you are. Do you want a gated Swildons? Perhaps there are among you wishing for a fixed steel ladder on the 40
lets have your views there must be several who disagree with this months
letters.
Outdoors
The Climbing Meet for May was
scheduled for
and held in Llanberis by popular request. Present were Pete Sutton, Roy Marshall, Malcolm Holt and Eddy
Welch. A branch meet (Tony Dunn, a
previous sec. once defined a meet as two or more members together) happened
when Kangy and Mark James didnt get to
With Hedera
The Llanberis party had good weather were able to carry out
their planned programme of objectives in accordance with the weekly socialized
co-operative meetings of members, nearly. Base camp at the Camp at the Grochan. Phantom Rib, thin and exposed on the Grochan and Yellow Groove on Craig
Ddu are both recommended while Nea was followed to a logical conclusion which
happened to be the Glyders. Crib-y-Ddysgl was approached from Clogwyn and the ridge followed to Yr
Wyddfa then down by the Rwlwal track.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Kangy and Mark awoke in the
heart of the
left instead of thundering on to Llanberis. Breakfast was only retrieved by driving back out of the hills to buy
baking tins and knives and forks wherewith to cook. It was obviously to be a non-event of a
weekend. This is where it was not going
to happen. So, strolls down the Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal,
lunch in a boozer, climbing on the Llangattock Quarries (frantic top roping
enthusiastically indulged well its loose) caving with a single torch then an
enormous P.U. lying underneath the stars, with the lights of Crickhowell
below. A more disciplined Sunday allowed
a circuit of Lord Herefords Knob from Capel-y-Ffn. An easy longish walk with occasional vista.
Crews lecture on the Cella Terro in
was about a non-event. Interesting only
because it was Crew. It became obvious
as the lecture progressed that they werent really trying. You may remember that this was the expedition
that was forced by bad conditions to lay siege for months and months and become
so unfit that when the weather became fair they were unable to take full
advantage of it. Happily sponsored by
the Sunday Times they festered it seems. If you are thrilled by close-ups of sheeps entrails or lascivious,
naked, bearded men, then this is your scene.
Nothing wrong with Uphill, no sheep etc., but a nice little
cliff. A meet, spontaneous and
unrehearsed, occurred here on 5th May, when Kangy and Mark James saw Derek
Targett and Arthur Cullen and families. Derek and Arthur led off on the smooth Main Face while Kangy and Mark
went to the beach for lunch. It poured
with rain during lunch but abated to enable Mark and Kangy to follow an
unlisted rib to the right of Apes Ascent. About H.S. or horrifyingly severe particularly the bit where you use
limestone in compression. Meanwhile the
first party hung out to dry!
Eddy Welch has a message. I must pass it on. He was going
to write a book review, but you know how it is. Anyway, get and read Rock Climbers in Action in Snowdonia by John
Clare and Tony Smythe. Its
marvellous. Eddy sez.
HEDERA
New
Access Route
to August Longwood System
Hillgrove Swallet
Latest news is that it is abandoned until the winter. 150ft. of passage discovered. EMBOROUGH being worked again by Keith
Franklin and Phil Coles.
The BEC in
Yorkshire
By G.E. Atwell (Fred to
some!)
Saturday June 1st 1968, seven members went to Alum Pot. We did exchange journeys through long Churn
Alan Thomas, though, thought it was far too much like hard work to go through
and so went up and down the Main Pitch twice.
On Sunday, we went back to Alum Pot again for ladder
practice. After going up and down the
pitch twice I decided to take Buster caving. We had a go at Long Churn but did not get far as he (Buster or Fred? Ed)
didnt like the water.
Monday saw us at Long Kin (West) Pot. Eight people went down. As matter of interest Pennine Underground is
incorrect for the 1st pitch you need forty feet of ladder instead of twenty.
Wednesday G.G. Main Shaft. We tethered the ladder in the south east corner. Alan Thomas (junior) climbed from the bottom
to the top in six and a half minutes. There was no trouble with getting the ladder out of the shaft. Damming was easy as there wasnt much water
going down. (Phew! Ed).
*****************************************
Well thats yer lot for this month and so it would be a good
idea if your Editor reminded you to send an account of your holidays to him as
soon as you are able. I know that there
are three parties going on either caving or climbing holidays and a fourth
weegeeing somewhere in Norway and Sweden so dont forget the B.B. readers
will be interested in hearing (or rather reading) about your exploits (some at
least!)
Next months issue of the B.B. will see the first of a two
part article on the Structure of Mendip and the second of Jock Orrs
photographic articles. In addition will
be Sumping by Numbers, Poem, and the usual items of general interest.
The B.B. is available to non-members at about 1/6d (the
price will vary from time to time) and so if you know anybody that isnt lucky
enough to be a member of the BEC and would like to purchase a copy they can get
it from Bryan Ellis or the price stated for the month or at a standard rate of
18/- p.p. when they will be added to our mailing list.
KEEPBOBHAPPYBY PAYINGYOUSUBKEEPBOBHAPPYBYPAYINGYOURSUBNOW