This B.B. is mainly concerned, as is usual with the October
number, with reports and news of the A.G.M. and dinner. One of the subjects arising from this was a
suggestion made in the A.G.M. report on the B.B. by the editor that a
questionnaire be sent out so that it could be seen just what changes, if any,
the majority of club members would like to see in the B.B.
This questionnaire, which will come out during the next
month and be attached to the next B.B. for the benefit of members who have
their B.B. by post, will contain a series of questions designed to let members
specify their ideas of the ideal form of the B.B. Some of these suggestions may not be easily
implemented. For instance, if someone
says that he would like to see a B.B. with at least one long, serious caving
article each month, there remains the problem of persuading someone to write
such articles. Thus, when you get the
form and, as we hope, fill it in, remember that we should also like YOUR suggestions
as to how the state of affairs you would like to see can be brought about in
practice.
This was the highest for many years, as was also the number
of members voting. We hope this may have
been due in some measure to the appeal in the B.B. last month. In any case, it was a good show and very
encouraging.
Alfie
The Annual General Meeting will be held at the training
college, Matlock, Derbyshire on November 10th at 5 pm. For further details of this meeting see the
circular which will be on the Belfry Notice Board, or communicate direct with
the secretary, A.W. Ashwell, "Cuilcagh", Stanyeld Rd, Church
Stretton, Salop.
The Sessional Meetings for the 1962-63 Session will be held
at 8.15 pm in the Geography Lecture theatre. Subjects are as follows:-
Monday, Oct 8th. "How old is the
Monday, October 29th. Films on Anthropology
& Archaeology.
Monday, November 19th. A Caving lecture.
Monday, December 3rd. "The changing
face of Neolithic Britian.
Monday, January 21st. "The caves of
N.L. Clare"
Monday, February 4th. "The
mineralisation of the Mendip Hills"
Monday, February 18th. Title not yet
known.
Monday, March 4th. A.G.M. Presidential address at 9pm. "The mythical massacre at
(This account is a description of the main events, but it
not the official minutes of the meeting. Ed).
The 1962 Annual General Meeting opened at 2.55 pm with 45
members present and began with the election of a Chairman. Dan Hasell was elected and he started by
remarking that it was very gratifying to see so many members present. The collection of members resolutions and
ballot forms followed. The Chairman then
asked for volunteers to act as tellers and Brian Prewer, Gordon Selby and John
Eatough volunteered.
While the counting of voted went on, the chairman asked the
meeting whether they wanted the minutes of the last A.G.M. to be read. A vote taken produced 14 in favour and 14
against. The Chairman then exercised his
casting vote and decided to read the minutes. The minutes were then read and adopted.
The Hon. Secretary's report followed. He reported that a total of 31 new members
had been accepted this year, as against 27 last year and 34 for the year before
that. The paid up membership had
increased to 138, but in fact was probably higher as he confidently expected to
collect some more membership subs before the night was out. Some of those assembled were seen to pale
visibly at this stage; attendance at the dinner was expected to be 116. The dinner, he felt, was proving more popular
amongst members of other clubs, as he had had a number of applications from
such people. The attendance at Redcliffe
Hall was slowly improving, although he hoped that further improvement would be
made in this direction. The Charterhouse
Caving Committee was in process of negotiating a final form of agreement. He felt that the result of this would be
satisfactory from the club's point of view. There were no questions, and the report was adopted.
This was followed by the Hon. Treasurer's report, with the
usual remark from someone of "Its the same bloke!" He stated that the substantial surplus was
mainly due to the higher membership figures and the preference for life
membership. The expenditure on tackle
was still not as great as he had hoped. The profits on lamps and caving reports were the results of last year's
efforts and off set the losses which occurred then. The report was adopted.
Another vain attempt was made at this point to catch the
Hon. Treas. out. He was asked why the
difference between the cost of ties and the sales figure was not a multiple of
the cost of a tie. The questioner was
demolished by being told that the apparent discrepancy was due to money sent by
members, very properly, to cover postage.
The Caving Secretary then gave his report. The B.E.C. had been very active, but there
had been a change in the pattern of caving this year. Cuthbert's - not Swildons - was now the most
popular cave nearby and there had been a dramatic interest shown by B.E.C.,
members in
Arising from the report, Garth asked why there had been no
mention of the recent discoveries in
This was followed by the Climbing Report. The Climbing Secretary stated that there had
been a slight decline in the climbing activity this year, but climbing in the
Avon Gorge had proved popular and had attracted some cavers including the
Caving Secretary! A trip to St. Ives at
Easter had been well supported and Cader Idris visited at Whitsun and
August. The report was adopted.
Question time provided a fine example of repartee. Kangy asked the Climbing Sec. if he would
define a meet. Tony, suspecting this
question, immediately replied that a meet consisted of at least two male club
members. Kangy then announced with glee
that his meet had not been mentioned. The Climbing Sec. then reminded him that no report of it had been
received. At this stage Kangy declared
himself to be speechless!
At this stage, the results of the committee election were
known and the Chairman read them out. In
the order on the ballot form they were:- Bob Bagshaw, 59 votes; Alfie, 57
votes; John Cornwell, 35 votes; Garth,
42 votes; Tony Dunn, 36 votes; Mike Luckwill, 20 votes; "Mo", 58
votes; Mike Palmer, 35 votes; Norman Petty, 56 votes; Alan Sandall, 4l votes;
"Sett", 47 votes and Jim Hill 29 votes. The Chairman pointed out the tie for last
place to the meeting. It was agreed to
follow the precedent of allowing both to stand. The 1963 committee thus consists of ten members.
The Tackle Officer then gave his report. We have made 140 of new ladder during the
year and scrapped 65. This gives the
club a total of 230' of ladder. We have
lost a 120 extra weight nylon rope in Swildons and the 80 three quarter
weight rope is stuck in Cuthberts. We
therefore need more rope. At once in
true B.E.C. fashion, members announced that they were in various positions to
supply free rope and over 600' of rope was promised. These offers were accepted and the report
adopted.
The Hut Warden announced in his report that the bed-nights
this year totalled 1,267. This was a
slight drop on last year's all time record and was due to the loss of some
regular members. The increase of
tidiness in the Belfry had not been maintained. He had plans to improve this next year. The stone hut's main fabric had been completed and the new extension was
well advanced. When the extension had
been completed, the whole Belfry will be re-roofed. The report was adopted.
A large number of questions designed in increase the
tidiness of the Belfry were then raised. As result, the committee was instructed to look into a number of schemes
designed to improve the Belfry facilities and to increase the standards of
cleanliness and tidiness of the Belfry. The report was adopted.
The Belfry Bulletin report followed. The Editor stated that, for a variety of
reasons, the B.B. had remained similar in shape, size, contents etc for about
three years. He wondered if present
feeling in the club was in favour of any changes and suggested the circulation
of a questionnaire which he had prepared if the meeting should so wish. It was agreed that this was a good idea. The need for a new volunteer to deal with the
postal side of the B.B. was brought up at this stage, and "Kangy"
bravely volunteered for this job. The
report was adopted.
The Hon. Librarian then gave her report. The library had been catalogued. One copy of this catalogue was in the library
itself and the other copy at the Belfry. Some new books had been published and a list of the main contents of the
library was read out. Clare Coase has
donated all of Don's books to the library. The librarian then appealed for some back numbers of the B.B. which she
heeded to bring her list to completion. These are 1-5 inclusive, 7, 8, 9, 12, 21, 42, 49, 84 and 97. She would be grateful to any member who could
donate any of these B.B's.
John Ifold asked where the remaining books were, as he had
counted 152 books during his term as Librarian. The Librarian replied that she had no idea of the whereabouts of these
books, and that they did not form part of the library as handed on to her. 'Gaff' Fowler suggested that we write to
Bristol Public Library, as they sold cheaply any slightly soiled books at
regular intervals. Alan Sandall then got
the biggest laugh of the afternoon, by suggesting that, in that case, we send a
team to the library to slightly soil all the caving books (later information
suggests that the library have given up this scheme). The Library report was then adopted.
Members resolutions then followed. The Chairman read out the first resolution by
Jim Giles that "The B.B. be reduced to a monthly news sheet and that the
club publish an Annual Journal". Before asking for a seconder, the Chairman invited comments from the
Editor, who replied that this point would be covered by the forthcoming
questionnaire. There was no seconder and
thus the resolution could not be put to the meeting.
The second, resolution, also by Jim Giles, was 'That
something be done about Emborough'. Before putting this to the meeting for a seconder, the Chairman asked
for information on this resolution. This
was provided, and the Chairman, although he thought that this was a subject
more properly dealt with by the Caving Secretary, asked for a seconder. None was forthcoming and so this; resolution
could not be put to the meeting.
The third resolution - by Jim Giles - was that the club
constitution be amended to article 7 to read four weeks before the Annual
General Meeting'. Again, no seconder
could be found and the resolution could not be put to the meeting.
The fourth resolution was put in by Jim Giles. This was that in the event of the third
resolution being vetoed, the Annual General Meeting be declared invalid unless
all voting forms were received at least a fortnight beforehand, as required by
the present constitution. The Chairman
ruled that this resolution was out of order, since the breaking of Article 7,
although this might result in the postponement of the committee election, did
not invalidate the Annual General Meeting. In any case, the A.G.M. could, if it so desired, adopt a different method of electing the
committee, as was done, a few years ago when the committee was elected by a
direct vote at the A.G.M.
The fifth resolution - submitted by Jim Giles - was then
read. This resolved that the date of
the A.G.M. be published' and found no seconder. A similar situation occurred when the sixth resolution, which came from Jim Giles, was read out. This resolved that the visitors fee be
increased to 3/-. A seventh resolution
by Jim Giles was not put to the meeting.
A resolution by 'Mo' that the Club Rules should be more
rigidly enforced, particularly as regards the Belfry' was discussed and an amendment to remove all crockery and cutlery for an experimental period was first voted on. This was carried by 19 votes to 13 - it being
noted that the top five regulars all voted against the amendment. The amended resolution was then carried nem.
con.
Under any other business, Kangy raised the point of the
desirability of removing broken stal from caves. It was generally agreed that, unless the
circumstances were exceptional and the stal was required fur some approved scientific
purpose and could not be obtained from other sources, such as quarries, it
should not be brought from caves. Under
no circumstances, the meeting felt, should stal be removed by breaking and the
Chairman reminded all that the club rules were very specific on this point and
that any breach of them would be regarded as a serious offence.
On the subject of the Caving Log, Mike Luckwill volunteered
to provide a monthly summary for the B.B. A few words were also said on the subject of the Mendip Cave Registry
when Alfie explained briefly what had been done to date.
The meeting closed in plenty of time for the dinner.
In order to improve the tidiness of the Belfry, as from
JANUARY 1ST I963 for an experimental period of THREE WEEKS, all cutlery and
crockery will be removed. If this proves
to be very inconvenient, but only providing that there is a marked improvement
in the washing up during the rest of 1962, the crockery and cutlery will be put
back by replacing it with stuff of a uniform nature. If, on the other hand, washing up is still
not done, it may become necessary to remove saucepans, etc. as well. PLEASE
TAKE NOTE!!
In other words: -
If you wish to find a cup,
Plate or spoon in '63
We must all co washing up,
Tidy cavers we must be!
*****************************************
Publication of the New Style Caving Log will start in next
month's B.B. Articles for the Christmas
B.B. should be sent in soon. These are
needed urgently.
Annual Subscriptions
|
|
|
£103-12-0
|
Redcliffe Hall:
|
Levy
|
£19- 16-1
|
|
|
Less Hire
|
£10- 0-0
|
£ 9- 16-1
|
Post Office Savings Bank Interest:
|
|
|
£ 1- 9-6
|
Goods for Resale:
|
Sales
|
£ 11-10- 0
|
|
|
Less Cost
|
£ 6- 8- 9
|
£ 5- 1-3
|
Car badges:
|
Sales
|
£ 9- 2- 6
|
|
|
Less Cost
|
£ 6-11- 0
|
£ 2-11-6
|
Donations
|
|
|
£ 6-11-1
|
Caving Reports
|
Sales
|
£ 64-11-10
|
|
|
Less Expenses
|
£ 51- 0-4
|
£ 13-11-6
|
Postcards
|
Sales
|
£ 2- 2-3
|
|
|
Less Expenses
|
£ 1- 8-0
|
£ -14-3
|
|
|
|
£143- 7-2
|
Belfry:
|
Expenditure
|
£109- 3-0
|
|
|
Less Receipts
|
£108-10-11
|
£ - 12-1
|
Belfry Bulletin:
|
Printing, etc
|
£ 6- 14- 6
|
|
|
Postages
|
£ 20- 4- 0
|
£ 26-18-6
|
Concrete Pipes
|
|
|
£ 12- 0-0
|
Tackle:
|
Expenditure
|
£ 20- 11-10
|
|
|
Less Receipts
|
£ 6- 19-6
|
£ 13-12- 4
|
Postages and Stationery
|
|
|
£ 0- 3- 12
|
British Mountaineering Club Subscription.
|
|
|
£ 1- -
|
Club Ties
|
Cost
|
£ 31- 6-0
|
|
|
Less Sales
|
£ 30- 0-0
|
£ 1- 6-0
|
Library
|
|
|
£ 3- 11-4
|
Printing Rule Sheets
|
|
|
£ 5- -
|
Annual Dinner:
|
Cost
|
£67- 0 - 9
|
|
|
Less Receipts
|
£66- 16 - 0
|
£ 33- 0 -0
|
Public Liability Insurance (two years)
|
|
|
£ 17- 0 -0
|
Photographic competition prizes
|
|
|
£ 6- 0- 0
|
|
|
|
£ 2- 2- 0
|
Sundries
|
|
|
£ 1- 2- 5
|
SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR
|
|
|
£ 49-18- 1
|
|
|
|
£143- 7- 2
|
|
|
|
|
Total Club monies @ 31st August, 1961
|
|
|
£ 87- 9 - 7
|
Add Surplus as above
|
|
|
£ 49-18- 1
|
|
|
|
£ 137- 7- 8
|
|
|
|
|
Post Office Savings Bank Balance 31.8.62
|
|
|
£131-13- 1
|
Cash in hand 31.8.61
|
|
|
£ 5-14- 7
|
Total Club Monies 31.8.62
|
£ 137- 7- 8
|
Further to the notice on page four of this B.B., and as part
of the campaign to tidy up the Belfry the Hut Warden wishes to announce that,
after two warning notices in consecutive B.B.s (of which this is the first)
all personal gear left at the Belfry, other than that in the regular's lockers
or placed tidily on regular's bunks, will be got rid of. This will be done by throwing away any
objects which appear to be of no value, and auctioning anything else on the
spot for club funds. THIS PURGE WILL
OCCUR SOME TIME IN DECEMBER and will be followed by similar purges WITHOUT
FURTHER WARNING. If in any doubt,
consult or get in touch with the Hut Warden. R.A. Setterington,
by "Kangy"
King.
The club dinner succeeded in that extraordinary difficult
thing and managed yet again to be "better then last year". Roll on next year's! To be better than Annual Din. '62 it will
need more than 116 diners; a monster hall for the photographic competition, and
a choral society of distinction to sing a number of original and uproarious
songs.
An enjoyable chicken or beef din. was followed rapidly by
the after dinner speakers who were Fred Davies of S.M.C.C., Dan Hasell, Dr.
Cannicott of Axbridge and Pete Blogg. Their common theme was, as far as could be discerned through the usual
haze, concerned with a black and white Axbridge ostrich which boarded a
Bermondsey bound bus and refused to sit down because its trousers were now
fitted with zip fasteners. I think.
Several presentations were made, attention was drawn to Bob
Bagshaw's consistent success as our club officers and he received a large pink
cuddly piggy bank. Sett was presented
with a new mug (beer mug).
An adjourn was made to the bar and to the barrels of
Charrington Ale kindly provided by Bob Bagshaw, Alfie, Postle and Sett on the
occasion of their duo-decadence or Twentieth Anniversary of first caving trip.
Relief and vigorous nattering was interrupted by the slide
show. This, which is the crown of the
photographic competition organised by Mike Baker, was presented by John
Eatough. John, who acted as one of the
judges, must be thanked and congratulated on having the courage to be
projectionist and to express the controversial yet helpful comments of the
judges in a forthright manner. Of
course, not everyone agreed with him, but it must be remembered that the main
thing is to enter so that the photographs may cause interest and give pleasure.
Photographic stimulus gave way to the hilarity of a series
of very funny and highly original songs, rendered for their creators by the
singing of Gaff, Mo, the brothers Franklyn and Alfie. The accompaniment was played in a
professional manner by Mike Luckwill. Now booking. The best of an
impressive set of songs was adjudged with great acclamation to be a seductive
18th Century style ballad conceived by Alfie Collins. It is to be hoped that we shall have the
pleasure of adding these songs to the club repertoire.
So, once again the din. was an outstanding success. No one knows quite why, of course, but it may
be fairly guessed that the skill and imagination of all the organisers had some
thing to do with it and we heartily thank them.
The purpose, of this article is to explain briefly what the
registry is, what it is setting out to do, how much it has already done, and
why more support is needed.
The Registry was set up a few years ago with the support of
most of the major Mendip clubs. The
registry is controlled by two members from each of the clubs, who elect the
officers. These consist of a Chairman,
Secretary, Treasurer, and 5 registrars, at present, two of these are B.E.C.
members, and a third has been recently co-opted.
What the Registry is setting out to do is to provide a
service to cavers and other interested people by compiling a complete set of
references to all published and privately owned information on caves in the
area. This data will take the form of a
book, which is continually brought up to date, and a copy of which will be
available in the
At present, the Books have been provided; the system of
presenting the data worked out and described in each book; the sheets have been
printed and many references compiled. Now the registrars are engaged in breaking these references down to the
individual caves and compiling the separate sheets.
The meeting in Wells on the 27th will not only explain the
work of the registry more fully, but will ask for people to fill some of the
impending vacancies on the committee and for additional volunteers to help the
registrars. All are welcome to come
along to the meeting.
*****************************************
The Belfry Bulletin. Secretary. R.J. Bagshaw, 699,
Editor, S.J. Collins, 33,
It is with very deep regret that we announce the death of
Jack Waddon, after diving in Mineries Pool on Saturday, 3rd of November.
With his passing, many cavers in all parts of the country
have lost a good friend; the B.E.C. has lost an old and valued member and the
caving and cave diving world has lost one of its most experienced and
enthusiastic explorers. He will be
greatly missed by all who knew him.
On behalf of the club, we offer our sincere condolences and
deepest sympathy to Dorothy and his family.
Jack Waddon We are urgently in need of articles for the
Christmas B.B. as most members will know; we try to make this issue of the club
magazine somewhat larger than normal. Unless a few (preferably long articles are received within the next week
or so, this may not be possible.
by the Caving
Secretary.
In the past, the B.E.C. has tended to fight shy of any form
of organised caving and has relied on personal contacts and the use of the
grapevine to spread news of future caving trips. However, a recent increase in membership -
particularly of young members - has resulted in a number of requests for club
meets to some of the lesser known caves, both in the Mendip area and
elsewhere. After all, how many members
of club have visited
In view of this, it has been decided to attempt to organise
a number of club trips over the next year. The following points will indicate how the meets are to be organised.
(a) The
more well known Mendip caves will not be visited.
(b) It
is hoped to run 8 meets in a 12 month period.
(c) Wherever
possible, a leader who is well acquainted with the cave to be visited will be
appointed.
(d) Where
necessary, transport arrangements will be thrashed out in club or at the Waggon
& Horses on the Thursday preceding the meet.
(e) Three
categories of trip are visualised. 1.
Easy trips that could be done in an evening. 2. Moderate trips on a weekend day to lesser known Mendip caves and 3.
Whole weekend trips to caves in other areas.
Details of the trips will be published for each half year,
thus giving everyone the maximum notice.
by Steve Grime.
The caves are located in a plateau seven miles north of
As we did not know, and did not have time to find out, the
names of the main caverns explored, we decided to substitute some British names
for them. I think that, under the
circumstances, the original explorers (whoever they may be) will excuse us poor
ignorant sailors.
The cavern that we named Sett's Hole, with which this report
is mainly concerned, is entered by a high rift about fifteen feet above the
cliff base. This soon opens out into (by
Mendip standards) a gigantic cavern. Frank Mercer - a
Just before the dark zone is reached, a squeeze can be
pushed. The way on lies through a pool
of water - at 75°F - and into a very low chamber eight to twelve inches
high. This we called something sounding
like Grass Hole - for obvious reasons. On returning to the entrance passage, three passages can be seen to lead
off. The right hand and centre ones are
dead ends, although in the right hand one, an interesting squeeze doubles back
to the right. It was here that the two
forms of life were found in a pool in which the body of a bird was also lying.
If one faces north on reaching the Main Gallery, two large -
and I do mean large - galleries can be seen. The left one heads due north and the right one heads E.N.E. These two chambers were named Guano Hall
(politely) and Cascade Chamber respectively. Although these chambers both close down after about two hundred feet of
very open walking and scrambling, they are both worth mentioning on account of
their very individual characteristics. Guano Hall, as is suggested by its name, is liberally covered with
guano. The-entrance to it is up a 30°
slope that is made into just about a v. diff climb by the bat dung. Spiders and millipedes were found in this
chamber. Very little time was spent in
this chamber, which was a pity as it is now my belief that it is from here that
the way on lies.
Cascade Chamber is totally different. For one thing, there are no bats whatsoever
although the gallery (as can be seen from the rough survey) opens out into the
same chamber as Guano Hall. After a
certain distance up the series of small vertical pitches into the chamber, no
bat dung is found at all a trickle of water appears half way up the ascent
(100) and it was suspected at a later stage of the exploration that this is
part of a stream that sinks in the Upper Series about fifty feet higher and
about two to three hundred feet to the cast of this resurgence. However, everything in fact points away from
this suggestion. Firstly, the limestone
is vertically bedded and does not seem to take to horizontal corrosion too well
and secondly, the stream is flowing to the east at the sink.
At the top of the pitch, the cave floor levels off for a few
yards then drops seven feet. Dead ahead
can be seen a cascade which must be all of a hundred feet high. It is 132 feet round the base and is
estimated to have a diameter of about forty feet! Photographs of this formation were taken, but
it is doubtful whether they will come out, as the light from the magnesium
ribbon used did not seem at all adequate.
On returning to the Main Gallery, if one looks to the left
and up from the bottom of Cascade Pitch, the Sentinel can be seen in a high
level passage at the top of a vertical pitch. The Sentinel is a stalagmite boss that is pear shaped in its horizontal
cross section. It has a circumference of
some nine feet. The climb up this pitch
probably comes to about diff. standard, and is best attacked on the northern
side. All attempts on the southern side,
ended in failure, although I dare say that a climber - with a bit more
experience and guts should be able to push a route up the other side. The pitch itself is a series of flutings
ending in spires, looking very much like the mountains of the moon. From its resemblance to organ pipes as well,
this pitch was called Organ Pitch. Almost exactly opposite Organ Pitch is a small alcove about three feet
high above the floor level of the Main Gallery. This was named Spider Grotto on account of the weird looking variety of
spider type creature found there. N.B.
No webs were found. Going up Organ
Pitch, Sentinel Passage is reached, and then a steeply inclined slope takes one
out on to the cliff face, at an elevation of 150 - 200'. Turning to the left, an enormous cave
entrance can be seen, looking like Alum turned sideways. This holds the entrances to three high level
galleries. From left to right, Tricky
Traverse Passage; High Chamber and Disappointment Passage.
Tricky Traverse is just what its name implies. The team were just too dead beat to tackle it
(or chicken?). A slab eighteen inches
wide leads to a point four feet away from and two to three feet below the start
of the passage, which is a dried up stal flow. From the slab to a foot below the stal flow - which slopes at an angle
of about 70° - is a small ledge three to six inches wide, sloping at about
30°. This is made more difficult by an
overhang of about two feet, jutting out from the ledge and some two feet above
it. The passage seems to go.
Going down the 50ft brings one into High Chamber. This is an extremely large chamber, in fact
the largest in this particular system. There are many entrances from the plateau to be seen in the roof, and
the dangers of travelling on the plateau were emphasised by the number of dead
animals lying about the cave floor in different degrees of pheeeeeeew.
Facing west, a waterfall sixty feet high can be seen - this
is the stream mentioned earlier in this report. Right at the far end of the cavern is a huge flow (The Shrine) at the
bottom of which are gours, some being thirty, inches high. To the left and across a sandy beach Upper
Guano Hall is reached. It was in this
chamber that one patch of dung four feet deep was found and again the bats only
used one cave out of the three available in this series (any ideas as to why?).
Disappointment Passage is entered by way of a narrow rift
which soon opens out into a passage of decent proportions. This ends in a pitch of about a hundred and
fifty feet deep. Two passages can be
seen leading off into the depths but to traverse round the pitch walls is
virtually impossible, so the pushing of this passage will have to wait for
some- chap with a fixed ladder.
At this point, the party turned round and made its way back
to Sentinel Passage where a speedy rappel to the bottom of Organ Pitch took
them to their spare fag supply, which was at once ransacked.
Only stalactites were seen in any abundance, the cave floor
having been well dug by the "Awld man". What they must have dug for, we do not know,
only knowledge of geology, being very basic, was not sufficient to allow me to
identify any mineral ore. In places the
cave floors have been dug to a depth of six to eight feet, and the old floor
level could be seen as a band of calcite six to eight inches think. This thickness of stal flooring seemed to be
just about average throughout the cave. To my way of thinking this points to a distinct but gradual climatic
change, as great torrents could be required to scour out the great chambers of
this system. Also, scallop markings five
feet across were spotted in some parts of the cave. Then, to form the great sheets of calcite,
many dry years were required. One
stalactite that was found broken in two had a cross section showing four
concentric circles. Many clusters of
helictites were found, the majority of these were seen to be connected to small
stumpy stalactites and all of them ended in a pear shaped swelling. During the whole of the trip not one curtain
was seen, but there were many dried up flows.
Creatures were seen like a version of Niphargus Fontanus
(See British Caving Plate XV b page 268) but measuring only 1 mm in
length. Other forms were a type of
Ancryophorus Aureus (ibid Plate XVII e) and a form of Perga masus Crassipes
(Plate XVII j) also Blaniulus Guttulatus (Plate XVI d) was found and measured
about 1.5 inches. The bats seen were
like Natterers Bat.
Editor's Note: Plans of this hole follow in this B.B. Perhaps some members with knowledge of these caves can identify.
Please remember that all cutlery and crockery will be
removed from the Belfry for a trial period starting on January 1st. Also, all
unidentified gear left around will be disposed of by the Hut Warden. If in doubt, get in touch with him before it
is too late!
We have lost several ropes and some ladder recently. If any members know of the whereabouts of
B.E.C. equipment, the Tackle Officer, or any committee member would be very
grateful for information leading to its recovery!
*****************************************
The Belfry Bulletin. Secretary. R.J. Bagshaw, 699,
Editor, S.J. Collins, 33,
Let Bob Bagshaw know your choice of meal before 21st
September
Bobs address: - 699 Wells Rd. Knowle,
*****************************************
SAVE MONEY!! Discounts may be had at Bryants camping centre of 5% for personal
gear. Show your membership card. A 10% discount may be had for Sub-Aqua
Products (Eastleigh) Ltd.,
Work is progressing well. Alfie has made arrangements for the printing and Jock Orr is well
underway with the cartoons Ive only seen a few but from what I have seen
they are superb! Publication details
later.
*****************************************
The long awaited Caving Report No. 5 is back in print.
The only publication of its kind that covers all forms
headgear and the many forms of lighting available. Completely revised by Geoff Bull 72 pages
PRICE only 5/-.
These are obtainable from Bryan Ellis, Knockauns, Comwich,
Nr, Bridgwtaer, Som. or Gordon Tilly at
the Belfry.
Dont forget 1/- p & p.
*****************************************
LATE NEWS: - Eddy Welch is retiring from the Committee.
*****************************************
Guardian reports (19/8/68)..
Seriously injured caver in Berger. Appeal to all potholers in
Hon. Sec: - A.R. Thomas,
Editor: - D.J. Irwin,
Club Headquarters: - The Belfry,
While still in
A brief description of the Ahnenschacht and its situation
appeared in my previous article (1) and I shall be describing it in greater
detail later on. This was written whilst
still in
This years party consisted of Mike Luckwill, Dick Wickens
and myself who had been there last year with the addition of Alan Thomas
(junior), Martin Webster and Ian Daniels. We were accompanied to the Hochogelhutte by Val and Sally Luckwill.
Wise from our experience of last year we decided that it was
largely unnecessary to sleep underground, as nothing saps ones moral fibre more
efficiently, nor was it necessary to have an enormous carry which equally saps
ones physical strength.
On 23 July, Dick, Martin and I carried up to the hole (1½
hours of fairly hard going with heavy packs) sufficient gear to ladder it to Schachthalle
which is about 375 feet down. We spent
an hour gardening the entrance pitch and the equally dangerous one beneath
it. We then went ahead laddering six
pitches in all which took us about five hours. We found that these upper pitches were very much wetter than last year,
probably because there was snow two days before we started and then rain. It took us about half an hour to get out from
the farthest point reached.
The next day all six of us carried to the hole and all
except Mike went down. We were able with
some difficulty and very wet (we all had waterproofs on) to ladder as far as
the Schuppenstufe (650 ft. down). This
is only about 30ft. above the farthest point we reached last year and we got
150ft. more ladder down to this point. This was a seven hour trip but, as yesterday, it did not take very long
to get out. When we surfaced it was
pouring with rain and very misty. We
removed our boiler suits and made our way back to the hut in a record 35
minutes.
We had a tent pitched near the hole which was handy both for
the storage of gear and for emergency, had the weather ever been too bad to
return to the hut.
The 25th July was a rest day. Mike, Alan, Martin and I carried the
remaining 880ft. of ladder and 1,000ft. of rope up to the hole. Dick and Ian went down to Ebensee for
supplies. The altitude of the hut, by
the way, is greater than
The next day was extremely wet and it was with great
difficulty that we got some of the gear part the way down from Sintertemasse to
Schuppenstufe, 170ft. below.
The 26th July was Saturday. Helmuth Planer, his wife and sister in law, Wolfgang Heumer and his
fiancé (they were to be married next Saturday) arrived. It was a very wet day. We could not go caving but in the afternoon
we all walked over to the Ischler Hut to see Frau Kratke. We were somewhat encouraged to be told that
better weather was on its way from
Sunday mornings weather was about the same but Dick,
Helmuth and I went down the hole early as Helmuth had to be out by mid-day and
the others joined us later. Between us
we succeed in getting the five bags of gear down to Schuppenstufe.
The next day was occupied in getting gear from Schuppenstufe
to Sickerungsstufe (only about 30ft.) and laddering the next pitch which was
about 250ft. We rigged a telephone from
Sinterterrasse to Sicherungsstufe and used radios from Sicherungsstufe to the
bottom of the 250ft.pitch which is known as Schachtgabel. The next day I went down to that point and
saw the so-called big shaft for the first time and threw a few stones
down. We got 700ft. of tackle down to
here.
The first of August was the day we bottomed what the
Austrians describe as the Big shaft. We
gave it the name Joseph Shaft after Joseph Kogler our host at the hut. It will be appreciated that we were an
extremely small team to be attempting such a hole about three times deep as
Gaping Gill, otherwise very similar to a Yorkshire Pot. It was, therefore, very necessary to spend
all these preliminary days getting gear into the cave in preparation for the
descent. The upper pitches were 70o
slopes and the bags kept snagging. For
the first week the weather was very much against us; it improved for the second
and the hole became drier but the lower reaches were never very dry.
We entered the cave at 10am and having nothing to carry we
quickly reached Sinterrasse where we left Ian to lifeline us back up the 170ft.
pitch. As things turned out he had to
stay there on his own for ten hours. Mike stayed at Sicherungsstufe for nine hours whilst the rest of us
proceeded to Schachtgabel. It was not
easy to ladder the big shaft; its a loose scree slope, though there is solid
rock at the lower end round which we are able to tether the ladder. A short way down the pitch a doorway gave
access to a chamber beneath the scree slope. The first fifty feet was a series of steps, after which the ladder was
against the rock for another fifty feet and tended to snag every few feet. Even when it was clear of rock our troubles
were not over because I had hardly gone down 150ft. before I came to a great
tangle of ladder all depending from one rung. It was easy enough to kick free but the sensation it caused as it
hurtled down and the ultimate boing,
rather like a guitar, as it reached the destination and the rest of the ladder
took the shock was remarkable. This
happened twice. It proved to be about
300ft. down to a circular ledge about 20ft. across. Going off to the west and then meandering
partly south of west was an upstream passage which I followed for about sixty
feet before it became too tight. The
floor was a distinct vadose trench.
The shaft continued on the east side of the ledge which
needed extensive gardening before continuing (as it was one of the ladders was
damaged by falling rocks). The next
pitch was about 20ft., then a scramble over boulders led to a further pitch,
east again, of 15ft. and the bottom of the Joseph Shaft. This last pitch had a very definitive stream
pouring down it which I took to be the accumulative drainage for the entire
hole.
From here I was able to climb up over some boulders and gain
access to a high passable rift passage meandering in an easterly direction
which was about 250ft. long before it began to narrow. The floor was a vadose trench which had a
stream flowing in it. There was mud on
the ledges and signs that the passage took a great deal of water at times. There was abundant botryoidal stal. on the
sides as well as an erratic in a form resembling bract fungi of which there
were many examples and which I could not remember seeing before. The passage then narrowed but I did not
follow it further as I had spent 2½ hours at the bottom of the Joseph Shaft and
it was midnight before we were out of the cave.
At this point some explanation is needed of what happened
next. The day before descending Joseph
Shaft I had received an insect bite on the wrist which had greatly swollen and
turned septic by the day after which was a rest day. The others set out on August 3rd to begin
de-tackling. The ladder would not pull
up Joseph Shaft (Shades of G.G.! Ed.) immediately and Martin descended a
hundred feet in order to free it. He
therefore saw the doorway which I had observed when I had been down and
decided to have a look through it. He
soon confirmed this to connect with the other shaft and he called Mike to come
down. Mike entered a tiny passage on the
right of the dome-shaped chamber to which the doorwaygave access and this led
into a large rift running at right angles. The rift was heavily decorated more so than anything we have on Mendip
there were formations coated with formations! This rift was 50yds. Long and gave access to a large passage and further
hours of exploration made it abundantly clear that a big system existed. It was decided that it would be necessary to
spend an extra day exploring and surveying and therefore the tackle that was
not required for this was taken up the 250ft. pitch.
The further exploration of the lateral development took
place on Sunday night. An
exploring/surveying party consisting of Alan, Martin and Dick were taken down
the cave by the support party, consisting of Mike and Ian who came out after
they had life lined them down the 250ft. pitch. They entered the cave at 4pm. The
support party was out of the cave by 8.00pm. At 5am the support party left the hut and arrived ay the head of the
250ft. pitch only 15 minutes before the exploring party arrived to be life
lined back up the pitch. All were
extremely tired and much of Monday was spent in sleep, but the amount of work
they had done was formidable. They were partly enabled to do this by the
extremely dry nature of the extensions and partly by the fact that took the
trouble to wait until they returned to Sinterrasse which was our usual soup
kitchen.
About 15 photographs were taken and 2,600ft. of passage were surveyed using a hand held compass read to the nearest 50 and distances to the nearest yard. Some three large new shafts were discovered, and several smaller ones, of course, not descended. All the large ones took at least 5 seconds for the stones to fall; the deepest took 9 seconds before the last bounce.
The heavily decorated rift passage first entered continued
for about 150ft. and gave way gradually to an undecorated wider ascending
passage emerging in a large boulder chamber also ascending The passage continued at the top (after a few
awkward climbs over boulders) about 25ft. high by 10ft. wide for about 60ft.
when it dropped into a stream passage. This was about 40ft. high. It was
followed upstream, a ten foot waterfall was climbed and the passage followed
for a further 50ft. to a fork. The right
hand passage at the fork was followed up a 20ft. mud slope into a passage 15ft.
high by 20ft. wide with a mud floor. The
passage dimension slowly diminished until it emerged into a large chamber the
roof of which could not be seen. A mud
slope led down to a 30ft. diameter shaft with a falling time of 5 secs. clear
or 9 secs. to the last bounce. The shaft
was skirted through large boulders on a mud slope and on the other side a climb
a 20ft. climb up a mud slope led into another large shaft with a falling time
of 5 secs. At the bottom of the mud
slope a descending passage 10ft. x 15ft. was followed to a fork after
200ft. It was a rift passage 20ft. high
b y 6ft. wide with several potholes in the floor with passages leading
off. None of these were followed. The main rift was well decorated with dying
stal. but was not followed to its end.
Returning to the fork inn the stream passage the left hand
branch was then followed. It was an
ascending passage 400ft. long with several potholes in then generally boulder
strewn floor. A stream entered from the
left at the bottom of a large shaft and apparently flowed back down the passage
but could not be heard anywhere in the passage. Here the explorers had a brew up. At about 400ft. the passage changed after a short phreatic section to a
descending passage. The general shape of
the passage was low and wide 6ft. high by 30ft. wide. It continued for about a hundred feet to
another fork with the left side continuing downwards and the smaller right hand
passage ascending. From the ascending
passage a strong draught issued. This
was followed for about 400ft. until it emerged in a small chamber and continued
at the bottom of a rift too difficult to ascend without tackle and about 25ft.
deep. Throughout the passage the draught
was pronounced.
The larger descending passage, left hand at the fork was followed
for about 500ft. It was tunnel like
15ft. in diameter. After about 250ft. a
large chamber about 40ft. high and 40ft. in diameter was entered at the far end
of which a steeply descending squeeze about 109ft long gave access to a low
steeply descending bedding plane with a sandy floor, wet in places. This closed down after 100ft. and a vertical
squeeze led into a similar descending passage which was followed for 150ft.
until several shallow pots in the floor prevented further progress. At this stage the passage forked. One side contained the pots already mentioned
and the other side of the fork emerged in the bottom of a large shaft and no
way on found. (The explorers had no maypole about 600ft. would be desirable). It say much for the stamina of the party that
when their relief arrived they de-tackled the top of Joseph Shaft and sent
three bags of gear up the 250ft. pitch.
The next day (Tuesday) a party consisting of Dick, Alan
(Jnr.), Martin and Ian de-tackled the cave as far back as Schachthalle. This took them about 10 hours. The following day it took Mike, Dick and Ian
about 7 hours to get all the gear from the cave. On Thursday (about 2am) Mike, cunningly
persuaded a member of cheerful Austrians to accompany them on that days
carrying. The result of this was that in
fact the carrying was completed in one trip.
The entrance of the Ahnenschact is at 1890m. The main horizontal development has therefore
been found at approximately 1590m and although we did not realise it until
afterwards this is exactly what we should have expected. The entrance of the Raucher is only 3km away
and the altitude of its entrance is 1570m. It is more than likely that the geological conditions which appertained
to cause the formation of one would have applied to the other. It is possible that they are connected. The Raucher entrance lies roughly SSW of the
Ahnenschacht and each cave has ¼km of passage in the direction of each other. Another interesting feature is that the
lateral development from Schachtgabel leads off in the direction of the
Feuertal where we have seen many possible shafts, some plugged with snow. The discovery of an easy entrance in the
valley would be a boon to the further exploration of the cave. The possibility of such and entrance existing
is supported by the fact that a bat was seen in the horizontal passages leading
from Schachtgabel.
Once again having safely got everybody and everything not only out of the cave but back to the hut without mishap we are already labouring under the delusion that we had an enjoyable holiday. I was perhaps lucky in developing an extremely painful carbuncle at the critical point of the expedition.
References: -
The Ahnenschacht A. Thomas
B.B. No. 237 (Dec. 67)
The Ahnenschacht R. Stenner
B.B. No. 239 (Feb. 68)
Osterreichs langste und tierfste
Hohlen H. Trimmel, Wien 1966 (pp. 46-47)
Die Tiefenvorstosse 1958 in den
Ahnenschacht (Totes Gebirge) Die Hohle 10, 1, Wien 1959. (pp. 5-8)
Ed. apologies. The
correct name for the Joseph Shaft is JOSEF SHAFT
With Hedera
For me the Great Interaction proved to be the most
stimulating recent event. Even Sell
dropped everything to join the pilgrimage to see the effect of Outdoors on
Swildons. Quite a privilege to be there
really. There before your very eyes
Instant Cave Development!
Outdoors got a little confused with Indoors and kept tripping over Wig rushing Outdoors all over Mendip on his two flat feet pausing only to light another gasper and with
Shining eyes and waving arms to elucidate the latest
marvel. Well it was marvellous. From the obvious ones like the Forty, and the
vertigo inducing shaft at Manor Farm, to the ones which had to be deduced like
the depth of flash rivers in the valleys it was marvellous. A walk done which was of absorbing interest
was from the top of Velvet Bottom to Cheddar. Interesting to see how the water sank and re-appeared a few hundred yards
later and to consider that the mass flow of water which burst from the narrowed
Velvet Bottom were it joins the Cheddar Road was probably less than higher up
Velvet Bottom. It seems to me that most
of the water from the upper catchment area sunk in the broader parts before it
reached the Longwood intersection and that the water emerging at
Another outstanding consequence of the Awash was ones
ability to walk up and down Cheddar Gorge in pleasant quiet traffic free
conditions and to climb there with feeling antisocial. Lets start by demanding that at least the
Upper Gorge be closed to self defeating traffic. Common sense must prevail in the end. Cheddar Gorge cannot be seen from the motor
car the presence of which is destructive to appreciation.
Just after the Mendip Awash two Outdoor Men took a two
seater canoe down the Brecon and
Meanwhile in the vertical plane bob Sell, Roy Marshall, Pete
Sutton with a couple of characters called Bob and Rory have had what must have
been a pretty satisfying holiday in
Three hundred feet of impeding slime, perpetually wet and
apparently smooth. I just cant imagine
climbing it. Ah well, pervertion is what
the other fellow does.
Our ranks have been increased. Eddy Welch has recruited a walker, Ruth, by
marrying her. The end justifies the
means. Thank you Eddy.
Autumn Courses of interest to cavers: -------
Geology 30 weekly meetings
(Tuesdays). 8pm. Commencing on 1st
October 1968.
Limestone geomorphology Sat.
Nov. 23rd and Filed expedition on Sun. Nov. 24th.
Other courses include Pollen
Analysis, Rocks and Quarrying, Fundamental of Soil Mechanics.
by Mike Palmer
In the blur of early morning on Saturday 7th August a party
of BEC members comprising Tony Meaden, Phil Coles, Mike Palmer and Colin
Priddle set out to explore the caving area of Sutherland in N.W. Scotland.
A pre-arranged stop was made in
The G.S.G. party were to have travelled from
The hut is situated about 14 miles from Ullapool on the A835
just inside Sutherland border and on the outskirts of the
Early Monday morning John Manchip arrived in a Reliant Car
with a young lad from GSG named Andrew. This arrival interrupted Tony Meadens attempt to frighten Phil Coles
with tales of ghosts and how they particularly haunt old crofters cottages
occupied by cavers!
From the hut a very fine view of the surrounding mountains
(hills?) is obtained, one in particular being very prominent, Cul
Three hours later, four of us had reached the highest summit
of the two peaks, while the other two, Phil and Colin had taken the other route
to the slightly lower peak.
Needless to say Tony had only flexed his muscles a trifle,
while the rest of us were absolutely shattered; the view however was
magnificent and a fit reward for our efforts.
The evening found everyone very much in need of suitable
refreshment and joined by another member of the G.S.G., Robin (desperate)
Duncan, who hitched up from Edinburgh, we turned left at the tee junction and
ended up at the other hotel at a place called Inchnadaugh. No doubt by now some of the exploits of our
party was common knowledge at the hotel, so suffice to say that the beer and
barmaids were excellent and the hotel is highly recommended.
Because of the very fine weather a lot of the time was spent
locating beaches where we could laze in the sun. One of the best we found and spent most of
our time was the
Sad to say on Wednesday we all decided to end the misery of
idling our time away on the beach and went caving! The cave that we chose to explore is situated
in the
Laden with diving gear the party followed the stream to the right, down a spectacular bedding plane, until a short crawl at the bottom ended abruptly in a sump. Quite impressed by the size of the sump and the amount of water being consumed, Colin was soon prepared for a short exploratory dive.
After 20ft. he returned to explain that the sump followed
the line of the cave and was quite large the water was very clear. A second dive resulted in a penetration of
approximately 50ft., at which Colin decided it was unwise to continue without
diving support. On this occasion he
reported that he was nearly able to provide us with a supper of trout, which he
saw swimming near the sump.
Next, the upstream passages of the system were
explores. The party was soon halted by a
loud sucking noise, which at first was rather alarming until it was discovered
that it was caused by a small whirlpool of water where the stream sank in the
bed and reappeared in a small pot below.
Several ducks had to be negotiated, which entailed immersion
up to the neck, but they were very sporting and good experience. This brought us to Landslip Chamber and a
large pool approximately 20ft. x 20ft. which appeared to be quite deep. The stream clearly flowed from this pool and
it thought that the pool hides a large sump; because of the size of the pool
Colin decided that it would be dangerous to dive by himself. Also the diving gear was too far away.
Traversing round the pool, a large passage was easily
followed after a short crawl. This
appeared to be of phreatic nature and towards its end it began to dip towards
another sump which looked black and evil. It could be that the passage (like P.R. in Swildons) might rejoin the
stream way at a higher level beyond the sump, which showed clear evidence of
resurging in times of flood or even normal wet weather.
After Mike has wallowed around in the sump for a short time
and only proved that it went deeper and could not be passed at this time, the
party returned top the entrance and sunshine.
On Friday we went caving again (apart from JM who stayed in
bed) and almost wished we hadnt bothered. Apart from the cave, called Elphin Hole (NG. 20870956) being
uninteresting, we were nearly massacred by the Scottish midges en-route to the
cave entrance they are really ferocious and draw blood.
That just about wrapped up our active holiday band we were
forced to go back to the beach and laze in the sun. To end on a serious note, the potential for
caving is good and for those who enjoy walking there is plenty of it and we are
sure that the BEC will be welcome to stay at the GSG hut.
Wellingborough,
Northants.
22 Aug. 1968
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who
were involved in my extraction from Nine Barrows Swallet on 12 May 68.
My injuries consist of a broken leg and ankle which I am
glad to say are progressing satisfactory. I expect to have the plaster removed on September 11th which means that
it will probably be mid-October before I can treat you to a pint in the
Hunters.
Yours,
John Benham.
Ed. Note: - Details of this rescue appeared in B.B. 143
p.88.
Viv. Brown,
Keith Franklin,
Phil Coles,
*****************************************
Time for carbide Empty coffee tins, marvel tins etc, are
required by the club to enable the carbide, held on the Belfry site, to be
broken down into suitable weights for sale.
*****************************************
NEXT MONTH IN THE B.B. articles include BEC climbing meet
in the Otztaler Alpen and the Bernina, Address list of club members and a look
back to Mendip caving in 1947 in an article entitled So What by Senex.
By Gordon Tilly
MENDIP CAVER VOL.
4 No.4 contains results of Phase 3 Water Tracing
results by Dave Drew (see June B.B.) and notes from
WSG Bulletin Vol. 5
No. 10. This issue deals mainly with
club caving log but also has an article on Charging of Nife Cells and the
Preparation of Electrolyte by Dave Everett.
by Wig
News in brief: -
French cavers reported to have challenged Pearce (of the
Berger) by stating that he only went down 3,696ft. and they have reached
3,749ft. Pearce replied to Guardian
reporter, You dont leave footprints on rock.
St. Cuthberts Sump
July
flood blocked sump. Divers and cavers
now digging to left of the sump itself. By digging here it is hoped to bypass the constriction that was met by
the divers last year.
G.B. Since the flood reports have been coming in
stating that there are several unstable areas in the cave. It is known that the Ladder Dig Extension
ruckle moved during the flood and is now in a more dicey state than it was
before. Also the entrance passage,
scoured out by the flood water, is still unstable and beyond the Devils Elbow
is also another point to watch out for. It has been suggested that the cave is no longer suitable for novices
perhaps it will be best to go and have a look for yourselves in that respect.
CHRISTMAS BB. All material should be in the hands of the
Editor Dave Irwin (Wig) by early November.
Surveys. A new series of cave surveys is being
prepared by club members. The first will
appear in December or January 1968 B.B. All will be to CRG. 6c-d and also maintaining the requirements of the
MSC.
Time flies! The A.G.M. is once again looming on the horizon and its now time to get your nominations sent in to Bob Bagshaw, 699 Wells Road, Bristol 4.
To remind all members the drill if you have any member in
mind to stand for the next years
committee, first ASK HIS OR HER PERMISSION to be nominated. Then write on a piece of paper I wish to
nominate
.as candidate for the forthcoming election for the BEC Committee
and he has agreed to serve if elected. At the foot of the paper put down your OWN name and membership number
and send it to Bob Bagshaw,
The A.G.M. will not be held this year at Redcliffe Hall details will be printed in the August issue of the BB. The Annual dinner is at the Caveman Restaurant, Cheddar. The menu includes Trout followed by Braised Hare and Pigeon with chopped ham price this year will be about 21/- - full details next month.
The editor would like to apologise for the very poor quality of last months photographs in case you could not read the details here they are - the full page was by Prew of the Fernhill Curtains and the double page were of formations in Balch extension - The Lily Pads (Wig) and the Crystal Column (Prew).
Alan Thomas will be on holiday from July 20th end of
August all notices and letters should be sent to Bob Bagshaw during this
period
Hon. Sec: - A.R. Thomas,
Editor: - D.J. Irwin,
Club Headquarters: - The Belfry,
The following inscription was found on a lavatory wall in Hinton Blewitt .
With apologies to Alfie
This is the story of our Stan
A rather quaint poetic man,
Whose dotty ditties neatly scanning
Showed a lot of careful planning.
Oer the whole world hed seen
From Hunters Lodge to Priddy Green,
Nempnett Thrubwell, darkest Clutton
And even up in Bishop Sutton.
He never failed upon request
To give forth poems full of zest,
And onward gaily hed recite
Rambling on into the night.
Now visitors from near and far
Would cram themselves into the bar,
And drinking freely of the beer
Sos they can lend a friendly ear,
To listen closely without sound
To epic tales of underground.
For though these tales be purely fiction
No one could quarrel with the diction,
And with eloquence divine
Hed gaily flit from line to line.
Year after year hed do his stuff
And no-one cried Enough, Enough,
And now this next line you can guess
He could not do it to excess.
So then out hero had a thought
And for the Hut Fund he then fought,
Deciding then and there to write
On blocks of Solid Araldite?
Using a vast supply of pencils
Blotting paper, pens, and stencils,
He worked on through cold and heat
Till his task was all complete.
Then friend Jock comes bursting in
And kicking up a frightful din,
Produces photographic illustrations
With new and subtle variations
On themes which he could now expound
Of strangest happenings underground.
And so they to the printers sped
Who straight away gave the go ahead.
At last it is You we cry
To rush to the shops and buy
In literary and graphic modes
The entire Alfie Spaeleodes.
ANON
by
The purpose of this article is briefly to trace how the structure of the Mendips are formed by rivers bringing sand and silt into an area of sea where they are sorted out the coarsest sand accumulating nearest the shore and the finest further out. Under the right conditions in a shallow sea a warm climate can cause sufficient evaporation for dissolved salts to be precipitated as calcium carbonate etc., and this form the basis of limestones. As deposition continues the weight of sediment causes the sea floor to sink so that great thickness of strata occur. The weight also caused the lower sediments to compact and form almost horizontal layers of rock enclosing remains of organisms which lived in the sea. Eventually the seas silted and became swamps covered in vegetation which, under repeated oscillatory movements of the floor, alternately were drowned and re-established, successive plant phases becoming compressed into coal seams before an increase in the earth movements, namely a force from the S.W. pushing sediments up towards the land barrier to the north, crumpled then into contorted folds which stood up as an island in the new shrunken sea. The movements described took the barely conceivable time of 80 million years so that it is very unlikely that anything happened with dramatic suddenness. With the rocks thus weakened and exposed to the elements the top layers were soon ripped off to form new sediments in a different sea. The coal swamps had been formed in very warm and humid conditions and now the climate was hotter and drier, desert conditions prevailing over the land as witnessed by the red sediments banked up against the limestones with shorelines marked by great boulders fallen from the limestone cliffs to be themselves made into a solid rock formation by the infilling of crevices between them with red silty material. Continuing earth movements submerged the islands and eventually raised them again, contorting them so much so that a layer from the beds of the last submergence found on the top of the Mendips is now present more than 1,000ft. below sea level under the Somerset Plain immediately to the south. Subsequent weathering of the rocks leaves us with what we have today. (Fig. 1 page 79).
From that necessarily sketchy outline a short history of the literature should serve to zoom the subject into speleological range.
As far back as 1824, W. Buckland and W.D. Conybeare
described the main Mendip folds in the course of a memoir on the south
western coalfields. In his all-embracing
study of the rocks of South Wales and South-West
The Carboniferous Limestone series, with a thickness of
3,000 to 3,700 feet in the area, was divided up into Lower Limestone Shales and
carboniferous or Mountain Limestone by de la Beche. As the shales only accounts for 500ft. of the
entire succession there remained a crying need for some detailed classification
of the great limestone mass.
In 1905, A. Vaughan published a division of the limestones into five main zones and sub-zones based on remains of corals and shellfish found in the cliffs of the Avon gorge where the whole carboniferous Limestone succession is displayed like an open book (not a very strict analogy!) complete with Lower Limestone Shales and Old Red Sandstone at the north-western end of the right bank) Kellaway and Welch, 1948, p.19).
The following year T.F. Sibly published a monumental paper
listing every limestone exposure on Mendip with a description of the fossils
found in each and its place in the zonal regions of
In 1911 S.H. Reynolds and A. Vaughan produced a very thorough treatise on Burrington Combe, a feature of which is the great number of full-page photographs overprinted with the appropriate limestone zoning.
It was F.B.A. Welch who applied the zonal classification to his detailed 6-inch mapping of the Mendip Limestones (Central Mendip 1929, Blackdown 1932, Eastern Mendip 1933) which revealed the great complexity of structure. An explanation of the reasons for the structure was essayed in the Regional guide (Kellaway and Welch, 1948, p.8) and a full analysis is presented in the Sheet memoir (Green and Welch, 1965, p.130). The Sheet memoir also gives details of gravity and magnetic surveys, seismic and electrical resistively measurements made in the area in order to investigate hidden strata.
Having briefly evoked the Mendips in an earlier paragraph the next stage is to relate these happenings to the mass of complications presented on the 1-inch geological map Sheet 280. First it is necessary to refer to the sketch of the situation existing at the time the sediments were being laid down.
South of the great land mass over what is now Mid-Wales, the
basin floor had two axes or low ridges of vertical movement joining in the
These folds were not only staggered but, as the pressure continued their northern limbs were forced towards the mid-Wales shore so that the strata in them were pushed vertical and even overturned (Blackdown, North Hill and Vobster) or overthrust (Pen Hill). Pressure differentials resulted in tension cracks-faults-right across some periclines, e.g. the Stock Hill, Biddle and Slab House Faults, which affected the North Hill and Pen Hill structures, while a major zone of overthrusting extends from Cheddar to Wells and continues in dislocations in the Dulcote area.
Secondly, a note on the water bearing qualities of the rocks themselves. The sandstone cores of periclines admit very little as the spaces between the individual grains are mostly filled by secondary crystallisation of silica, and any bedding planes and joints are very close set. Even in heavily shattered regions near faults the fissures seem to have been largely filled in. The adjoining Lower Limestone Shales, although with occasional coarse limestones in their lower part, generally form low-lying swampy ground so that their far junction with the Black Rock Limestone of the Carboniferous Limestone forms the location of by far the greater majority of swallets in the Mendips. The Carboniferous Limestone is, consequently, an important aquifer, and, thanks to the surrounding of the Mendips by later marly deposits banked up against the limestone and beach conglomerate, most of the water entering the limestone emerges spectacularly at the foot of the hills, having fallen several hundreds of feet in a very short distance. But while these risings afford copious supplies of water, attempts to tap fissures in the rock by borings, shafts and headings are a matter of chance to say the least. Several worthy examples are given in the Sheet memoir (Green and Welch, 1965, p.173).
Thirdly the geological map. Each of the four main periclinal areas will be taken in turn, with structural reference in the first instance to the accompanying sketch map with sections, and colour reference to detail on the printed sheet (1-inch 280).
To be cont.
Here indeed, Nature, working with a gigantic hand, has displayed a scene of common grandeur. In one of those moments, when she convulsed the world with throes of an earthquake, she burst asunder the rocky ribs of Mendip, and tore a chasm across its diameter, of mire than a mile in length. The vast opening yawns from the summit down to the roots of the mountain, laying open to the sun, a sublime and tremendous scene; exhibiting a combination of precipices, rocks, and caverns, of terrifying descent, fantastic form, and gloomy vacuity.
Drowning By Numbers
By A. (Rusty) RUSHTON
Sumps have always been a problem to me, I prefer the use of chemical persuasion to remove the beasts and the horror of having to pass them by the accepted method of diving. No doubt the purist element would be up in arms at such a suggestion of chemicals .so there the beasts remain, LURKING, like some great muddy monster, ready to devour some poor unwary caver.
On a recent visit to Swildons I managed to flounder my way through Sump 4 on a visit to Sump 6. We had descended Blue Pencil and arrived at the Sump in fairly good time, Its only 16ft. they said, this did very little to inspire confidence in me and the high tide mark of grass and other rubbish 15ft. above the present level of water did even less. After a short rest and half a dozen or so mud soaked Woodbines I was still the no more confident. Not wishing to prove the chicken that I am, I ladened myself with lead weights and staggered to the entrance of the beast. Clutching the guide wire I settled myself into the lurking waters and warmed my body with internal waters which drained into the stream. After 23 deep breaths and much shivering (fear) I steeled myself to the task that lay before me, I plunged into the murk and pulled myself along the wire, thats 16ft. I thought, surfacing like a rocket ..glad to be out of the foul mess that held me prisoner for the whole 4 seconds, I came into smart contact with the low roof, I rapidly exhaled a burst of fine Anglo-Saxon adjectives. This was my undoing, for I re-entered the stream, gulping for air, at a rate quicker than which I had left it and took in large amounts of muddy water ..I surfaced hit the roof again more muddy water, it occurred to me, as my past flashed before me, that unless I did something soon I would be in dire straits. Swimming like a man possessed within the devil, I struck out for the shore, wherever it may be. All of a sudden the water and the wire ran out, the end at last ..I emerged slowly, fearing the dreaded roof that had nearly put me into the next world, to find myself in a passage some 30ft. high ..and my friends doubled with laughter ..40ft. behind me !
The return dive was uneventful, pure luck this time. Sumps still send cold shivers down my spine and I will do anything to avoid them. Diving is not for me, accept when necessary. But now I sit, with my pint of muled ale in the back room of the Hunters, and gaze upon my revered audience; perhaps sumps arent quite as bad as they seem.
by Prew
It is becoming increasingly apparent that, over the past few years, a new brand of caver is frequenting Mendip. The people to whom I am referring are those who with little though of the consequences, and often little experience themselves, take a party that includes complete novices to perhaps Sump II in Swildons or a round trip through the Troubles. If they stopped for a moment to think of their responsibilities, as leaders, to their party they might perhaps stop at Sump I or go way and do G.B. instead. It obviously has not occurred to them that a novice is not only physically inexperienced but also mentally not used to the surroundings to which he or she is being introduced; the consequences of these, in the event of an accident, could be disastrous. The problems of rescuing an injured or completely exhausted person from beyond Sump I or the Troubles are enormous.
The above remarks have been prompted by the recent rescues that gained some extremely inaccurate and undesirable publicity. Over a period of three weekends three rescues occurred. The first in Nine Barrows was one of those rare, but genuine, accidents where an experienced caver fell and fractured his leg. This was obviously a case for the MRO. The following weekend saw two call-outs from Swildons, the first caused by a party including a novice becoming lost and finally exhausted after trying to complete a round trip through the Troubles. This immediately suggests a total lack of experience on the part of the leader in his lack of preparation in ensuring that all members of the party were up to the necessary standard for such a trip. In these circumstances it was probably correct to call for the MRO as an exhausted party on their own in a cave is a danger to itself.
The second callout of the weekend involved a party at the 40ft. A member, exhausted after a fall, could not climb the ladder. What shall we do? Call the MRO. The attitude appears to be that it is the MROs responsibility to help any member of a party in trouble and nothing to do with any of the remaining members. Isnt it about time that cavers started by trying to carry out their own rescues? after all this is the policy of the MRO. Some cavers have the mistaken idea that once in trouble they merely have to call out the MRO and they can shirk any responsibilities they may have had. It obviously hasnt occurred to some cavers that it might be a good idea to try and haul an exhausted friend up the 40ft. before calling for MRO help. With regard to the rescue in question, although the MRO were called, it was another party already in the cave that gave assistance. This meant a lot of wasted effort on the part of the MRO Warden in that all the rescue kit had to be brought to the scene only to be returned again.
If this sort of caving practice is going to continue the MRO Wardens and helpers are not going to be so keen to get themselves and the equipment to the scene of a rescue. This, of course, could lead to unfortunate delays when a genuine accident occurs.
It is all very well making criticisms but what in fact is the answer. The first that springs to mind is the control of access of all major cave systems. Unpleasant as this may sound to some it may be the only answer. If keys are issued to major clubs then it can be hoped that people entering the caves will be educated in the normal code of caving practice. A second method of control would involve the paying of a fairly high deposit returnable only on a safe return. This could be waived in the case of a genuine call-out. In this way parties might be prevented from undertaking trips beyond their capabilities. Unfortunately some of them do not know just what their capabilities are.
Finally, the most important aspect of this foolish attitude that exists is that the Mendip farmers are becoming upset by the number of rescues and the ensuing bad publicity. The result could be the closing of some of the best caves on Mendip. Let us do something now before it is too late.
by G. Tilly
A second meeting of the Mendip clubs was held at the Hunters on Saturday May 19th to discuss the finances of re-opening Eastwater Swallet and the proposed method of shoring the entrance shaft.
Although no decision could be taken due to the poor attendance (only 5 clubs were represented) the most favourable method of shoring appears to be one of pre-cast concrete pipes that can be constructed on site and the total cost of materials (cement, wood etc.) would be approximately £50. The cost of the explosives required could vary from £21 to £30. During the meeting, Phil Romford, Alan Butcher and Gordon Tilly were elected Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary respectively. The Chairman and Treasurer would be responsible for the handling of donations received from the clubs. The Secretary would act as a clearing house for paperwork and a source of information for advising clubs of progress made. A full report, complete with diagram of the proposed shoring method, will be distributed to all caving clubs affiliated to the Council of Southern Caving Clubs shortly.
By G. Tilly
These two editions contain such articles as Pioneer
Spleleaology in a
Despite the adverse opinion of many people on the subject of
student cavers, these two journals show a wide range of caving activity by this
group of four clubs. The articles range
from reports of continental meets, complete with surveys, made during the Foot
and Mouth outbreak. There are
descriptions and Grade 4 (with apologies to the Mendip surveyors! Ed.) surveys
if the following
(N.B. All publications mentioned above are in the B.E.C. Library).
by B.M. Ellis
A CATALOGUE OF CAVING PUBLICATIONS HELD BY THE
It was in 1965 that the
This is supposed to be a book review (or is it?) so perhaps
it would be as well to get back to the point! After three years the collection had grown to such a size that it was
thought a catalogue of what was available was justified. This has been compiled by Kay and Ray
Mansfield on behalf of the Cave registry. The result is a twelve page booklet listing approximately 1200 caving
club publications. The catalogue serves
two very useful purposes. It is a
reference work enabling anyone to try and trace a copy of a certain caving journal
to see whether it is available at
Wandering away again, there is one point that it is as well
to make concerning the collection. Complaints have been made by those who know better that a collection
based at
The second point is much more serious the argument is
invalid and a collection at
This has been much more than a review but then the heading is Cavers Bookshelf and this is something that will be of interest to anyone interested in caving books and publications.
FOOTNOTE: It is disappointing to see that the collection of Belfry Bulletins held by the collection at Bristol is by far the poorest of all the major Mendip clubs. The numbers missing are listed below and copies, or photo-copies, of any of them would be welcomed by Kay Mansfield for adding to the collection.
Belfry Bulletins missing from the Central Collection.
Nos: 1 110; 118; 119; 126; 127; 135; 137 139; 142; 161; 163; 164; 166; 172; 175; 176; 178; 180; 181; 190; 197 203; 205; 206; 209 213.
Caving Reports missing.
Nos: 1 (1st. Edition); 5; and 7.
Belfry Bulletin Digest No.1
by Wig
The digging season seems to be well underway at the
moment. The Bennett/Irwin site in
In the caving scene Roger Stenner continues his marathon water tracing series of trips in G.B. (his work to date has been recently published in the CRG transactions). Work in Swildons appears to be gaining ground yet again Drew is planning a big bang in Pirate Chamber (Swildons); MCG are investigating a site in Longwood valley; UBSS are still pushing Manor Farm Dig; Cornwell has another site up his sleeve, Warburton has just finished Phase 1 on his new survey of Aggy. Also the surveying team have reported the discovery of a 600 700ft. long cave nearby.
The Part A of the Cuthberts report is now being typed and
will now be available at the end of August. Price about 5/-. The mention of
caving publications brings me to the BEC Library. It is kept at Dave Serles, Dolphin Cottage,
Finally ST. CUTHBERTS REPORT PART A. Exploration of St. Cuthberts Swallet by D.J. Irwin, R.D. Stenner and G. Tilly will be available early September. Approx. 40 pages of text and 4 pages of photographs (8 photos, 5 not previously published). This publication, divided into 8 parts gives full coverage of Mining Background, Pre 1952 digs, and a Phase by Phase account of the exploration to date. Included are parts of an unpublished account of the early trips by the late Jack Wadden. Price 5/- (after the Annual Dinner 6/-).
with Hedera
They seem to be on holiday and Ive suddenly realised that I
should be too. Id like to be in the
Bernina and that with the
Newish prods reported at Cheddar by Terry Taylor. Derek Targett is also pioneering those
towering buttresses on the south side above the Sugar Loaf. Yes, why not. absolutely splendid natural
lines. Pete Sutton seems to be on to
something at Weston-super-Mud too. In a
less splendid way
Compared with our glorious past we seem to lack reports of
expeditions involving tours such as the Welsh Three Thousands (there are
fourteen!) and that once a lifetime experience, the Traverse of the Cuillin
Ridge. I was glad to see that the exiles
in
The Coruisk hoo-ha was settled with typical compromise. The decision to proceed with bridging the
So the protests have been made and something saved. Lets hope that the lessons that we must have the foresight and initiative to guard against thoughtless action.
My favourite scheme is to bypass traffic from Cheddar Gorge. You cant see it from a car and you cant walk in the road because of the cars. Its exceedingly dangerous too. One of the club was climbing on the right edge of Hart Leaf Bluff (I cant remember what the climb is called) anyway, as a result a great six foot block is no longer there and is now presumably undergoing the next phase of the geological cycle fortunately without either biological or metallic additions.
Hedera
Mendip and the surrounding area from Chepstow to
On Mendip the water scoured out the inside of caves to an unprecedented degree. On the surface the coombes were ripped open so much that the bed-rock was laid bare in many places. The following account has been built up from the information given to Wig by several members of the BEC and from notes he made during the following week.
The water has torn up the road sufficiently to close the
Gorge to the public. An A.A. Officer has
been reported as saying that the Gorge looked like
Here again a similar story roads ripped up, thousands of pounds worth of damage to private property. The West Twin Stream went wild. The debris is several feet high and a 5ft. miniature gorge cut in the lower part of the track. The water reached a level of about 3ft. Peter Birds dig just below Sidcot Swallet is completely buried. The water entering East Twin was too much for the sink and flowed down the valley crossing the road and sinking on the other side. Avelines was flooded to a depth of 15ft. at the bottom of the main passage.
Nine Barrow Entrance blocked.
Cuckoo Cleeves no information.
Hunters Hole no information.
Goatchurch 12 of water reported in the Drainpipe.
Stoke Lane Reports say that there is little change.
S. Cuthberts Most of the water built up behind the Mineries. The water at the New Entrance was 27 above the lower flood pipe. The depression was clear of water by the following weekend. None of the unstable boulders have moved in the entrance series. The Sump was reported to be blocked and that the Sump Passage was flooded to a depth of 10ft. The Rat Run was swamped near Mud Ball end and the U Tube was also sumped.
Eastwater The stream had been quite large about 4ft. deep. The boulders at the entrance are now completely choked with gravel.
G.B. Large
volumes of water appear to have entered the cave through both of the
depressions. Small collapses have been
reported inn the immediate area. The
blockhouse door has taken a battering. Below the inner gate the floor has been gouged out to a depth of 8ft.
and the stald over rubble heap in the First Grotto has been flattened by about
8 10ft. leaving the Devils Elbow ladder hanging three feet from the top and
five feet off the bottom of the floor. Sorry no news on the Ooze! The
NEW CAVE IN VELVET
BOTTOM About 75yds. above the missing road a new depression is to be seen
with a 200ft. long cave going off at the bottom. Attempts at shoring it are being made shortly
with the intention of digging the ruckle in the terminal chamber. A survey has not been made of the place but
it is thought to be running up the valley. An old dig of the MCG at the junction of Velvet Bottom and
Manor Farm Dig Near the UBSS digging site a huge shaft has opened up 90ft. (Other reports say 50ft.) deep and about 10ft. in diameter. This is a great breakthrough for the UBSS as it is thought to be the same chamber that was discovered before the original shaft collapsed.
The most spectacular changes in any one system occurred in Swildons Hole The changes in the cave
are to say the least, quite fantastic. One sees the flood damage right from the entrance well into the cave to
Swildons 4. At the height of the flood
the water reached some 6ft. above the entrance grating; the total depth of
water being nearly 10ft. The blockhouse
is quite undamaged but the water opened up a rift under the tree (to the left
of the blockhouse) 10ft. deep and 2½ft. wide. The sink to the right of the stream way has been considerably enlarged. It is advised to use the new rift as the
boulders inside the normal entrance have been considerable repositioned. The chock stone inside the entrance and the
flat slab that had to be crawled over have gone - such was the force of the
water. The impact marks made by the
stones have been to be seen to be believed particularly just inside the
entrance and at the head of the Forty. The entrance to the Long Dry Way is still open but the boulders are
believed to have move. Below the 10ft.
climb to the junction with the stream way the chock stone is several feet down
the passage and a sizeable chunk of bedrock has been removed. A few feet further feet downstream one is
forced to crawl by a new pile of boulders that are jammed across the
passage. Continuing downstream the
pools have been scoured out and are generally thigh deep and the entrance to
the Oxbows is now quite clean. In fact
the whole looks very clean for how long though? The water was forced up the Mud Slide
(Kennys Dig) and is now partially blocked by loose gravel. The approach to the Well has been modifies in
that the stalagmite flooring has been lifted off the floor and transported some
5ft. further downstream leaving it lying over the edge of the Well. Below the waterfall minor changes have taken
place, stal. has been ripped from the walls and the pools have all been cleaned
out. The approach passage to the Old
Grotto is considerably deeper and the grass clings to all the formations. The water filled the
The greatest and most remarkable change is the Forty its gone! The Forty can now be free climbed. All of the choking in the rift leading to the Forty has been cleared out and the floor lowered by about 25ft. The exposed walls of the rift are liberally coated with stal. and looks quite fine. Below the keyhole, on the upstream side, is a false floor of stalagmite which certainly prevented the rift from being scoured deeper than it has in the past. Both the Keyhole and Suicide had water to the roof. The rift is easily passed by first traversing and then chimneying down to the stream way. A short section of passage leads to a hole near the floor through which the stream flows. A short sloping trench leads to the final drop of six feet. There are several useful belay points if a rope is required for the climb. The changes below the 40ft. are not so striking pools are deeper and the climb at the bend has gone the stal capping can be seen upended a few feet downstream. Below the 20ft.the changes are even less. The approach to Sump 1 is now mud covered and the stream flows on top instead of under the boulders. Sump 1 is now about 5ft. deep and one is standing up to their necks in water on the downstream side. Duck 1 has about 2 of airspace; Creeps 1 & 2 are now wades (just duck your heads lads) and the second part of Duck 2 is sumped its believed to be about 8ft. long. Sumps 2 & 3 were dived and it has been reported that Sump 4 is blocked. Foam has been reported in the roof of St.Pauls Series. The Mud Sump is full and to date no-one has passed it yet.
As far as one can see the water backed up in three places: -
1 The Forty, 2 the curtains below the Twenty and 3 Sump 1. The water reached the roof everywhere at and
above the twenty to the Entrance except the top section of the Boulder
Chamber. Below the curtains, the upper
part of the passage was clear of the flood water. The level at the Double Pots was about 6ft. The water flowed through Barnes loop but the
depth is difficult to say some report only 1ft. The next deep section was below Trats
The change in the Water Rift has increased the chances of accidents in the writers opinion. Cavers entering the system will be encouraged to go further than they had previously now that the 40ft. has been removed. The lack of tackle itself, on the Forty, will produce dangers. The hole will soon flood with heavy water conditions even if the caver can climb to the hole the water will soon back up and sump in front of him. One cannot chimney up the downstream section of the Water Rift its too narrow. The belay points on the 40ft. ledge are still there and will be very useful for rescue purposes under wet condition the pitch will be quite dry except for the lower 6ft. The chances of the Water Rift filling up with water is still very great and should be treated with extreme caution under wet conditions.
TAILENDER On the afternoon of the flood three cavers went down Swildons but soon retreated and in the early evening 5 more tried to get down but Farmer Maine refused them permission had they gone down they wouldnt have seen the light of day again.
Many thanks to all who gave details enabling this article to be complied so quickly.
Wig
*****************************************
Thanks Dept: - The Club would like to offer their sincere thanks to Pongo Wallis for his gift of caving publications and books including Cave Science Nos 1 24 complete. The books have been catalogued and are now in the club library at Dolphin Cottage.
Our thanks also to Alan Kennett and Chris Harvey for a pair of sheer legs which will certainly make lighter work of digging.
*****************************************
NEXT MONTH IN THE B.B. Jock Orrs long awaited article on Cave Photography, Austrian report (if
received in time) and a report of the climbing sections visit to the Bernina,
The 1968/69 Committee and Club Officers .
Chairman of the Committee D.
Irwin (Wig)
Hon. Sec.: A Thomas (Senior)
Hon. Treas: R. Bagshaw
Hut Warden: P. Townsend
Hut Engineer: J. Riley
Caving Sec: A. MacGregor
Climbing Sec: M. Holt
Tacklemaster: N. Petty
Minute Sec: G. Tilly
PUBLICATONS: B.B. & Caving
Reports: -
Editor: D. Irwin
Asst. Editors: - R. Stenner & G. Tilly
M.R.O. WARDENS: K. Franklin, D. Irwin, Dr. O.C. Lloyd & B. Prewer
New Belfry Co-ordinator: S.Collins (Alfie)
Ian Dear Memorial Fund Comm:
R. Bagshaw, R. Setterington (Sett), R. Bennett, M. Luckwill and M. Holt.
St. Cuthberts Report Sub-Committee: R. Bennett D. Irwin, R. Stenner & G. Tilly.
LIBRARIAN: D. Serle.
Our apologies to all for the inexcusable error on the first set of ballot papers and to Phil Townsend whose name it was that did not appear in the list of candidates. We can though gain some comfort from the quote of the month angry WXXXXXX members staying at the Belfry cleaning the place said, This is one club that isnt going downhill.
In this issue readers will find the latest membership list and those people not included have the remedy in their hands and should get their sub into Bob Bagshaw NOW. Incorrect addresses and Address changes should be sent to Alan Thomas.
Club Headquarters: - The Belfry,
Hon. Sec: - A.R. Thomas,
Hut Warden: - P.T. Townsend, 154,
Editor: - D.J. Irwin,
By Malcolm Holt & Eddy Welch
The first week was spent in the Otztaler Alpen, staying at
the Iaschach Hut (2,434m). the way to the hut is via a pleasant valley road
from Imst to Mittelberg, then via the track to the hut three hours laden with
food, climbing gear, clothes etc. The hut
comes into view very early on the walk, and seems more arduous. The hut is situated at the junction of the
Iaschach and the Sexergerten Glaciers and the surrounding peaks are ideal for a
first time visit to the
To the left of the hut and behind is the nearest peak the
Pitztaler Urkund (3,201m) a rock summit, nowhere difficult and was climbed by
the south ridge. From the summit good
views of the second highest peak in
Having given the sun the chance to sort out the snow conditions an early start was made the next day for the Widspitze region. Initially came a walk across the Iaschach Glacier, taking care to be past the avalanche zone before the sun came on it, then the Iaschach Wand (3,365m) was climbed. This is a snow slope fairly steep and heavily corniced on the face. A traverse to the Peterson Spitze (3,484m) followed.
Finally a rock peak was attempted the Mitlle Eikasten Kopf (3,260m). The main ridge is about 1½ hours from the hut and is about V.D. standard, the hardest move is beneath a window in the ridge with considerable exposure, the route can be continued to the Bligg Spitze (3,454m) if time permits.
These are some of the climbs that can be attempted from the Iaschach Hut, the summits being reached in less than hours and thus pre-dawn starts are unnecessary and returns can be made by early afternoon. The area is ideal to those with little or no Alpine experience.
The Bernina, visited on the second week, is a more serious undertaking. The range is very compact but is higher than the Otztal and is much more beautiful. Again the hut the Ischierva (2,573m) is three hours from the car, initially through sweet scented pine woods which can be traversed using a horse drawn vehicle to the Roseg restaurant.
The first peak attempted was the Piz Roseg (3,937m). A start was made at 03.30 hours to cross Ischierva Glacier before dawn approximately 2,000m in distance. Initially we were competing with about eight others to get on the ridge first but were soon outpaced and afterwards discovered them to be trainee guides. The ridge is gained is rock giving way to a hard packed snow slope where crampons were an advantage. The route is quite spectacular, the second summit being the higher one.
The next day the Piz Scerscen (3,971m) was climbed. The party consisting of Roy Bennett, Malcolm
Holt and Terry Taylor. The crux of the
climb is the Ice Nose, a 200ft. nose of steep snow and ice, which led out onto
the final ridge before approaching the summit. Several routes were obvious, one leading up the centre and traversing right,
around the overhanging ice walls, another to the left climbing up the least
inclined angle of the nose seemed the most worn route, the third, which we
took, involved a series if ice chimneys then joining with the left hand route. Terry led, making a quick work to the first
stance, no serious difficulties were apparent.
The descent conditions proved hazardous due to sun melting the top layer of ice, and great care had to be taken when descending the nose. The hut was reached at 15.00 hours with them feeling pretty tired.
The following day we intended to do the Piz Bernina (4,049m)
the highest peak in the area, requiring a midnight start and an overnight stay
at the Marco Rosa refuge (3,597m) in
On Thursday, the last day, we did one of the smaller peaks, Piz Morteratsch (3,751m). This proved more of a slog than anything else, although a deviation of route took us up a steep ice slope necessitating much step cutting since we had left behind our crampons. We descended the climb in traditional English style, arseadding, passing a roped party of Swiss plodding steadily upwards, who from the looks on their faces didnt approve.
Members in the
By Andy MacGregor
On Saturday 7th September 1968, a party of B.E.C. members made a weekend visit to Steepholm accompanied by two members of the Steepholm Trust. The party consisted of Alan Thomas, Andy Macgregor, Dave and Jane Glover, John Riley, Fred Atwell and Martin Webster.
After an uneventful crossing we established our camp in the barracks on the south side of the island, Victorian and Georgian cannons were looked at, also remains of more modern gun emplacements. The island was used as a gun emplacement from Napoleonic times until the Second World War except during the First World War.
The tide was going out, so we decided to walk around the
island and look at the caves around the sea shore. Most of the caves are on the north side, but
there are a few on the south side. There
are about 20 caves from 10ft. to about 200ft. in length. Sunday saw more caves looked at and then an
uneventful boat trip back to
Edited by Phil Coles
Now that the Log Book has been divided into two (Cuthberts and Non-Cuthberts) it would seem more suitable to deal with the extracts in a likewise manner. 15 trips have been recorded in St. Cuthberts including 5 digging trips, 4 surveying, a full-scale practice rescue and a further 5 of a general tourist nature. Rule 7 of the new Cuthberts log states that all members of a party descending the cave should sign the log before the trip. Many people seem to have a warped sense to remain anonymous; their signatures look like a bunch of politician autographs (perhaps it is! Ed.). as it is important to know exactly who is down the cave will those gents of the feeble handwriting please make an effort to be legible.
On the non-Cuthberts scene, the BEC have been active in Burrington Coombe, centring on East Twin and adjoin digs totalling eight trips in all (See Monthly Notes No. 18 p.150). East Twin has been now surveyed and apparently the digs are quite promising. An old MNRC dig on the opposite side of the Higher Twin valley has been dug but has been abandoned for the moment because of unstable boulders. Water sampling has continued in GB and Swildons has been visited on several occasions. The Hunters Hole dig in Dears Ideal (See BB 138) has at last got under way and in my view is the most promising dig since Emborough! (and fell in!! Ed).
The club is now in the happy position of running six digs concurrently Cuthberts Sump and Dining room; Hunters; East Twin; Maesbury and South Wales is this a record?
On foreign soil there have been trips to South Wales and I
hear that Alan Thomas and company have been pottering around in
ST. CUTHBERTS SWALLET Traverse Chamber Choke reported changes at upstream end of the choke.
On 3rd September 1968 during a surveying trip base at Traverse chamber, measurements were made at the upstream end of the Choke to establish the extent of the reported changes. By comparing the results with measurements made on 27/28th October 1963 it is possible to say that the floor has been lowered a maximum of 1 and the passages extended a maximum of 1 foot. The reported changes here are therefore practically non-existent.
Roger Stenner.
*****************************************
There are caves so ancient that not only are they completely dry, but they are actually disappearing as they gradually become silted up Norbert Casteret.
*****************************************
In chambers deep, where waters sleep, what unknown treasures pave the floor? Edward Young.
with Hedra
Have I got OUTDOORS for Christmas yet? Sez Wig. Ye gods, I dont even know what they are doing in October (apart from dine)! However, I do know what Ron Pepper and Dick Loxton did in August. They were fortunate enough to mop up a W/Es worth of that extraordinary Northern spell of fine weather, staying at Nant Peris at Mrs. Smiths B and B.
They climbed the Flying Buttress watched the ritual ascents of the Gates and then walked across to see Cloggy because they had never been. Please, where does the pendule above Curving Crack belong? Incredible to note that their climb on Idwal Slabs on Sunday was done with a fine film of dust on polished holds.
Pete Sutton too was in
Dave Steel and mates from Aces went to a rather horrid
Derek Targett has removed a wobbly piton from Mercavity and has been caving.
Some of us have been to lectures and seen pictures by Ken
Wilson who has become the new Editor of Mountain Craft. This event has given a completely new slant
to the magazine. The slant seem mostly
overhanging with Big Gorgeous Pix amongst which ones are those taken on the
North Face Direct of the Sondre Trolltind by Baille and Amat and a breathtaking
Matterhorn shot by Gerald Lacey. Yum
Yum! Plenty of interesting information
including new climbs. After reading
about how you just had to have Skyhooks, (your actual Yosemite Skyhooks that
is) I demanded to see these prior to purchase. Close examination revealed that you cant afford to sneeze whilst
dangling from one of these things and so I quickly explained about my influenza
and wondered about walking sticks instead. At half a crown Mountain Craft we thought. So thats why Mark went up then down the
Traditionally yours
Hedera
Notes from Our Man in
Work on the new survey (Grade 6D) has shown that the Lower
Series in II is much more under the Upper Series than had been thought. A water tracing experiment from one of the
Waen Fignen Felen sinks gave no connection to the
R.B.
By Wig
Since the July floods a few B.E.C. members have switched their attention to Burrington East Twin Swallet in particular. At first a probe was made at the end of the Third Chamber but interest soon wavered. A close inspection was made of the west wall through the main passage. Small probes revealed little except a possible site between the 1st and 2nd Chambers. This was dug for a short time by Keith Franklin, John Riley and Dave Irwin. There was sufficient found to encourage further digging at the site (permission being sought from the UBSS). Attention then switched outside to the stream bed made by the flood water lower down the valley. Roy Bennett, Keith Franklin and others attacked a site leading to an open (?) but very tight rift. Soon interest lapsed and Keiths attention switched to the old MNRC dig on the opposite side of the valley. Further notes on the sites will appear in MN in the future.
EAST TWIN SURVEY
Wig has produced a new survey of East twin Swallet to CRG Grade 6 c-d a
small scale reduction will appear in the B.B. shortly. Sidcot Swallet, previously only surveyed to
CRG Grade 4 (
Levelling Burrington! No! the bulldozers werent called in, though Ive no doubt that Bill Smart could have called them from Costains quite easily if he so wished. To obtain accurate levels of the Burrington caves a line was taken from Ellick House to several entrances. This was carried out in two trips one of 2 hours on a Saturday evening and the other a nine hour trip on the following day. The line was tied into the entrance of Avelines.
A full list of O.D. levels will appear in a later issue of the B.B. but here are some to be getting along with:-
Spider Hole 572.24ft.
East Twin swallet 470.61ft. (
Avelines Hole 324.82ft. (
Trats Crack 528.69ft.
ST. CUTHBERTS
Dining Room Dig.
Since late April work has been carried out at the digging site above the Dining Room. Digging takes place on Tuesday evenings, although there has been some work carried out on weekends on odd occasions. With the establishing of a regular digging team (basically John Riley, Dave Turner, Bob Craig, Wig and others from Bath, Bristol and Bridgwater) work has progresses at a good steady rate. The first problem that had to be overcome was to enlarge the dig to a workable size. The small rabbit burrowing technique had outlived its usefulness and so all the dug passage was opened up to a walk through tunnel. Corners of the passage were removed and the floor lowered by some 4ft. more in places until bedrock was reached.
The spoil tipping has presented little problem; all of it being thrown down into the Dining Room. There will, however, come a time when the dump will be impracticable what then? At the moment the spoil heap slopes up beyond the climbs to the entrance of the dig, the foot of the cone has covered the cement table and is slowly creeping to the entrance and on to the streamway!
Digging continued along the top passage for over 25ft. and later another site at the entrance to the Upper Passage was dug. This lower site attracted a few weeks attention as there were two pointers indicating that the main flow of water had entered this lower passage. The first was the apparent multi-directional flow of the water at the T junction and secondly, the late discovery of vadose markings at the top of the slope in the upper passage.
Both indicated that the upper passage was an inlet. Digging at the Arch revealed another passage, possibly running parallel with the upper passage. To date insufficient digging has taken place to confirm its direction. If this is the way on it will no doubt be a very long term project and our only hope is that the roof of these passage will lift soon. However all is not lost as there are at least two more choked passages in the dig and a return to the upper may well pay dividends even though the water seems to have flowed in towards the cave time will tell. At the moment the digging team is still prepared to do battle with site!
At the last C.C.C. Committee meeting Tim (Hodgoon) Hodgson resigned as its secretary and has been replaced by Tony Knibbs (M.C.G.).
Cave Hunting by W. Boyd Dawkins. Pub. 1874. This is one of the classics of caving literature and should be read by all keen cavers. This book shows clearly the 19th century interest in caving and how it stemmed from the science of Archaeology. Balch himself was a part-time archaeologist and so is Professor Tratman today.
Dawkins (biography in Cave Science Vol. 5 No.39 April 1966) although not involved in the actual exploration of major systems as was Martel, did much to show the interest that could be found underground and allay the superstitions that were still rife at the time.
A fine cluster of columns, claimed to be the finest in the country, has been found in O.F.D. II. Many of the cavers who have visited this chamber are, probably quite deliberately, very vague as to its whereabouts. They claim that it is in an extremely complicated part of the cave.
Wild rumours have being spreading about Mendip that a large cave system has been discovered there. S.V.C.C. have been suggested as the discoverers, but as they have been on Mendip several weekends recently it does not appear to be them. What about the U.B.S.S.? Apparently O.C.L. was seen hairing along the road in his car towards the valley .one wonders!
I was told I enjoyed the Dinner. One or two other people also followed the traditional to excess notably the Hon. Secretary who was seen, on several occasions, to attempt to fly nimbly from table to table. Despite the lack of formally organised entertainment there was no lack of interesting personnel to survey would you believe bagpipes? Vicars! Regency costumes (hic) and yet again a Joseph Thomas in a coat of many colours.
I have heard no complaints about either dinner or service. In fact the B.E.C., as usual, have started the Dinner Season with, of course, the Best Dinner of the Year.
Nibs Parker (pen name)
By B.M. ELLIS
1967 EXPEDITION TO THE GOUFFRE BERGER by K. Pearce. Published by the British Speleological Association in 1968. Not priced.
In 1967 there were two expeditions to the Gouffre Berger, one organised by the Pegasus Club and another by the BSA. Both teams were at the cave at the same time but the original intentions was for the two to be independent of one another except for communications in the cave, medical facilities and tackle.
The report on the Pegasus expedition was published at the end of 1967 and was reviewed in Cavers Bookshelf for April 1968. This is a report on the B.S.A. expedition written by the leader.
The report is generally well produced, being printed and consisting of fourteen pages and including six photographs. As the other report has been published earlier, this one seemed to be written in a defensive style, the leader defending himself against implied criticisms of his expedition made in the Pegasus report, and elsewhere. The reason for some of these criticisms were mentioned in my earlier review. Whatever the cause, and several possible explanations have been put forward, the B.S.A. expedition suffered a rebellion against the leader and several of the members refused to enter the Gouffre Berger, or made a hurried exit from it. The possible reason put forward by Pearce in the report is that several of them had been closely associated with the Mossdale incident only a few weeks earlier, though he does admit that the first few days of the expedition were very hectic and it would have been more sensible if he had allow the members to get to it more gently. However this does not excuse the behaviour of those members who just turned round in the cave, without a word to anyone, and left. It must be added though that Pearce did manage to get himself and others to the bottom of the cave and to get further than he had previously. How this was achieved is outside the scope of a review and would have to be discussed by someone with more intimate knowledge of the two expeditions.
The sections into which the report is divided cover a
summary of the expedition, the expedition log, a medical report, and reports on
photography, diving, food and communications. There is also a piece on the laddering of the cave below
Apart from the defensive style of the writing there is only one criticism of this publication. It is full of spelling mistakes which could have been removed if more care had been taken. Unfortunately the price is not known as the report is un-priced and it was a complimentary copy that was seen.
*****************************************
Footnote from Delineations of N.W.
(1829)
By Senex
Most of us, when some older caving types starts to talk about life in the caving world of twenty or so years ago, quietly drift off and find somebody with a more interesting line of conversation. We all know or weve been told, that conditions were different on Mendip a generation ago. So what?
After all, it would be trifle odd if things hadnt changed and our reaction on being told that life was tougher, or quieter or something is to go off and find out who is buying the next round of beer. Reminiscences may well be all very well for those who only have the past to remember, but we want to get on with things.
Yet, if some time machine were possible, and the Caving
Secretary could announce a trip for the weekend to Mendip of the immediate post
war years; most of us would probably queue up for the experience and the chance
to actually seeing for ourselves. In the
absence of such a machine, it might be interesting to one, which sets us down
in the
The trip has been planned for some time. It had to be. Like many cavers of that period, we do not belong to any club. Cavers are very few, and our two or three
caving friends in
Managing to leave work early on Friday, we make our way to
Paddington and onto the crowded train to
So we arrive at Priddy Green. This is the caving centre for Mendip, and Priddy
Green consists of the Vic and
Dumping our gear in the barn (this consists only of caving gear and food. Sleeping bags are rare; costly, and very bulky to carry over long distances) we make for the Vic, where our little party completes the assemblage of Mendip cavers. We are in luck, for with our party included, there are almost a dozen and we should be able to get some caving in. The B.C.C. types have not only got the tackle, but also have a motorbike with them, on which three of them have travelled from Bridgwater. One compensation for the lack of transport is that regulations are very lax compared to todays standards, and one stood a good chance of doing an illegal journey of this length, with the possibility of nothing more than a reprimand if caught. The bike is one of the few machines of the late 1920s or early 1930s which occasionally comes onto the market. It has a hand gear lever on the tank which limits its passengers. The days of the excellent ex-WD bikes are still to come, and the record of seven cavers on one bike all in line astern is a few years off yet.
The bike does mean that we shall be able to roam further afield during the weekend on a relay system if necessary, so we retire to the inner room and plan the weekend in detail. Most of us have had some difficulty getting there, and we dont want to waste any time. Having done this, we walk across the green, to stack out for the night in the hay after removing our boots, or course. Breakfast helps to remove the cold and stiffness, and we set off for Swildons.
The bit of the weekend would be familiar with us, apart from the huge and heavy ladders which have to be manhandled through all the tight bits, and which are continually coming unwrapped. At the Old Grotto, the party pauses while one of the members takes a photograph. To be more accurate, at least two of the party are involved, as an assistant has to set off the flash powder. After some time, this finally ignites and fills the whole place with a dense white fog, through which we blunder onwards. Our photographer assures us that the fog will be gone by the time we come out.
Below the twenty, progress is faster, as we have no ladder to carry, and finally we reach the end of the known cave the sump. This is not quite true, as it has been dived, but only found to lead to a small extra bit
of passage length. Coming back, we are slightly relieved when our first ladder pitch is behind us and we start the process of dragging the wooden-runged and rope-sided ladders back to the surface
Back at the barn, stew follows and then off to the Vic for a
beer; talk beer; shove hapenny; beer; singing; beer etc. Apart from any other reason, a fair quantity
of beer helps us to ignore the cold in the barn, and gets us to sleep
later. During the evening, the landlord
tells us that he has heard that two other cavers are about. He thinks they come from
Next day, over breakfast, we decide that the B.E.C. lads
will use the B.C.C. tackle to do Eastwater with a few of the others, while the
rest of us go to G.B. using the motorbike to tow two of us on cycles, while it
carries three more. (This bit is not
invented, as it actually happened although a few years later and in
Back at the barn again, we pause for a meal, pack our belongings, hope to see the others again soon, and start walking to the Main road. There is plenty of time, so on the way, we stop at a pub called the Hunters, as opening time has just come round. This pub is not frequented by cavers, but occasionally used, as we are using it, as a pause on the walk. We take our beer on to the grass which comes almost up to the front door. There, we start to talk about the weekend, which we all agree was affine one. We know that we shant be able to talk about it at work when we get back, as caving is regarded as such an odd occupation that it isnt talked about outside caving circles.
As we lie on the grass, in the evening sunlight, relaxed after a good weekends caving, we wonder what the others would say if the time machine could whisk this gathering into their future and deposit them in the same spot in 1968. How would they react, we wonder, if the grass under them suddenly turned into asphalt; if the space between the pub and the road became full of cars; of the pub doors opened to disgorge cavers in large numbers, going back to the Wessex Hut, to the Belfry, to the Shepton or the M.C.G?
They would hear talk of St. Cuthberts, of
For this is what we all wanted in those far off quiet days. Every time we talked over our beer, we would come round to wild suggestions about building our own hut, about discovering caves on Mendip for ourselves, about starting a magazine. Almost as we set foot on Mendip, we wanted to change it all.
So we did.
So what?
Sennex.
*****************************************
DONT FORGET THE CUTHBERTS LEADERS MEETING NOV. 10th Hunters at 2.30pm. All are welcome to attend.
If anyone notices wrong membership numbers, addresses etc.,
contact Alan Thomas,
666
|
P. Allen
|
|
306
|
T Andrews
|
|
236
|
J. Attwood
|
|
665
|
G. Atwell
|
57
|
20
|
R.J. Bagshaw
|
|
392
|
M. Baker
|
Morello,
|
358
|
D Balcombe.
|
36 Rotherwick Close, Horley,
|
653
|
J. Ball
|
4 Church Row, Stratton on the Fosse,
|
685
|
W. Ball
|
|
619
|
K. Barnes.
|
24 Missile Regt., R.A.,
|
617
|
R. Bater
|
20 Woodlands Glade,
|
618
|
Mrs. R. Bater
|
20 Woodlands Glade,
|
214
|
R. Bennett
|
|
390
|
J. Bennett
|
|
417
|
P. Bird
|
|
364
|
P. Blogg
|
Hunters Field,
|
145
|
Miss S. Bowden-Lyle
|
|
663
|
B. Britton
|
|
696
|
R. Brooks
|
|
687
|
V. Brown
|
|
689
|
J. Bugler
|
c/o Squirrel Cot.,
|
551
|
G.A. Bull
|
|
607
|
G. Butler
|
|
679
|
R. Chandler
|
83 Spring Plate, Pound Hill,
|
526
|
J. Churchward
|
|
655
|
C. Clark
|
|
211
|
Mrs. C. Coase
|
5
|
620
|
P. Coles
|
|
89
|
S. Collins
|
c/o Homeleigh, Bishop Sutton,
|
377
|
D. Cooke-Yarborough.
|
Lot 11,
|
576
|
N. Cooper
|
3 West Terrace, Westbury, Sherborne,
|
|
B. Crew
|
|
680
|
R. Cross
|
|
684
|
A. Cullen
|
68 Stoke Lane, Patchway,
|
609
|
I. Daniels
|
Handsworth,
|
405
|
F. Darbon
|
|
677
|
A. Davies
|
|
423
|
L. Dawes
|
|
449
|
G. Dell
|
23123511 L/Cpl. Dell, Printing Press, 30 BN3. BOD,
|
164
|
K.C. Dobbs
|
|
601
|
N. Downes
|
|
325
|
A.J. Dunn
|
|
331
|
J.A.Etough
|
|
322
|
B.M. Ellis
|
Knowkauns, Combwich, Bridgwater, Somerset
|
232
|
C. Falshaw
|
|
269
|
T. Fletcher
|
The Old Mill House, Barnack, Nr. Stamford, Lincs.
|
278
|
G. Fowler
|
Officers Mess, R.A.F. Locking, Weston-Super-Mare,
|
404
|
A. Francis
|
|
468
|
K. Franklin
|
|
469
|
P. Franklin
|
|
569
|
Mrs P. Franklin
|
|
676
|
M. Fricker
|
|
643
|
M. Gaskell
|
23663966, Pte. Gaskell M, IOVE H Coy., ROAC, BFPO 56,
|
470
|
P. Giles
|
Manor Farm Cottage, East Lydford, Somerton,
|
459
|
K. Gladman
|
|
647
|
D. Glover
|
Leisure,
|
648
|
J. Glover
|
Leisure,
|
670
|
C.D. Gooding
|
|
434
|
D.
|
42 St, Davids Drive, South Anston,
|
478
|
S. Grimes
|
|
582
|
C. Hall
|
|
432
|
N. Hallett
|
26 Cotham Vale,
|
693
|
A. Handy
|
|
104
|
M. Hannam
|
Lowlands Orchard Close,
|
304
|
C.Harris
|
Diocesian registry, Wells, Somerset
|
581
|
C. Harvey
|
Byways, Hanham Lane, Paulton, Somerset
|
4
|
Hasell D.H.
|
Hill House, Moorlynch, Bridgwater,
|
638
|
Miss A. Henley
|
|
691
|
D. Herbert
|
33, Traingle East,
|
587
|
B. Hewitt
|
|
436
|
J. Hill
|
14C the Orchard, high Street,
|
373
|
|
Hokerstone Cottage, Townsend, Priddy, Wells,
|
671
|
T. Hodgson
|
|
697
|
E. Holley
|
|
387
|
G. Honey
|
|
588
|
B. Howe
|
|
|
Mrs Howe
|
|
631
|
P. Hudson
|
15
|
97
|
J. Ifold
|
5
|
150
|
P. Ifold
|
The Cedars, Blackford, Wedmore, Somerset
|
540
|
D. Irwin
|
23
|
340
|
R. Jenkins
|
18 Camberley Close, Downend,
|
51
|
A. Johnson
|
Warren Cottage,
|
694
|
D. Jones
|
24 Shortwood View, Kingswood,
|
560
|
F. Jones
|
c/o 8
|
438
|
Mrs. P. Jones
|
13 Braichmelyn,
|
285
|
U. Jones
|
Marsh Farm, Askem In Furness, Lancs.
|
567
|
A. Kennett
|
22 Parkfield Rank, Pucklechurch,
|
316
|
R. King
|
22 Parkfield Rank, Pucklechurch,
|
542
|
P. Kingston
|
|
413
|
R. Kitchen
|
|
260
|
J. Lamb
|
Broadmeadows,
|
475
|
|
37 Pendennis Park, Brislington,
|
667
|
T.E. Large
|
16 Meade House,
|
659
|
J. Laycock
|
41 Woodlands Park, quedley, Glouster
|
656
|
P. Littlewood
|
|
657
|
Mrs. Littlewood
|
|
574
|
O. Lloyd
|
Withey House, Withey Close West, Westbury-on-Trym,
|
495
|
M. Luckwill
|
|
58
|
G. Lucy
|
Pike Croft, Long Lane, Tilehurst,
|
550
|
A. MacGregor
|
The Railway Arms,
|
651
|
P. MacNab
|
|
561
|
J. Major
|
Saint Cross, Green Down, Litton,
|
573
|
Mrs. J. Major
|
Saint Cross, Green Down, Litton,
|
591
|
J. Manchip
|
|
275
|
C. Marriott
|
Brulbergstrasse 15,
|
662
|
R. Marshall
|
23 Highbury Villas,
|
415
|
T. Marston
|
3
|
106
|
E. Mason
|
|
558
|
A. Meaden
|
The Post Office & Stores, Cross in Hand, Nr.
|
640
|
N.J. Monk
|
7 Little
|
308
|
K. Murray
|
17
|
386
|
A. Nash
|
c/o
|
610
|
H. Oakley
|
45 Groveway, Stockwell,
|
624
|
R. Orr
|
|
557
|
D. Palmer
|
|
396
|
M. Palmer
|
c/o
|
675
|
A. Parker
|
|
698
|
R. Parfitt
|
|
492
|
Miss S. Paul
|
|
637
|
J. Pearce
|
|
22
|
L. Peters
|
|
160
|
N. Petty
|
|
499
|
A. Philpot
|
3 Kings Brive, Bishopston,
|
56
|
G. Platten
|
Rutherford,
|
568
|
Miss B. Plummer
|
2 Hogarth Walk, Lockleaze,
|
337
|
B. Prewer
|
East View, West Horrington, Nr. Wells,
|
342
|
R. Price
|
|
622
|
C. Priddle
|
|
481
|
J. Ransom
|
|
668
|
I. Rees
|
|
343
|
A. Rich
|
c/o Pox 126,
|
672
|
R. Richards
|
|
682
|
John Riley
|
School Farm House, Chew Stoke, Nr. Bristol
|
443
|
R. Roberts
|
|
616
|
A. Rushton
|
Rectification Flight, RAF Conningsby, Nr. Sleaford, Lins.
|
240
|
A. Sandall
|
43,
|
359
|
Mrs. A. Sandall
|
43,
|
237
|
B. Scott
|
59 Fairthorne Rise, Basing, Nr. Basingstoke, Hants.
|
577
|
D. Searle
|
Dolphin Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells, Somerset
|
578
|
Mrs. D. Searle
|
Dolphin Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells, Somerset
|
482
|
G. Selby
|
|
597
|
R.J. Sell
|
|
508
|
A. Selway
|
15 St. Martins Road, Knowle,
|
213
|
R. Setterington.
|
4 Cavendish House,
|
78
|
R. Setterington
|
|
565
|
W. Smart
|
|
473
|
D. Smith
|
Flat 15,
|
276
|
J. Stafford
|
Bryher, Badgworth, Nr. Axbridge, Somerset
|
38
|
Mrs. I. Stanbury
|
74,
|
1
|
T.H. Stanbury
|
31,
|
575
|
J.D. Statham
|
43
|
365
|
R. Stenner
|
|
381
|
Mrs. Stenner
|
|
60
|
P. Stewart
|
|
690
|
D. Stuckey
|
|
572
|
P. Sutton
|
56 Arley Hill, Redland,
|
583
|
D. Targett
|
16 Phillis Hill, Midsomer Norton,
|
284
|
A. Thomas
|
|
681
|
A. Thomas
|
|
348
|
D. Thomas
|
Mantons,
|
571
|
N. Thomas
|
Holly Lodge,
|
673
|
S. Thompson
|
|
|
G. Tilly
|
Gable,
|
74
|
J. Tompsett
|
|
80
|
Mrs. D. Tompsett
|
|
692
|
R. Toms
|
22 Lancing Gardens,
|
326
|
E. Towler
|
5
|
544
|
P. Townsend
|
|
157
|
Mrs. J. Tuck
|
48 Wiston Path, Fairwater,
Cwmbran, Monmouthshire
|
382
|
S. Tuck
|
|
678
|
D. Turner
|
|
646
|
P. Turner
|
12
|
635
|
S. Tuttlebury
|
|
654
|
R. Voke
|
8 Pavey Road, Hartcliffe,
|
175
|
Mrs. D. Waddon
|
32 Laxton Close,
|
652
|
R. Wallis
|
174 Bryants Hill,
|
642
|
D. Warburton
|
|
695
|
Miss C. Warren
|
2 The Dingle, Combe Dingle,
|
627
|
G. Watts
|
59, Southbrown House,
|
645
|
M. Webster
|
|
592
|
E. Welch
|
|
525
|
D. Weston
|
Maryvale, 2 Folloton, Totnes,
|
553
|
R. White
|
|
608
|
R. Wickens
|
|
593
|
P. Wilkins
|
|
559
|
B. Wilton
|
22 Wedmore Vale, Knowle,
|
683
|
D. Yendle
|
|
By Martin Webster
Early on Saturday October 12th 1968, Dave Irwin, Dave
Yendle, Dave Turner, Bob Craig (SMCC) and myself set out for
After about 20 minutes we entered passages which were unknown to us. Large corridors stretched away in all directions, and short drops and climbs made the caving quite interesting. Some way ahead we could hear voices, and suddenly a hairy apparition appeared before us. Apparently he too was looking for the 3 streamway. When we mentioned we had removed our rope from a rather difficult climb, at what is known as The Chasm (we had pulled the rope down after us) but thought we could climb back up, he looked rather worried and asked who were we expecting to come and rescue us. With this he rushed off and announced to the rest of his party that a group of weegies had arrived! Our thoughts can be imagined, when, 20 minutes later the same apparition re-appeared and announced that he had crippled himself against a rock!
After what seemed an age, it became obvious that the other party didnt know the way either, so we went up one of the wide side passages that we had seen. The way we had gone seemed very promising and after a short while came across a S.W.C.C. party who cheerfully stated we were on the right track, but only half-way there. With renewed spirit we hurried on; up climbs; down climbs, through boulder piles. One of the main obstacles was a vast rift, darkness below and darkness above, and in our case, three quaking cavers trying to traverse along the middle.
The 3 streamway could be heard a long time before reaching it, so it was no surprise when we reached our goal. It took 2½ hours for the return trip and we emerged from the cave after a serious, but very enjoyable 7 hour trip.