B.B. Editors Report, 1979
This year has been, again, a good year for material. Graham
Wilton-Jones, Stu Lindsey and Martin Grass top the authors list, while Tim
Large, in his capacity as Hon. Sec. tops the Club Notes section.
The material that we have published has been outstanding and
'speleologically' important and has included the recently discovered 1829
letter from the Rev. David Williams to John Rutter which upset all previous
knowledge of the opening of the Banwell Caves and also the extracts from the
1756 diaries of Catcott indicating the existence of a cave in the GB field known
as Daccots Hole. The current series on
the Viaduct Dig is also by a non-member!
On the debit side we have had some badly printed
issues. This is not due to the machine
but the paper we have had in stock. As I
have said before, in the July BB the paper was offered to us at a price that we
could not afford to miss even though it was known to be off-set paper. However, we now have a good stock of
duplicating paper and the improvement in printing should now be obvious to all.
During the year we ran out of covers and a new stock was
kindly supplied by Garth Dell at a very small cost.
A couple of criticisms have been received, one regarding the
printing (Which I accept) and the other complaining of the lack of club news
from a regular Belfryite - obviously he has not read Tim Larges Lifeline each
month. Anyway this has resulted in a
column called 'Club Notes' which is intended to slot in with 'Jottings', both
compiled by your Editor as the critic was not prepared to do the work
himself! Seriously though, a monthly
journal such as the BB can only survive so long as members are prepared to put
themselves out and write and so I urge anyone who wants to criticise the
CONTENT to think first to see if he has any offering to publish - if not at
least make the attempt to get someone to write a regular column or prepare
articles.
The offer of the two printing machines made at the last AGM
has not result in anything definite even though the Committee have reserved
money for the purchases. However John
Noble has obtained a gestetner machine and has offered it to the club at the
price that he has paid for it. No
decision has yet been made at the time of writing.
Finally, I would like to thank all contributors and helpers,
particularly Sue Tucker and the Belfryites for collating and posting the BB's.
D.J.Irwin
August 1979