Welcome to the third of our new
monthly newsletters! We've had more great reactions to this as an idea,
with lots of encouragement to keep this going, so if you have any
content for future newsletters, please let me know. There's no need to
write reams. Short pieces (complete with photos if possible) are great.
Longer articles can go in a full newsletter later in the year. And don't
forget to send us some Memories
for the 100 Memories project. The brilliant Centenary celebrations
sparked off loads of mini-reunions throughout the weekend, so please do
send us your recollections of caving with your UBSS friends or just
lazing around at the Hut.
AUSTRIA TALK - 2nd APRIL 2019
UBSS President, Elaine Oliver, will be talking about caving in Austria. All welcome!
The talk will start at 7,30pm in The Stables, behind 21 Woodland Road
(next to the bike shed). Food and booze wtll be provided. There is a lot
of cider left to drink!
CENTENARY WEEKEND 8th - 10th MARCH 2019
Drinks Reception in Wookey Hole Chamber 3. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Thanks to the efforts of a vast
number of people, particularly Cat Henry, Hellie Adams and Graham
Mullan, the UBSS centenary weekend turned into the biggest party weekend
that the club has ever hosted, with everyone meeting friends old and
new. Linda Wilson gives a quick run down of the weekend festivities,
which will no doubt provide a lot of material for future issues and for
the main newsletter later in the year.
The weekend got underway with a wine and
nibbles reception in the Stables on Friday night which was very well
attended by members old and new. For 'nibbles' read 'industrial
quantities of cake and savouries courtesy of Andrew Atkinson and Wanda
and Clive Owen, who certainly lived up to the club motto of 'never
knowingly under-catered'.
AGM. Front row (left to right), Rick Schultng, Graham Mullan, Bob Churcher.
This was followed bright and early the
following morning at 9.30am with tea and more cake in the Geography
department before the AGM. Many thanks to David Richards and the
Department of Geographical Science for looking after us so well!
The AGM was followed by an excellent talk by Professor Rick Schulting on
the recent developments in the long-running story of Aveline's Hole,
the cave where it all started for UBSS (and its predecessor body, the
Bristol Spelaeological Research Socety). Recent DNA results have through
up a surprising twist in tale by revealing the existence of Neolithic
crania from the site, in addition to eh Mesolithic material. You'll hear
all about this in the forthcoming issue of Proceedings.
After the AGM, everyone headed off to Mendip for the rest of the
weekend. the afternoon started with a field trip to Aveline's Hole in
company with Rick. Lots of members went down the cave and were able to
see the engraving beyond the gate. After heir visits to Aveline's and
various other caves in Burrington, members made their way p to the Hut
for afternoon tea and huge amounts of cake kindly provided by Andrew,
Wanda and Clive.
After
caving. Left to right: Henry Murgan, Janine Alexander, Cara Turner,
Lauren Manton, Helen Frawley, Lisa Smith, Ashley Gregg, Rosie Daniels.
David Mead looking on.
The newly-refurnished interior and drying
room were much admired, as well as the wood-burning stove and shower.
The latter was christened by Si Hadfield, who very happily posed for
photos whilst washing off after his trip to Pierre's Pot with Dickon and
Henry.
Si posing.
Please note that the shower is for washing
people, not kit! The new hot water system works very well when the wood
burning stove is in operation. Many thanks to Haydon Sauders for all his
hard work getting the Hut ready for this weekend.
Thanks to Cat Henry's organisational prowess, a coach and a minibus
picked up all the people staying at the Hut and deposited them at Wookey
Hole in time for drinks in the bar before everyone went up the hill for
Prosecco in Chamber 3 and a wander around the cave. We had 134 people
booked in for the dinner, and the majority of these went up to the
reception in the cave. We were joined for the evening by our guests Sir
David and Lady Paula Wills, along with Denis Burn the High Sheriff of
Somerset and his wife Hilary, Rick Schulting and Professor Mike Benton
and his wife Dr Mary Benton. Mike has for many years acted as teh point
of contact for the Traman Fund. Whatley Mammoth, the club's twitter
mascot was also in attendance.
Whatley Mammoth, with our new First Lady, Elliott Smith, in the background.
The dinner was a great occasion. Many
thanks to Wookey Hole for the excellent service and catering. Ruth
Briggs did an amazing job putting together party bags for everyone, and
if you got separated from yours at the end of the evening, let me know,
as I picked up as many as I could just before the tables were cleared.
Details of the various awards that were handed out will appear in later
newsletters.
At midnight, the coaches arrived to pick up everyone staying at the hut
before they turned into pumpkins, and I'm unreliably informed that the
after dinner party at the Hut went on well into the following morning.
Not to be outdone, those staying in the hotel at Wookey also carried on
the party in the hotel bar. The prize for the lasting standing goes to
Rach and Trev Mosedale, who were thoroughly led astray by young James
Rossington!
Huge thanks to everyone who put so much time and effort into making sure
everything came together in the usual UBSS way, where no one was really
in charge but everything came together perfectly. It really was a great
weekend. We would love to have other people's memories of the weekend
as part of our 100 Memories project, so please get writing and send these to me, together with any photos from the weekend!
FUND RAISING - 100 PLEDGES
Student treasurer Lisa Smith leads the way with an extremely generous annual pledge of £10 million pounds a year!
The centenary fund raising campaign
got off to a brilliant start thanks to the generosity of loads of
people on the evening of the dinner. Linda Wilson, one of the trustees
of the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund reports.
As we set out in the last newsletter, we
are aiming to raise 100 annual pledges to the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund
to provide a steady income that will benefit the club in a huge number
of ways. On the evening of the dinner, everyone received a pledge slip
in their part bags, as well as a special centenary pen printed with the
words 'UBSS - the next 100 years' to write with.
Naturally, one of the first things our esteemed treasurer did the
following morning was to empty the Pledge Post Box and start counting! I
am delighted to announced that we are now already exactly half way to
our target of 100 pledges! Pledges range in amount from £10 to £265 a
year, and with gift aid, these will produce a regular income to the Fund
of just over £2,000 a year.
We now have the rest of the year to make
our target of 100, so if you haven't yet pledged, please get in touch
with me and I'll let you have the bank details for the Fund. If you have
pledged bu haven't yet had an email from me to thank you and provide
these details, there's a chance that your pledge hasn't reached me. Some
tables were a bit chaotic at the end, so if I haven't been in touch
with you, please let me know.
Come on, folks, we can do it! Get pledging, and encourage all your
friends to follow suit. If we can all recruit one additional person,
we'll certainly make our target. And a huge thank you to everyone who
has already set up a pledge!
NEW UBSS COMMITTEE
Elaine in the entrance to Aveline's Hole, having just brought a
recalcitrant padlock to heel with a hard presidential stare.
The UBSS started the centenary in
style by appointing the first female president in the society's history.
So hello and welcome to Elaine and the rest of the committee. As you'll
see, in addition to the committee there are also a huge number of other
people who help keep the wheels on the bus turning...
Committee 2019 - 2020
President: Elaine Oliver
Vice Presidents: Clive Owen, Linda Wilson, Andrew Atkinson, Cat Henry
Secretaries: Henry Morgan, Klaudia Pyc
Treasurer: Graham Mullan
Student Treasurer: Lisa Smith
Committee: Lauren Manton, Helen Frawley, Rosie Daniels, Simon Hadfield, Hellie Adams
Other Appointments:
Museum Curator: Linda Wilson
Proceedings Editor: Graham Mullan
Safety Officer: Andrew Atkinson
Hut Warden: Liz Green
Librarian: Tony Boycott
Council of Southern Caving Club rep: Linda/Graham
Charterhouse Caving Company rep: Graham Mullan
Newsletter editor: Stuart Alldred
Pwll Du Cave Management Group rep: Clive Owen
British Caving Association: rep to be appointed when needed
Cambrian Caving Council: rep to be appointed when needed
Mendip Cave Rrescue rep: Elaine Oliver
Social Sec: Henry Morgan
Training Officer: Rosie Daniels
Tackle Warden: Lauren Manton
Midweek Caving Officer: Si Hadfield
SOUTH WALES REFRESHERS WEEKEND
Agen Allwedd, photo by Dan Heins
Ashley Gregg talks about a weekend
caving in Wales on the 16th - 17th February, aimed at getting new
student members underground.
A group of nine UBSS students travelled to South Wales for a fun weekend
of caving, staying at the WSG’s cottage. A group of us went on an OFD 1
round trip on the Saturday, splashing merrily along the streamway, with
no-one falling in any of the pots. A few acrobatics were involved
climbing out, then it was off to roundabout chamber and some delightful
formations, before roly-polying onwards.
The freshers were impressed with the grand passages that followed
(although they were more impressed when we took them to the Hall of the
Mountain King in Ogof Craig a Ffynnon the day after). Then followed the
exposed bolt traverse on which there were no issues, before a lovely wet
crawl and some more Mendippy caving to complete the loop. Another group
went and did a more ambitious trip in Agen Allwedd on the
Saturday.
Those Present: Ashley Gregg, Lisa Smith, Jim Blackford, Dan Heins, Rosie
Daniels, Janine Alexander, Ed Natush, Elliott Smith and Elaine Oliver.
CAVE RESCUE TRAINING
Cave rescue training in action. Photo by Andrew Atkinson
Safety Officer Andrew Atkinson talks about a new rescue facility being developed.
At the start of the year the Gloucester Cave Rescue Grouo
started rescue rope training at the rope facility they are developing.
That along with the Severn Bridge toll finally coming off, Elaine and I
decided to attended both along with a bunch from Mendip Cave Rescue.
The training split into 3 groups from beginners to stretcher hauling.
The main aim was to learn and share ideas. To this end, we tried a
different way to get a stretcher across a slope as well as limited space
hauling techniques. It's always good to practice to see how others from
diverse background do things. A good time was had and there were many
things to be contemplated further and practised more. I will be
attending again, I hope others will come along, too, it does not matter
how much you have done practising is always useful!
FISHMONGER'S SWALLET FINDS DONATED TO UBSS MUSEUM
Mrs Joan Hawkins with the skull and human femur, some of the human remains from Fishmonger's Swallet.
Fans of Time Team might well
remember an episode about a cave dig in South Gloucestershire which had
revealed human remains as well as a large quantity of animal bone. Linda
Wilson tells the story of how the material came to UBSS.
Fishmonger's Swallet, named after the
original digger, is a muddy cave with one roomy chamber and some nice
formations. It was first opened by members of the Hades Caving Club in
around 1994 and six years later, it attracted the attention of the
popular TV series, Time Team. The resulting programme can be watched on YouTube.
Remains from at least seven human skeletons were found there and
radiocarbon dating placed them on at the time of the late Iron Age, just
on the cusp of the early Roman period. At least one individual had been
murdered, with her skull showing evidence of a hard blow. Much to Time
Team's excitement, the femur from a female had been split open
lengthways in a way characteristic of the extraction of bone marrow,
which was taken as evidence for possible ritual cannibalism. Bones of
dog, bear and cattle were also discovered, with an unusual number of dog
skeletons.
As a result of the dating evidence, Professor Mark Horton from Bristol
University believes that the dogs and the human remains date from the
same event, either victims of a violent conflict between the native
tribe and the invading Romans, or possibly a ritual sacrifice in an
attempt to bring success to the defenders. TV companies do like to get a
mention of cannibalism wherever possible, so this is an angle that has
proved enduringly popular in the press.
After the filming was over, the bones were dispersed for further
research, with the human bones going to specialist Margaret Cox and the
faunal remains to UBSS member Dr Andy Currant at the Natural History
Museum. There matters rested for several years until a chance encounter
with Mark Horton revealed that the landowner, Mrs Joan Hawkins had
recently indicated that she wanted the bones from the site to come to
UBSS. David Hardwick from Hades CC arranged for me to meet Mrs Hawkins
and I undertook some detective work to track down the material.
The human remains were found to have been transferred to the Oxford
Archaeology Unit, and I arranged collection from them. Andy Currant
arranged for the animal bones to be sent to the NHM's outpost at Tring,
and I went there to pick them up, and spent time with Andy while he
identified various species from a large box of specimens that hadn't
been bagged and tagged. Andy worked at high speed calling out pig,
sheep, piglet, sheeplet etc as Tony Boycott and Pippa Churcher
frantically tried to keep up with writing on bags and entering specimens
on a spreadsheet.
Just before Christmas, I was contacted by Blink Productions, a film
company who wanted me to take the skull and the split femur to be filmed
as part of a new documentary they were working on. Mark Horton was
working with them, and he had fun doing a demonstration of how to split a
long bone (deer, not human!) to enable the marrow to be extracted.
While the filming was going on, Mrs Hawkins kindly signed the paperwork
to confirm the donation of the material from the cave to the UBSS
collection and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her for her
kindness in this regard. One of my next projects in the museum will be
to get the site fully written up for Proceedings.
SRT TRAINING/PRACTICE
Cavers dangling on ropes down the central stairwell of the
Students' Union Building has been familiar sight for over 40 years.
Rosie Daniels, our new training officer, explains how you can learn the
ropes...
For the uninitiated single rope technique, SRT, is the method we use to
descend and ascend ropes while underground so if you are planning on
joining us on any of the more advanced trips or expeditions, including
the Cambridge University Caving Club's annual trip to Austria, then this
is a must. Alternatively, if you just want to spend an evening hanging
about in the union stairwell (pun intended) that is also allowed.
Our sessions are free and held in the SU, and open to novices and newcomers as well as those who have been before, message Rosie Daniels if you want to get involved this term.
100 MEMORIES - A POEM - POULNAGOLLUM MAIN JUNCTION
Poulnagollum Main Streamway Photo by Steve Cottle.
Poulnalgollum in Co Clare is a
familiar cave to several generations of UBSS members. In 1967, Steve
Trudgill committed his memories to paper in the form of poem, which is
reproduced here as part of our 100 Memories Centenary project.
Quiet dark talk in the ripple over stones
eerie glow, listen to the talk of the waters.
Huge caverns beneath the earth
Vast with festoon needles
surging water against my legs
rush and crash, blunder and deafen
force back, slip down in pool, roar
and water all over and force.
Now quiet and warm, sit and eat and listen
companions with and water talk
over stones ripple broad brown waters
spread, white fleck.
Beneath the earth, reflect and ponder.
Listen, drip and splash and drip and drip in pool.
Quiet, dark, ripple over stones,
glow, and listen to the talk of the waters
and ever drip to pass the time.
Sharp drop note as caverns build
little by little, caverns build.
Time is from long, long ago
and time is for ever long
and time is for ever
and time is never
for time is now.
UBSS Proceedings 100 years of Proceedings. Photo by Peter Standing.
Proceedings Editor Graham Mullan is
in the final stages of putting this year's Proceedings to bed. He tells
us a little of what is in store...
Current expectations are that this will be far thicker than usual and
resplendent with much colour. There is a major paper on Aveline’s Hole
concerning the new dating and DNA work which Rick Schulting described at
the AGM, along with much other material. As well as the now certain
deposition of crania during the Neolithic, there is a hint from
craniometric analysis that there may have been one burial here during
the Late Upper Palaeolithic period.
Three papers, all co-authored by Pete Smart, round off the studies of
Picken’s Hole that were produced last year. One, a study of the
morphology of the whole group of caves on Crook Peak demonstrates their
hypogene origin.
There is one paper from the Society’s happy hunting ground in Co Clare,
describing the hydrogeomorphology of the Carran closed depression by
Dave Drew and Colin Bunce. This work has greatly informed the science
chapters of the forthcoming new edition of our Irish book, provisionally
titled “Caves of the Mid-West of Ireland.”
To round off there are three shorter pieces on archaeological finds from
Mendip; two are on fairly recent discoveries in caves and are authored
by Vince Simmonds of the Mendip Cave Registry, the third is by Kostas
Trimmis and is the first published paper on the finds from the barrow
T5, the one nearest the Hut. With this paper we will now have no wholly
unpublished sites lurking in the closet, though there is much new work
still being done on our collections.
2019 CALENDAR
Don't forget to get these dates in your diary!
2nd April. 7.30pm. Elaine Oliver talking on the caves of Austria - We will have (a lot of) cider!
30th April. 8pm. Daniel Heins talking on Mammoth and Jewel caves in America
14th May. 7.30pm. Hellie Adams taking on Asian caves
13th July, Huge party at the Hut. We're hoping to
get as many members as possible to the Hut for a weekend party
consisting of lots of food, singing and even caving!
19th - 21st July, University of Bristol Reunion Weekend
27th September, University of Bristol Students' Union Welcome Fair
9th - 10th November, UBSS Centenary Symposium
ADVERT
Sadly, due to baby
incompatibility, Cat and Adam Henry are having to sell their beloved
campervan. Naturally, they'd like this to go to a good home.
So, if anyone is interested
in a 3 seater fully insulated transit campervan, all fittings and
mattresses fully waterproofed for caver compatibility and ideal for
caving expeditions and general outdoors fun email contact Cat for further details. The full advert can be viewed on eBay.
The price £3600 but Cat
says but all offers will be considered especially if she's going to a
good home for lots more adventures! Please note it's the van being sold,
not baby Eddie!
If anyone has any more caving related adverts, please send them to me for inclusion in future newsletters. Don't forget to include a photo of the items.
We hope you've enjoyed the first of our new monthly newsletters! If you have any comments or suggestions for future issues, please get in contact.
If you don't want to continue to receive the newsletter there's an
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board!