The
Editor: Ted Humphreys
Editorial
More of a ramble really, as I write anything that comes to
mind that I think might be of interest to the membership.
This Belfry Bulletin is late and small because of lack of
material. Members keep asking me when
the next one is coming out but very few actually contribute anything. Please, please send me your articles. They don't have to be about great new
discoveries or even about caving just about the adventures, travels,
explorations and so on, of the members. Articles about well known caves would be appreciated as well, maybe
pointing out features not mentioned in the guide books.
For example: -
G.B. is a well known cave, or is it. At the end of Bat Passage, or at least where
the sumped old dig is, the obvious onward continuation is in the roof about 7
ft. up. This can be followed to the end,
passing two ways down into tight rifts which end in chokes, or do they? However, at the 7 ft. climb, looking the
other way it can be seen that the continuation passage doesn't go back down Bat
Passage but goes into the right wall (looking down-cave). A hole at the top of the muddy bank can be
entered and leads to a parallel phreatic rift at least 20 ft. high. It is not obvious from the bottom whether
this peters out at the top or whether it slopes over. Does it lead to an unknown passage? I haven't yet chimneyed up it and don't know
of anyone who has. Perhaps you know
better!
There are similar instances in most caves, as well as more
in G.B. If you know of any, write about
them, please:
The day after I wrote the above, Jim Smart's article arrived
from the
On the digging front, Bowery Corner is progressing
slowly. Daren Cilau quickly and Welsh's
Green not at all. I hope to have surveys
of all three for the next BB. B.E.C.
members, and others, have been busy producing them.
The news from Bowery Corner is that the sump mentioned in
the last BB has been passed, over the top, and so has the second one. The end now is tight and very wet but, for
the first time, the sound of falling water can be heard from ahead. The end is
also well past the point that dowsing indicated that the passage should turn
right and is continuing in a straight line. Perhaps it turns back on itself at a lower level.
New Members
There are quite a few new members. Those listed below are the ones that have
been given membership numbers, that is, have paid their subs. I've included Jim Rands and Gwyn Timson again
as they hadn't been given numbers in December.
1109 Jim Rands,
1110 Gwyn Timson, Rumney,
1111 Graham Johnson, Wells,
1112 Catherine Wood,
1113 Arthur
1114 Peter Bolt, Cardiff
1115 Robin Mark Taviner, Whitchurch,
1116 Stuart Lain, Yeovil,
1117 Peter Christopher Alan Hellier, Chew Stoke,