Any views expressed by any contributor to the Belfry
Bulletin, including those of officers of the club, do not necessarily coincide
with those of the editor or the committee of the Bristol Exploration Club,
unless stated as being the view of the committee or editor.

Mendip Rescue Organisation

In case of emergency telephone WELLS 73481.BRISTOL
EXPLORATION CLUB

Club Headquarters

‘The Belfry’,

Wells
Rd., Priddy, Wells, Somerset. Tele:  WELLS 72126

Club Committee

Chairman:         S.J.
Collins
Minutes Sec:     D. Turner
Members:          R. Bagshaw; D.J. Irwin;
N. Jago; T.E. Large; A.R. Thomas; R. Orr; R. Hobbs.

Officers Of The Club

Hon. Secretary: A.R.
Thomas, Allen’s House,

Nine
Barrows Lane, Priddy, Wells,

Somerset. Tel: PRIDDY 269.
Hon. Treasurer:  R.J. Bagshaw,

699 Wells Road,
Knowle,

Bristol
4.  Tel: WHITCHURCH. 5626.
Caving Sec:       T.E. Large,

39 Seymour Ave,
Bishopston,

Bristol.
Climbing Sec:    N. Jago, 2 Broughton
House,

Somerset St.,
Redcliffe,

Bristol
1.
Hut Warden:      R. Orr.  ‘The Belfry’, as above.
Hut Engineer:    R. Hobbs, Rose Cottage,
West End, Nailsea,

Bristol.
Tele

BRISTOL
77368
Tacklemaster:    D. Turner.  Address to follow.
B.B. Editor:       S.J. Collins, Lavender
Cottage, Bishop Sutton, Nr. Bristol.
Librarian:           D.J. Irwin, Townsend
Cottage, Priddy, Wells,

Somerset.
Publications:     D.J. Irwin.  Address as above
B.B. Post:         Mrs. K. Mansfield, Tiny
Kott, Little
London, Oakhill,
Bath,

Somerset.

This Year’s Dinner

As usual, the B.E.C. are not issuing tickets.  One books up for the dinner by getting in
touch with the Hon. Treasurer – Bob Bagshaw and by paying him £1.10 (22/- in
old money) per person.

PLEASE try to do this as soon as possible, as Bob has to
tell the caterers how many people are coming, and he can only make a wild guess
if you all wait until the last minute!

The date is SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7TH.

 

Editorial

Nominations

Now is the time for nominations for the 1972~73
Committee.  In past years, we used to
print a form for this but it was generally agreed that it was a waste of paper
to print some 300 forms when at best only a dozen or so would be actually
used.  The system in the B.E.C., for the
benefit of newer members, is delightfully simple.  Suppose you think that Bert Bodge would make
a good committee member.  All you do is
to ASK him whether he would be prepared to serve on the committee if he were
elected.  If he says he would, you then
WRITE on any suitable piece of paper “I wish to nominate Bert Bodge for the
1972-73 Committee and he has agreed to serve if elected.”  The exact wording is not important as long as
you make sure that you say he will serve. SIGN it with your own name and club membership no., if you can remember
it.  (This is only a quick check to make
sure that you are paid up – otherwise your nomination is invalid) and GIVE or
SEND it to ALAN THOMAS, to reach him AT LEAST THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE A.G.M.
(i.e. by Saturday 16th September).  You
may nominate as many people as you wish and you do not need a seconder.  Those nominated must a of course, be PAID UP
club members.

Present members of the committee are deemed to be nominated
automatically unless they wish to stand down. So far, no one has said they wish to stand down.  This procedure does not give present
committee members any advantage, but was instituted so that, if no nominations
are received, at least we still have a committee.  (This has actually happened on several
occasions in the past).

In this B.B. and the next, you will find various
reports.  They may – or may not – make
dull reading, but they save a lot of time at the A.G.M.

*****************************************

After the article in which the double bowline and the
bowline-on-a-bight were mentioned, several people have said that these are, in
fact, two separate knots which should not be mixed up.  MAURICE ILES has sent in a piece of rope (it
must be the oddest way for a contribution to the B.B. to be received) in which
is tied a knot which he says is a Bowline-on-a-Bight.  It is reproduced opposite.

 

Perhaps more members who have skill in getting us knotted
will care to join in!

*****************************************

The committee would like to record the thanks on behalf of
club to Mary Ham, Colleen and Sue for their donations to the first aid box for
the Belfry.

A New Club Section?

Nigel Jago says that if any club member is interested in
building a fibre glass canoe, they should get in touch with him.  His address is at the beginning of this
B.B.  Please note that it has changed
since last month.

 

Minutes of the 1971 Annual General Meeting

Held at Oliver’s Bar, Bristol on Saturday, 2nd October 1971.

There being some 40 members present, the meeting opened by
the Hon. Secretary calling members to order at 2.30 pm.  The meeting then proceeded to elect a
Chairman.  The names of D.J. Irwin; R.A.
Setterington; S.J. Collins and Dr. O.C. Lloyd were proposed from the
floor.  On a show of hands, Dr. O.C.
Lloyd was elected as Chairman.

The Chairman then called for the collection of ballot papers
and members resolutions.

The Chairman called for three volunteers to act as
tellers.  Mrs. Wilton, Mrs. Franklin and
Mrs. Meadon volunteered and were accepted by the meeting.  The Chairman then suggested that the minutes
of the 1970 meeting should be taken as read, since they had been published in
the B.B.  This was agreed.  Pete Franklin then proposed an amendment
“That the name of’ Phil Coles be deleted from the minutes” (His name was
reported as being the only person voting a particular way at the previous
A.G.M.)  The Chairman asked Alfie why
this had been so reported, it being the usual practice to leave out names.  Alfie replied that Phil had specifically
requested that his name be placed on record in this manner.  A vote was taken and the amendment carried 9
– 5 with the remainder abstaining.  It
was agreed to record this amendment to R. A. Setterington then proposed that “All matters in minutes referring to
Committee actions should be checked.”   A
discussion arose and the Chairman accepted ‘Sett’s’ offer to read the minutes
and to bring up such queries as might appropriate.  D.J. Irwin then proposed that the minutes be
accepted.  This was seconded by Bob White
and carried nem. Con.

The Chairman then moved on to the Hon. Secretary’s
report.  This too, had been previously
published.  Alan Thomas said that he
would like to add some remarks, which the Chairman accepted as an addendum to
the report.  Alan said that the attitude
of some members using the Belfry left a lot to be desired.  There had been incidents involving damage to
the ceiling and when the Committee tried to hold an investigation, they were
told a tissue of lies which led to the club falling out with another club from
the North.  He suggested that the new
Committee would have to look very seriously at Belfry Discipline.  The Chairman said that the meeting should
note these remarks and adopt or discuss the report as a whole.  Mike Palmer then proposed the adoption of the
report with the addendum.  This was
seconded by Bob White and carried nem. con.

The Hon. Treasurer’s Report followed.  This had been published, and the Chairman
invited the Hon. Treasurer to add anything if he wished.  Bob Bagshaw said that the sum of £574 as
published should read £547.  This was no
doubt, an error on the part of the B.B. Editor. He pointed out that the outgoings for the Belfry included two years
insurance.  There were some small items
which the auditor wished to be cleared up before approving the accounts.  Bob said that we had some money in Club funds
to be going on with.  He also said that
he had received some subscriptions but by no means all.  The Chairman asked about the payment of
income tax, and said that some other clubs seemed to be able to avoid paying
it.  Bob replied that normally tax is chargeable
on interest of investments but possibly some other clubs had obtained relief on
this point and promised to look further into the matter.  Bob Cross then proposed the acceptance of the
Hon. Treasurer’s report.  This was
seconded by Martin Webster and carried nem. con.

The Chairman then asked for the Caving Report, which the
Caving Secretary read out.  There were no
comments.  Dave Irwin proposed the
adoption of the report.  This was
seconded by Alan Thomas and carried unanimously.

The Chairman then asked for the Climbing Report.  Alfie said that no report had been received
for publication.  The Climbing Secretary
was not present at the meeting.  Dave
Irwin suggested that this be deferred until later.  This was generally agreed by the meeting.

The Chairman then asked for the Tacklemaster’s Report.  Bill Cooper pointed out that he had just
taken on the job and would sort through the tackle and report to the
Committee.  The Chairman said that in
view of the situation, he would recommend this suggestion to the meeting, and
asked if the were any points concerning tackle which members might wish to
raise.  Mike Palmer reminded the meeting
that the Committee had been asked to look into losses of tackle.  Alan Thomas replied that this had been done
and the one ladder still missing had been written off.  He said that Tim Large was still putting
adverts in ‘Descent.’  Mike Palmer said
that there were only two lengths of ladder in the Tackle store.  Dave Irwin replied that on the particular
weekend to which Mike Palmer was referring, tackle had been taken to Yorkshire
and to Wales.  Mike Palmer suggested that
there should be an instruction to next year’s committee that the Tacklemaster
keeps a new record book and that trips off Mendip MUST be supplied with tackle from
the Tacklernaster directly and NOT from the Belfry.  A discussion followed the Chairman summarised
this.  There should be three lots of
tackle.  One for Cuthbert’s; one for the
rest of Mendip and the remainder held off Mendip by the Tacklemaster for trips
away from Mendip.  A list of tackle
should be prepared and published together with the procedure for obtaining it
and returning it after use.  In view of
the number of people whose suggestions were incorporated in this summary, the
Chairman suggested that it be recorded that the new Committee should take into
consideration all the views expressed. The Tacklemaster’s report was then proposed to be accepted by Mike
Palmer, seconded by Phil Coles and carried nem. con.

The Chairman then called for discussion of the Hut Warden’s         report.   ‘Sett’
asked whether day charges were still being collected.  Pete Franklin said that they were collected
if people used the cooking facilities. In reply to a further question, Pete said that no fees payable are
published.  Alan Thomas said that the
showers appeared to be little use judging by the money collected.  A short discussion follow and it was felt
that the time delay in heating the water was the cause of the showers relative
unpopularity.  The Chairman suggested that
the Committee should look into the operation of the showers.  A conscience box placed next to the water
heater was also suggested.  It was also
suggested that the committee look into Belfry charges in view of the changing
pattern of caver’s habits.  Dave Irwin
warned the meeting not to make rash judgments on this subject.  The report was proposed to be adopted by
Alfie and seconded by Mike Palmer and carried without dissent.  A vote of thanks to the retiring Hut Warden
was then proposed by Alfie seconded by Alan Thomas and carried with acclaim.

The Belfry Engineer’s Report was than discussed.  It was agreed during a short discussion that
the Belfry Engineer obtained very little support from members.  Alan Thomas said that despite this, he had
done a good job.  The report was adopted
on a proposal from Frank Jones seconded by Bob White and carried nem. con.

The Chairman asked for the Hon. Librarian’s Report.  Alfie aid that no report had been received
but that he had seen Dave Searles who sent his apologies for not being able to
attend the meeting.  The Chairman said
that he would note Afie’s remarks, and that the production of a proper report
should be dealt with by the new Committee.

The Chairman then called for discussion on the B.B. Editor’s
Report.  Alfie explained that his
proposals for changing the publication interval of the B.B. were designed to
stimulate discussion so that the feelings of the meeting could be
asserted.  The Chairman said that
properly this was matter for the editor and the Committee to decide.  The meetimg voted against the scheme by 16 –
22.  The Editor said that there was no
intention of going against the wishes of the club, and as far as he was
concerned, we should now continue with a monthly publication.  The adoption of the report was proposed by
Bob Bagshaw, seconded by ‘Sett’ and carried without dissent.

The Chairman then announced the results of the ballot for
the new Committee.  Voting was as
follows: – Bob Bagshaw 69; Dave Irwin 66; Alan Thomas 63; Tim Large 54, Alfie
50; Pete Stobart 47, Dave Turner 38; Nigel Jago 37; Bill Cooper 38.  The Chairman announced that the above had
been voted as the 1971-72 Committee.

There was no discussion on the Caving Publications
Report.  The adoption of this report was
proposed by Pete Franklin coupled with a vote of thanks to Dave Irwin for all
the work he had put in.  This was
seconded by Mike Palmer and carried unanimously.

The Chairman then moved on to Members Resolutions, the first
of which was from ‘Sett’, seconded by Bob Bagshaw, “That the B.E.C. Annual
General Meeting is not the proper time place to discuss the removal of fixed
tackle from Cuthbert’s.”  With no
discussion, the Chairman put the resolution to the vote (I mean since there was
no discussion, I am not implying that the Chairman stifled discussion! – Ed.)
and it was carried by 21 – 11.

The next resolution, proposed by Dave Irwin and seconded Roy
Bennett was, “That this meeting extends the Guest Leader system to cover all
clubs on a National basis with a similar arrangement to the existing
scheme.”  Again, no discussion resulted,
and the resolution was carried with one dissent.

The third resolution was proposed by Pete Franklin and
seconded by Ron (“Kangy”) King, “That the A.G.M. and Dinner be
held on separate dates next year to be decided by the Committee on direction
from this meeting.”  After a short
discussion, it was put to the vote and was lost by 18-19.

There being no other business, and having some time in hand
the Chairman asked for any other business. Bob Bagshaw proposed a vote of thanks to the tellers.  This was seconded by Graham Phippen and
carried unanimously.  Graham then that
there was a shortage of digging equipment and a lack direction for keen,
younger members.  Various people replied
that there was a lot of work to be done, apart from the obvious caving and.
digging.  The Library was deficient.  A battery charger was needed.  The Chairman asked the committee to take note
of all these points.

The matter of the Climbing Report was next taken up.  The new Climbing representative on the
committee, Nigel Jago, that he would produce one.

The Chairman then asked ‘Sett’ to produce any matters from
the previous minutes.  All the actions
had, in fact, been cleared up.

A query was put to the I.D.M.F. Committee from the floor
asking whether the present notice for intending trips was realistic.  The point was noted, and the I.D.M.F.
Committee were instructed to look into this and other aspects of the operation
of the fund.

There being no further business, the Chairman then declared
the meeting closed.

 

Travels with a Test Tube

Part 1: Some Painted Caves in Spain and France

ROGER STENNER recently received a
grant to study marine pollution by metals which enabled him to see quite a bit
of Europe. Needless to say, he managed to fit in time to do some show caves en
route.  This is the first description of
caves he visited.

Three weeks in March and April, working in fantastic
unbroken sunshine between Sagres and Cadiz had to come to an end some time and
after a morning spent weegee-ing in Cordoba, a drive on good roads (a change
after the Mini-wrecking minor roads I had had to use so much) took me to
Northern Spain.   A drive through a huge
limestone gorge to the North of Burgos led eventually down into the limestones
where there are many caves which contain Palaeolithic paintings.  On my first afternoon there, I had a look at
the Cavern del Castillo at Puente Viesgo, on the main road from Burgos to
Santander.  The cave would be interesting
enough without the paintings – smooth, gently dipping rock, with glorious
solutional arches and well decorated. Then there are the paintings, the whole lot very well protected by the
guides (“Up here, you padrone me servant: Down there, me boss!”)  The cave walls look untouched, and the paintings
as fresh as the day they were painted. The guide showed genuine enthusiasm for the caves there and he obviously
still gets the same kick out of them as he did when he saw then for the first
time.

Castillo was not mutilated when engineered for a show cave,
and lighting was kept to a minimum. Paintings were illuminated by a hand torch.  The paintings make clever use of natural
features in the rock, and perhaps the most famous is the elephant.  Not far from it, a rock movement has left the
base of a big pillar suspended about a foot from the floor, looking like an
elephant’s front leg.  A
coincidence?  In another passage is a
sequence of solutional arches about two feet apart.  In each one, a half circle and two dots are
enough to give an uncanny feeling that one is being watched.  I was able to make a series of air
temperature and air CO2 measurements, but that’s another story.  The guide was helpful and friendly, adding to
the pleasure of the trip.  We were there
for three hours, and the guide did not seem to be upset by the fact that I was
the only customer that afternoon.

Next morning, I drove to the famous cave of Altamira.  This cave is highly commercialised and
extensively engineered, catering impersonally for huge parties.  It was most disappointing in spite of the
incredible paintings in the gallery of the bulls.  It was annoying to be told that I didn’t
really want to see the famous paintings in the annexe, or to be spoken to
sharply when I stopped walking for a moment to look at a delicate little bas-relief
on a projection which the guide had ignored. It was just one round of the big chamber in double quick time, and into
the gallery of the bulls where the paintings were dripping with condensation
from the visitor’s breath.  Perhaps there
are some people who like this kind trip – there are a lot of peculiar people
about.  It just left a bad taste in my
mouth, which I got rid of by driving back to Fuente Viesgo, where the friendly
guide showed me around two other caves close to Castillo – the Cave of the
Chimeneas and the Cave of Las monedas. There are other caves there; good ones too; but you need written permits
from the Patronato de las Cuevas Prehistoricas de la  Provincia de Santander.  Both caves were delightful, with good
paintings.  One centres round a small
knob of rock, which forms the eye of a horse. After these trips, the guide threw in a free trip into Castillo to
repeat the previous day’s measurements. Then he asked for a copy of the measurements, which we discussed over a
bottle of fiery Spanish gin.

After Northern Spain, the next cave I saw was in the
foothills of the Pyrenees.  The
de-climatisation from South Spain was completed – by a snowstorm.  Clear signposts soon got me to the Grotte de
Gargas, famous for a large number of mutilated hand outlines.  A recent theory is that the missing joints
were amputated to relieve pain from a type of arthritis caused by exposure to
cold during adolescence.  The paper
proposing this theory is plausible, but I still wonder why the cave only features
left hands.  It was sad to see a famous
cave in a disgusting mess.  Graffiti on
the walls which even covers some Palaeolithic paintings and litter is allowed
to accumulate everywhere.  The guide was
scattering sweet wrappers as we went – not exactly the way to set an example to
parties.

North to Toulouse next, where I met Kangy and Anne
King.  I was told I must see the Grotte
de Niaux and I was soon driving south again. Behind the huge entrance high on the mountainside there is a good cave
in hard limestone. The cave is long, with interesting passages and chambers,
mostly completely natural and illuminated by carbide lamps that are
provided.  The very famous groups of
paintings are now protected by cage-like enclosures, apparently a necessary
precaution in France.  The best paintings
give a quite extraordinary feeling of vitality. Three bison paintings overlap to form a beheaded human head in profile
which cannot be accidental.  Hearts and
other vulnerable spots have been highlighted in red on the otherwise black
paintings by later (still Palaeolithic) inhabitants.  The guide, a pretty black haired girl,
pointed out marks representing a Palaeolithic cave survey on R.S.D. lines, and
other squiggles which she said had a sexual significance.  I looked again – just squiggles.  Perhaps it is all in the eye of the beholder?

After a most remarkable gastronomic experience at a
restaurant La Camille, on the main road from Niaux to Faix, it was time to
continue northwards once more.  In the
Dordogne I stopped long enough to see the Grotte de Font de Gaume.  As at Niaux, the French were doing their best
to stop any more vandalism.  The cave is
a solutional feature in very soft limestone – perhaps it is so soft that it
should be called a chalk.  Most of the
formations are inactive.  The paintings,
often outlined by engraving in the soft rock, are in black and ochre and the
style appeared to be the same as the Altamira ones – the most distant of the
caves I saw.  There were a few mutilated
hands unlike the Puente Viesgo hands which were intact.  The guide, another girl, pointed, embarrassed
to some squiggles of an obvious sexual nature – most indelicate and blushing,
hurried on to the next painting.  I
looked again.  Just squiggles.  I must be missing something.  There are so many good caves around here, but
I had to catch the spring tides in the Seine estuary.  One day, I’ll have more time to spare but of
the caves I had seen, it is the Puente Viesgo caves I want to revisit some day.  For the time being, it was time to get down
to the job of analysing the car¬-full specimens I had collected, and plan the
fine details of trip to Norway.  Now that
photo from a show cave at Mo-i-Rhana ¬looks interesting.

 

Members Addresses Changes

Jim Durston, 7 Estuary Park,
Combwich, Bridgwater, Somerset.
Nigel Taylor, c/o ‘Langley’, Moors Farm, Berkley, Frome, Som.
Stuart Tuttlebury, 28 Butts Road, Alton, Hampshire.
Jim Abbott, 28 St. Pauls Rd, Manninghan, Bradford, Yorks.
Colin Clark, 186 Cranbrook Rd, Bristol BS 6 7DQ.
Alan Coase, 6 Meadow Mead, Frampton Cotterrel, Bristol BS1 2BQ

Caving Report

Congratulations to our Caving
Secretary – TIM LARGE – for being the first Club Officer to send in his annual
report!  As follows: –

The year started off rather slowly – perhaps everyone was
still recovering from the dinner; but activity increased towards the middle of
the year, remaining fairly constant from then on.  As usual, most of the Mendip caves were
visited, with Swildons and, of course, Cuthbert’s being the most popular.

Our active cavers consist mostly of new members – who stay
regularly at the Belfry, but they come and go more frequently nowadays, thus
never forming a really close-knit nucleus as was the case in the past.  The old phrase of the “two year
caver” appears to have become the “one year caver”.

During the year there were about ten club trips – mostly on
Mendip.  Response to these trips remains
at a low ebb.  On one trip, the leader
resorted to writing to everyone personally and even then the attendance was not
as good as one might have expected. There seems to be a general apathy towards caving from members these
days.

Cuthbert’s received its due attention with about thirty
tourist trips by visiting clubs.  More
work has been done on the survey, which is now very nearly completed.  The Tuesday night digging team has been
regularly attacking the pointed end of the cave, supplemented by the Sunday
morning digging team who are digging at the end of Gaur Rift.  More water tracing tests have been carried
out to help solve the mysteries of Cuthbert’s.

Two digs have been officially designated as Club Digs.  These being Bucket Bole at East Harptree and
the terminal choke dig in Nine Barrows. There have been a few other digs going on throughout the year but they
have not yielded their secrets yet. These are at Nettle Hole, Garrowpipe and Rookery Farm Swallet.

A rescue practice was held in Cuthbert’s on January 15th,
this time the route from September Chamber through the ruckle and out into High
Chamber was tried.  With many willing hands,
all went well except for one very constricted section at the Catgut end of the
ruckle, but this was over¬come with various unusual contortions.

Well, there’s always room for improvement, and perhaps if
more members took an active interest in the genuine pursuits of the club, then,
maybe, one day we could truly say that we were the best club on Mendip.

Tim Large, Hon. Caving
Sec.

 

Editor’s Report

The second of the club Officers’
report s for the year – by the Editor.

A number of changes have been made to the B. B. this year in
an attempt to start it on its second quarter-century in a better manner.  Firstly, and most importantly, we have at
last managed to take the step I had been hoping for – that of changing from a
duplicated to an offset printed magazine.

After some initial snags, the improvement in clarity should
by now be noticeable.  Although the
printing process takes longer than the old duplicating did, I feel that the
result more than justifies the extra time spent

Secondly, we have gone metric.  A B.B. which keeps on changing its size is a
nuisance to librarians and to others who make a collection of them, but in this
case the change was necessary – since it will become more and more difficult to
get hold of the old British quarto size paper. We chose the smaller of the two metric sizes which were sensible to have
– that of the A5 size.  The other
alternative was A4 which has been adopted by the Wessex Journal.  Members may like to compare the two.  I feel that our choice was the right one.

Lastly, we have a new stiff cover.  For this, we are indebted to Barry Wilton,
who produced a number of designs from which we could choose.  The cover chosen was by an almost unanimous
choice of those involved.

After some slight controversy about how many pages of the
new paper size represented a fair deal for members, I settled on a basic number
of 24 pages per issue (12 pages on this re-issue).  I am pleased to say that this has not only
been kept up so far this year, but has twice been exceeded.  This is, of course, due to the good response
by club members in writing for the B.B. and I should like to record my thanks
to all those who have made my Job so much easier by writing for the B.B.
without prompting.

I hope to incorporate some smaller improvements next year,
but I feel that we shall have to wait for some time before the next major
improvement can take place that of having a decent typeface.  This move, when it comes, will be expensive
and it is unlikely that the club will be able to afford it for some time yet.

I hope that we shall hear from new authors next year in
addition to those faithful stalwarts whose efforts largely keep the B.B. going.

I should like to conclude by thanking Kay Mansfield for the
work she does in folding, collating, stapling and distributing the B.B.; Barry
Wilton, who has helped me considerably with printing and cover design and Tony
Corrigan, whose knowledge of the offset litho process and willingness to help
and to provide essential supplies has been quite invaluable.

S.J. Collins, Hon.
Editor, B.B.

 

Ian Dear Memorial Fund

PLEASE NOTE: THE CHANGES TO THE IAN DEAR MEMORIAL FUND
DETAILED IN THIS ACCOUNT ARE TO BE PUT TO THE A.G.M. AS A RESOLUTION

At a meeting of the Ian Dear Memorial Committee (which was
reported in this volume of the B.B. in January) a number of things were
decided.  Present at the meeting, which
was held at the Belfry on December 12th of last year, were R.A. Setterington
(Chairman), M.A. Palmer (minutes Secretary), N. Jago, R. Bagshaw and A.
Thomas.  As members will know, the late
Ian Dear, an active and popular club member, left a sum of £300 to the club for
the purpose of assisting young members to visit the continent for caving,
climbing etc.

The Ian Dear Memorial Committee felt that insufficient use
was being made of this sum.  This, they
felt, could be partly overcome by better publicity and by the fostering of trip
to places abroad, but this in itself was not likely to be enough.  They therefore propose that the rules
governing the allocation of monies from this fund be altered, to allow more
flexibility in the arrangements.  Since
this is a formal notice to club members of a resolution to be put before the
Annual General Meeting, the present set of rules, and the proposed changes will
be set out in full.  There are seven of
these rules.

1.                  The fund shall be known as the Ian Dear Memorial
Fund.  No change is proposed to this
rule.

2.                  The bequest shall be used to set up a fund to
assist junior members to visit caving or climbing areas of the continent.  Further donations may be added to the fund.

It is resolved that this rule read as follows:-

2.                  The bequest shall be used to set up a fund to
assist CERTAIN members to visit caving or climbing areas ABROAD.  Further donations may be added to the fund.

The changed words have been written in capitals.  The intention here is to broaden both the age
limit and the places it is permitted to assist in visiting.

3.                  The fund will be administered by a sub-committee
of five club members, of whom one must be the Hon. Treasurer of the club.  The remainder to be nominated annually by the
General Committee.  The Sub-Committee to
report to the Annual General Meeting.

It is resolved to amend this rule as follows: –

3.                  The fund will be administered by a Ian Dear
Memorial Fund Committee of five club members which will include the Hon.
Treasurer, the Caving and Climbing Secretaries and two members to serve in
perpetuity until considered necessary of replacement.

This rule has been considerably modified.  In line with past practice, the Caving and
Climbing secretaries now form part of the committee – this happened in fact
even though the old rules did not expressly state this inclusion.  The other two members will give continuity to
the committee.

4.                  Any club member under the age of eighteen may
apply.  Members over eighteen and under
twenty one years of age may be considered in exceptional circumstances.  The age qualification will apply on the first
day of July of the year of the proposed trip.

It is resolved to amend this rule as follow:-

4.                  Any club member under the age of eighteen may
apply.  Members over eighteen years of
age may be considered in exceptional circumstances.  e.g. members studying full time.

This change is mainly to get rid of the date
qualification.  The upper age
qualification is also removed.

5.                  Applications must be received by the first day
of March of the year of the proposed trip. The applicant must furnish brief details of itinery and cost at the time
of application.

It is resolved to amend this rule as follows:-

5.                  Applications should be received by any member of
the Ian Dear Memorial Fund Committee two months prior to the date of the
proposed trip.  A report, suitable for
publication in the B.B., must be received by the Ian Dear Memorial Fund Committee
within one month of the completion of the trip.

These proposed changes allow more flexibility with regard to
dates and make the obligations of the recipient more specific.

6.                  The maximum amount to be allocated in anyone
year shall be limited to fifty pounds. The maximum amount allocated to each individual shall be limited to ten
pounds.

It is resolved to amend this rule as follows:-

6.                  The maximum amount to be allocated in anyone
year shall be limited to fifty pounds. The maximum amount allocated to each individual is unlikely to exceed
twenty pounds each trip.

Without altering the amount given as a maximum per year, the
amendment allows greater flexibility to the Ian Dear Memorial Committee.

7.                  The fund to be invested in National Development
Bonds or a similar scheme.

No Change is proposed to this rule.

The above resolutions were submitted by the Ian Dear
Memorial Committee as it at present stands, to the Club Committee who have
endorsed the proposals and recommend them as resolutions to be put before the
club in General Meeting.

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DON’T FORGET TO BOOK UP FOR THE ANNUAL DINNER!

 

Climbing in Cornwall

by G.E. Oaten.

The majority of the climbing group took their summer
vacation on the Cornish coast this year at Sennen.  This little village is situated two miles
from Land is End on the North coast. From our camp site at Trevedra Farm we were within easy reach of the
major climbs in Penwith.

The sea mist on our first day was so thick and damp that we
went to St. Ives and played at being tourists. However, awoke on the Sunday to bright sunshine, so we decided to climb
at Chair Ladder.  To reach this cliff,
you drive along typical Cornish narrow lanes with high hedgerows speckled with
flowers of reds yellows and blues, whereupon you drop down into Porthwarra, which
is a beautiful cove with a few sleepy fishing cottages nestling on the hill
side overlooking the deep blue of the Atlantic. From the car park, a five minute walk brings you to the top of the
cliff.  Descending the aptly named gully
Ash Cans you immediately see the true beauty of Cornish granite.  This is yellowy-brown in colour and in places
near the top, covered with a green lichen.

Peter Sutton and Alan Tringham decided upon nearby 110ft
Hard Severe.  This is a fine line on the
central buttress – a steep and strenuous crag climb.  David and myself climbed Corporal’s Route, a
110 ft severe on the Wolf Buttress, a nice little climb with a move through a
rift that reminded me of caving.  As we
finished this quickly, we climbed the second pitch of the Buccaneer – 60 ft
hard severe.

The next day we paid a visit to Tater-Du, which lies South
West of Lamorna Cove.  Here, the rock is
not granite but Greenstone.  This is an
impressive black coloured face, steep and exposed.  Alan and Pete started by climbing Marine
Parade – 90 ft hard v. diff while we did Crow’s Nest ordinary route – 160 ft
mild severe, a pleasant route that has a nice exposed last pitch.  The others returned and climbed Crow’s Nest
Direct – 125 ft mild severe.  We all
enjoyed the climbing here and hope to return on our next visit to Cornwall.

The next day we went to Land’s End.  We all wanted to do Cormorant’s Slab (80 ft –
Mild Severe).  Derek and I thought that
four was too many for this route, so we went for Johnstone Route (90 ft – Hard
V. Diff.)  The first pitch was very good,
steep but with good holds.  The second
was desperate for an H.V.D. – up a corner on friable rock – followed by a
mantelshelf – then up a short steep crack to the top.  Here, we were met by the others, but Alan had
to leave us then.  We next decided to try
Zawn Face Route (75 ft – Mild V.S.)  Pete
took the lead.  The first ten feet was a
tight belly traverse followed by an awkward move to stand up, and then he was
out of sight.  After a little while the
rope was taken in.  As I was in the
middle of the rope it was now my turn.  I
managed the traverse, but when it came to the standing up bit, I looked down
into the deep zawn, then up at the greasy rock. I thought ‘No thank you!’ – and beat a hasty retreat to safety, leaving
Derek and Pete to do it.

That evening, we were joined by Hoy and Ros Marshall.  After a few beers in the pub that night, we
decided to climb at Bosigran, which is a cliff on the road Between St. Just and
St. Ives.  Derek and I decided upon Doug
(155 ft Severe) which turned out to be of little merit, save for a mantelshelf
on the last pitch.  However, the others
thought they would do Suicide Wall (210 ft – Hard V.S.) but on reaching the
bottom of the climb in the bright sober light of morning, they decided against
it and ended up doing a Hard V. Diff instead.

Next day found Pete, Derek and I at the bottom of Chair
Ladder again.  The first climb was

Flannel Avenue (155
ft Severe).  As nobody else fancied
leading the first pitch, and as I had led it before, I was put on the sharp
end.  This pitch is a. chimney that has
to be backed up, and then you step off on to a rib on the left.  After several attempts, I could not manage
the step off, so Derek had to lead it. The third pitch is truly magnificent, climbing on juggy holds on a steep
face some hundred and fifty feet up.  As
you climb, if you look between your legs, the rock suddenly drops away leaving
a view of a deep, clear rock pool at the bottom aptly named Suicide Pool.  Next we climbed Pendulum Chimney (150 ft
Severe) a pleasant climb, though smelling somewhat of birdlime.

As we had been climbing every day, we thought we would have
a day on the beach next, which made a pleasant change.

After our day of rest, we tackled Fox Promontory.  This is a lump of rock that is detached from
the cliff by a rift.  Pete and Alan set
off to do Vixen’s Embrace (390 ft – Mild V.S.) This is a girdle traverse of the whole promontory.  Alas! They had to retreat after four pitches. Roy and Mike Thomas, who had joined us on Friday, climbed Folly Corber
(100 ft – V.Diff.) while we did Reveille (90 ft Severe) which was a worthwhile
route with a delicate traverse which I found quite hard.

Nigel Jago joined us on the Saturday, so on the Sunday Nigel
and Derek went to climb Bishop’s Rib (190 ft Extremely Severe.)  This was Nigel’s third attempt at the route
and this time he made it with a fine lead.

On the Sunday evening, with a few pints inside me, I was
persuaded to second Nigel next day up Zawn Face against my better judgment, so
next morning found us at Land’s End, where I was dragged and threatened up the
route to be greeted by two cormorants and the repulsive smell of birdlime.  Meanwhile, Derek and Pete succeeded in
climbing Vixen’s Embrace which took five and a half hours.

Our last climbing trip was to Bosigran, where Pete and Mike
led Doorway Climb (190 ft Severe) while we did Red Slab (100 ft Hard
V.Diff.)  We spent the rest of the
holiday on the beaches and in the sea looking for crabs, and just taking it
easy after our two weeks of enjoyable climbing.

 

Film Show

Saturday 9th September – at the Belfry – after the Hunters.

1933 EVEREST FILM PLUS FULL. SUPPORTING PROGRAMME!!

Don’t miss this interesting opportunity to see this film!

Report Of Talk At The Belfry

Those who attended the talk by “Sett” on Saturday
the 12th August on ‘Maps and their uses’ found much to interest them.

The talk itself was prepared by Sheila Paul, who is a Map
Research Officer by profession and a founder member of the British Cartographical
Society.  Her paper and Sett’s lecturing
style proved a happy combination.

The period after the talk itself was spent looking at a
fantastic variety of maps which Sett had assembled and which ranged from simple
classroom maps of
Europe to close up pictures
of the surface of the moon.  In
particular, the aerial photographic map of the island of Tonga caught the
imagination of those present.

After a talk as interesting as this was, the motto seems to
be that it pays to keep ones eyes and ears open and to turn up to these
functions which are held at the Belfry – usually at half past seven on a
Saturday evening!

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DON’T FORGET THE DATE OF THE A.G.M. AND DINNER – OCT. 7TH.

 

Monthly Crossword – Number 25.

Across:

3. 5p for the Hon. Treasurer! (3)
6. Paler sort of cave formation. (5)
7. Ladder, for example. (3)
8. State of affairs after successful cave dig. (2)
9. Climb. (5)
12. Essential caving aid. (3)
13. A passage might do this in Ogof Fynnon Ddu. (2)
16. Portion of a circle found in Cheddar caves. (3)
17. Let down. (5)
18. Tint. (3)

Down:

1. Taken out of new cave, but
don’t do this to it! (5)
2. Caving Club badge. (3)
3. Swildons has one – or is one with no lights. (5,4)
4. Empties sump? (5)
5. Increase middle part of ladder? (3)
10. Drop? (5)
11. Gee!  They belong to us – these cave
formations! (5)
14. Cuthbert’s Run.  (3)
15. Past sump I? (3)

Solution To Last Month’s Crossword