Blasts from the Past
Some entries from club logs of yore!!...in no order at
all!!)
24.3.63 Goatchurch M. Palmer
Mike and three weegies, spent a very pleasant afternoon
thrutching around in Goatchurch!?!?! - found one stray dog (presumably not a
weegie??) - which was escorted to Wells Police station.
17.2.79 Swildon's 9 C. Batstone, A Jarratt. 4hrs
50mins.
Intentions were to dive to 12 and attempt to re-climb
Victoria Aven. Sadly the fair. (What???) Batspiss was struck by Pox at the 20 and exited honking and
farting. AJ continued in lonely
fashion; deposited 100' of rope and
diving kit and free dived back out, suffering light pox from sump 1 to
entrance. Lost diving knife somewhere
beyond 1. (Reward).
Millions of evil shrimps lurking in the stream way FROM 4
onwards. Incidentally it takes 20
seconds to free dive sump 3 and also 20 seconds for sump 2. Interesting porn photo in St John's Bell!!!
5.8.72 Swildon's Hole M. Waller, McAnus, J. Durston, Bazza. 1.5hrs
Down to sump 2 leaving Martin and McAnus there. Bazza and myself went through sump 2 for the
first time. It is about three miles long
and takes about 10 hours to pass!!! Excellent trip.
13.8.72 Stoke Lane Slocker J. Durston & 3 PCG. 2 hrs.
Gentle wander down to see Queen Victoria, diving the
renowned crystal clear waters of sump 1 en route. Most enjoyable.
P.S. Can anyone recommend a good grot removing shampoo??!!
26.11.72 Coral
Cave Tim Large, Nigel Taylor,
Basset, Chris Howell.
This must rate as THE outstanding official club trip of the
year because ... a) six persons other
than the leader actually started, b) we actually DID go caving!!!
25.8.88 Wookey Hole Trebor, Stumpy, P. Brooke,
Wookey 20. Looked at
20. Looked Okay!! Nice one.
22.11.80 R Payne. Swildon's Hole Quackers,
Batspiss, Biffo, D. Glover, E. Gosting, P. Crawley, 40' and 20' pots ....
The above people having nothing better to do decided to go
down the dreadful Swildon's via the forty and watch the weegies. Descended the forty in the classic manner
with the requisite amount of Anglo Saxon expletives. Went downstream to the twenty where we met
Don Vesper & Bill Matthews who invited us to the MCG for beer. This
curtailed any further thoughts of serious spaeleology - which wasn't the
original intent anyway. Returned back up
the forty and out via the old grotty and long dry way - much to Pete's
disillusionment as this lovely piece of passage seems to have grabbed his parts
that other passages don't reach!!! Time
1.5 hrs .... Bring back the forty!! !
From the frontispiece of the '60 - '61 logbook ....
"Why write illegibly in this log, when with some care,
you could be .... BLOODY INDECIPHERABLE??
26.8.61 Nine Barrows Swallet P.M. Giles, P. Franklin, 'MO'
.......... SHORING!! (Ring any bells Jarratt?????)
6.8.88 Lionel's
Hole Brian Hippy, Stuey, Steve,
Jingles.
The 'Try to find the round trip' trip.
Great muddy fun on a sunny day. Got to end of Bishops Bypass after countless
wrong turnings and dead ends. Steve,
having no oversuit (he'd had an oversuit oversight!!) was soaked, cold and very
pissed off. So we turned round and went
out again ... not realising it would have been easier going to carry on!!!
25.8.88 Swildon's Hole. Trevor, Snab, Dave Shand
& a multitude of Germans.
A scattered ramble in the vague region of Swildon's 1 as far
as the sump, Barnes Loop and other such places ... trying to explain that we
were meant to be going round Wookey Hole.
4.5.89 Daren Cilau Gonzo, Tony Boycott et al.
A 'Doctor's opinion of rescue possibilities' trip to the
sump with an overnight stop at Hard Rock. Verdict.... Don't break a leg or you won't come
out....But we knew that already!!!
11.2.60 Lamb Leer
Cavern G. Pointing, D. Paddy, J.
Giles
Photographic(!) (Without side lighting) to the cave of
falling waters. Met a party of MNRC
tribesmen who put on the winch for us, exceeding the 30m.p.h. limit!!!!
11.6.61 ACHTUNG!!
This page is reserved for Mr F. Darbons account of the
Swildon's II OP Jun 17 1961 (later added in pencil) ... Well .. Were still
waiting!! (There is no further entry on this page)
12.12.82 Swildon's
Hole Batspiss, Edric, P. Hodgson.
Sunday afternoon bimble down to sump 1. Cave was a trifle aqueous to say the
least. Edric was quite impressed with
his new wetsuit - even to the extent of going through sump 1, which was covered
in a layer of evil shitty foam ...... ???????