Evening light on Blackdown, taken on the August Bank Holiday wood chopping weekend.
With
the cautious restart of caving activities during Plague Times, we're
able to bring you some trip reports in this edition to show that we
haven't all just slumped into a coma brought about by too much gin, beer
and chocolate. In fact, we've been pretty busy, as an August bank
holiday wood-chopping weekend proves!
At the time of going to press, we still have no clear idea how the first
term will pan out in terms of caving activities and the recruitment of
new student members. The usual Welcome Fair on the Downs has been
replaced by an ambitious digital event and we'll no doubt have to be
creative in our approach to unprecedented times.
Tuesday socials have continued, with a mix of quiz and chat and
if you'd like to join in, keep an eye on the club's Facebook
page. but if you're not on there and would like to join in, let us know and we'll get the links for the video calls sent over to you.
It's rumoured that there was even one social where the ever-popular
subjects of poo and dolphin sex didn't get a mention, but your editors
are as yet unable to verify that.
On the second day of the
woodchopping bank holiday weekend Zac, Merryn and Si with Andrew leading
ventured out to Velvet Bottom for an Upper Flood Swallet adventure. Zac
describes their exploits.
After changing in a lay by and strolling through the woods on what was a
beautiful sunny day, we arrived at the cave entrance, just off the path
under a heavy steel manhole cover in a small divet.
Merryn led the way, and set a high pace, with me second, then Andrew
followed by Si. After a descent down some carved stairs the cave becomes
a gravel-floored crawl, which I had prepared for by getting a pair of
plastic capped knee pads, however the straps weren’t tight enough so the
top of the pads would drag, digging the bottom edge into my shins.
Occasionally the passage would open up so you could stoop, if you’re not
a giant, not because the roof was low but because of the forest of
straws and stals that grow from the ceiling.
Eventually it opened into a large chamber where we met a more sizeable
streamway which we followed into a very wet canal crawl. It was then we
reached the boulder choke, a network of tight hard angled squeezes
through cracks, sometimes held open by metalwork, and down climbs.
However half way through, in the centre of the choke it opened into a
large chamber filled with straws and stal but even those weren’t the
most beautiful part, just on the left as you entered the chamber a large
bowl shaped shelf extended from the wall. Inside, it is lined with pure
white crystals, like some city from another planet.
Upper Flood Swallet, photo copyright Kay Wills, from the MCRA collection.
Exiting the boulder choke, we came to the
red chamber, a large chamber with incredible red flowstone. Beyond that
there was a tight squeeze back into the stream way which then entered
the Departure Lounge, a giant chamber where the left-hand wall is coated
in titanic formations of flowstone, a petrified cascade wall. After the
Departure Lounge, the cave passage becomes a rift that broadened and
thinned, filled with flowstone, stal and straws. After another water
crawl and past a ‘plank’ (a calcified protrusion covered in orange tape)
we entered a huge chamber completely covered in a blanket of calcite
which took the form of flowstone, stals, straws, curtains and other
formations I don’t know the name of. It was then a further hike through a
long streamway passage to the junction, a giant chamber with a boulder
floor that connects the three lower passageways.
We crawled between boulders to gain access to a sloped chamber covered
in curtains, stal and straws. It was here we turned around after poking
our heads in a now prohibited crawl completely lined with straws. It was
a shame, as only a little further on was the pretties parts, Neverland
and the pork pies.
I led the way out with Si behind me; I took a much more leisurely pace,
enjoying the pretties on the way and only went the wrong way twice.
Going back through the boulder choke, I destroyed one of my knee pads
and had to retire it, just before the gravel crawl as well. Let’s say it
took my knee a while to recover. The stairs at the entrance were a
welcome relief and after a moment of me faffing with the gate we were
back under the blue sky and summer sun.
It is an incredible trip and I would love to go back some time to see
the pretties at the bottom after hearing so much about them. I would
recommend it to any competent caver.
Zac Woodford
STACKED!
The end of a long day, Imogen (left), Mia (right) Merryn (front) proud of their efforts!
After a fairly busy year at the Hut, even with the challenges of
lockdown, our wood store was looking somewhat depleted, so Sioned
Haughton and Andrew Atkinson kindly organised a wood chopping and
stacking weekend on the August bank holiday, providing food and beer
(courtesy of the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund) in return for a day of hard
labour, as Linda Wilson reports.
Hmm, there's not much here! The mice must have been at the place. Or else people burnt it. How strange. We'll have to cut some more.
We started the weekend with very little
wood in the store, but there was plenty of fallen wood on the ground
nearby, and in addition, we had the wood from a branch of an ash tree
outside the gate that we'd arranged to have taken down, with permission
from the Wills Estate, as it had already shed some wood onto Henry's
car. I'd also got permission from the Estate to take down a dying tree
that had been vandalised a couple of years ago at the same time as a hut
break-in, as well as a couple of smaller standing trees, one of which
was dead, and the other was affected by ash die-back, which is now very
prevalent on Mendip.
Socially distanced wood chopping. Ben (left), Henry (right).
Andrew and Chris Pepper very ably put their
chainsaws to work during the day while Henry and his friend Ben from
Durham Uni Caving Club did a heroic job of axe-wielding to reduce a vast
pile of logs to sensible sized pieces of firewood. Wood was ferried to
the store by Zac, Sam, Ash, Sioned and Si, while in the store, I gave
Mia and Imogen a crash course in the noble and arcane art of wood store
stacking, life skills they later passed on to Merryn. In the course of a
long day's work, we achieved four full stacks at the back of the store
and one and a half along the left-hand side, together with two full
packing cases of kindling.
Left to right: Ash, Zac, Sam, Merryn.
This was followed by Sioned's excellent
vegetarian chilli and rice accompanied by copious amounts of garlic
bread and washed down by beer (and prosecco for the wood-stacking
team!). A camp fire enabled us to get rid of the large amounts of brush
wood generated by the work, as well as dealing with anything deemed too
old and awkward for chainsaws and axes.
A weekend at the hut isn't complete without a bonfire sacrifice!
The rest of the weekend was devoted to
caving and survey training, which is all still going on at the time this
report is going to press, so you'll hear more about that next time.
Yes, I know, I have an unhealthy love of stacking wood. It's a fetish. I admit it. So sue me.
In what will ultimately be a vain
attempt to get out of writing a memory of his own, Ash Gregg kindly
submitted this trip report from a few years ago written by Elaine and
reproduced here with her permission...
A joint report from Caving Pig and Captain Underpants, in which
we demonstrate that even Sunday hangover trips offer plenty of scope for
cave conservation.
Two of us found ourselves surprisingly not too hungover to go caving
this Sunday after CHECC and decided to have a look at Lionel's Hole. We
didn't get as far as reading the description, but took photos of the
survey. We made initial excellent progress past the spiders at the
entrance and were soon investigating polished-looking locations around
the boulder chamber, until the squeezes became too committing and rough
to seem reasonable options for onward progress on the round trip. We
found a loop and thought we might have discovered The Pit (it wasn't),
where looking down the ~2.5m hole we saw a wet rag and what looked like a
bit of deviation tat. We joked that it might be a pair of pants, and
conservation-minded individuals that we are, decided that pants do not
belong in a cave unless worn on a person. They had to come out. Ash
inserted his legs down the hole but decided that although he would
probably just about fit, the vertical return might prove more difficult.
I'm narrower and would have slipped down, but there were no visible
footholds and I didn't particularly trust my arm strength to get me out.
So we invented the game of Underpants Fishing.
Ash fashioned some tackle by knotting a sling around the gate of a krab
to hold it open, then wedged himself in the hole and started dangling.
After some concerted waving efforts he actually managed to hook the
material and excitedly reeled it in. THEN DISASTER STRUCK! Ash's hand
was mere inches away from grabbing the offending item when it slid off
and assumed a new position that was both further away and flatter, and
therefore much more difficult to hook. We took it in turns for a further
ten minutes or so before accepting that this method would not work. By
this point, we had invested well over half an hour in trying to get the
material, so there was no way we were going to give up now.
Ash decided to brave the squeeze, which was a helmets-off endeavour.
After some (different) tackle adjustment accompanied by chants of
encouragement we'd learnt from SUCC over the weekend, his feet finally
touched the floor and he was able to pass up both the mysterious tat (a
rubber seal) and the object of our obsession, which was revealed to
actually be a ripped pair of Y-fronts! The thrutch out went better than
expected and in the end Ash did not even need the sling I lassoed him
with in case hauling was required.
Ash striking a pose!
Further "route-finding" brought us rather
close to dinner time, and although we'd have had plenty of time on our
call-out if we'd successfully navigated the round trip, we didn't
actually want to return home at 2am after a long drive back, so we took
the decision to turn around after finding the streamway and having a
look at the sumped bypass to Junction Chamber. Throughout the trip, we
kept noticing more and more bits of things that shouldn't have been in
the cave, so it became a bit of a competition as to who could yell
LITTER! the most times. (obviously we brought out everything we found!)
We remain puzzled as to why there was a torn pair of pants down a small
hole in this cave. Did someone get a little bit excited after Rostam's
rousing rendition of Lay Me Down in Mendip's Pastures at CHECC? Or had
they simply shat themselves at the loose boulders and didn't wish to
carry the evidence out? I suppose we may never know, but at least the
cave is a bit tidier now.
The litter haul.
Elaine not wearing the rescued underpants.
Cave conservation is something we really
emphasise in both the clubs I cave with, and right from the first novice
trips, we try to instil good habits. Here's a small effort from a
Swildon's upper series trip the other week, where we had two freshers on
their very first underground trip helping to spot and reach batteries
and wrappers after I found some cans with rancid cider, strimmer cord
and gear tape. Obviously these trips are nothing compared to the effort
put in by many others, but I hope they will remind people that every
little helps!
Elaine Oliver
LIONEL'S HOLE, AGAIN
You'd think we were lion, but it's the hole
truth. Here's a slightly more recent trip report for you to enjoy, be
it when lion on the sofa or holed up in an office. Zac's on a roll. This
is Lionel's Hole. I've lost control. Over to Zac for the (w)hole story
...
On Bank Holiday Monday morning a group of us went for a bimble down
Lionel’s. The night before, while sitting around the fire, Sam, Imogen,
Mia, Merryn and I came up with a rudimentary plan to attempt the cave. I
say attempt as it is notorious for being difficult to navigate, or even
find as we soon discovered.
Zac's the guy in all th'ole kit ready for a Lionel's Hole trip. If you read that in a certain way it rhymes.
After several conversations I learnt that it was mainly one big boulder
choke and that the entrance was on the roadside but not visible from the
road. With that information we set off, down by a Mia but still strong,
down into the Combe. Our first traverse came at the bottom of West Twin
Brook past the sink where a giant tree had fallen, and we had to
clamber between the branches to get past. We then strolled past Pierre’s
up the Combe scanning the left-hand side of the road for the entrance.
After some time, I found one, but the lack of a rescue plaque made me
sceptical. Sam decided to explore it while I continued up the Combe to
see if there was another entrance. I found one, and it had a plaque,
which said Lionel’s. Sam took his time to crawl out of the gravel shoot I
had found previously but after that it wasn’t long before we were
delving into the actual Lionel’s. Merryn initially lead the way and
pointed out the entrance to the boulder choke which I then crawled into
with Imogen close behind. However, she didn’t feel too well and soon
turned around and went back to the hut.
After making sure she got out safely, Merryn, Sam and I continued on
with Merryn finding a tight squeeze which we had to back track on before
following the polish into a large mud coated chamber. From there I led
us into a rift for a traverse before climbing back into the choke and
finding our way back to the mud chamber. Sam then explored some of the
side passages before we both followed Merryn down a well-polished slot, a
large gap between boulders where we had a short rendition of We Will
Rock You. We then climbed back up a little into another large gap before
dropping down into a huge chamber which had a wonderful calcite shelf.
It was then another tight drop down to a streamway. It was here both Sam
and Merryn stopped but I went on a belly crawl up the streamway through
a narrow arch. I stopped after finding the passage very tight and very
flooded and, not wanting to bother with that on a Monday, we turned
around and clambered back out. It is a cave I would certainly like to
visit again for another bimble but maybe not the day after a trip down
Upper Flood.
Zac Woodford
MAPPING IRISH CAVES
Map screenshot of parts of north-west Clare.
Following the publication of “The
Caves of Mid-West Ireland” last year, UBSS & SUI are working on a
further volume which will cover the southern counties of Ireland, having
agreed a demarcation with those working on the forthcoming northern
counties book, as Graham Mullan reports.
I found that I needed a way to visualise the distribution of caves in
Co. Cork in a way that was not laborious and could be fairly quickly
amended as I improved the data and so investigated using a GIS program,
specifically the open-source QGIS. This worked really well, once I
received some helpful advice and a couple of email lessons from Bob
Jones, a friend in the GSG in Inverness, and solved some of my problems.
However, I also found that it was relatively quick to add further data
to the map and in no time at all I had a working map covering the entire
area of the new book. Getting delusions of grandeur, I then started to
add the data from “The Caves of Mid-West Ireland” and this is where the
project now stands. (I have added the single site in Co. Wicklow,
although that’s not part of our area.)
The map can be seen and interrogated at https://qgiscloud.com/Graham/Irish_Caves_Project/
The base maps used are OpenStreetMap, Open Topo and Bing Aerial, simply
because they are available without a licence. It’s possible to toggle
between them by turning the relevant layers on and off in the drop down
layers box. There are problems displaying some of these, especially the
OpenTopo map so visitors to the site might find that the available
options change as I experiment with the settings. On some, the maps can
take a very long time to load. Each county has been added as a different
layer (except Offaly and Laois which have been combined) allowing them
to have different coloured dots.
Clicking on the location of any cave brings up an attributes table for
that site. This contains basic data including ITM, length, altitude and,
if appropriate, reference numbers for both the archaeological Sites and
Monuments records and for the GSI’s karst database. My data is not
entirely in agreement with the GSI’s data, owing to the different
sources from which they have been compiled. This is something which I
hope to work on with them over time.
One result of being able to view all the data on a map is that errors in
locations become obvious. Some were obvious typos (Oughtdarra West
Rising really isn’t just off the coast of Inis Mor) but others were more
minor, just a matter of a few metres and probably resulted from using
less accurate GPS data or from older records that had been through
several transformations before reaching ITM coordinates. I have
corrected many of these and if there is a difference between the
location on the map and that published in “Caves of Mid-West Ireland”
then the map should be more up to date. If anyone spots any more errors,
please let me know and I can check them and correct as necessary. Similarly, if anyone has updates to the data, I can edit it as required.
In time, I hope to produce a fully searchable Irish Caves Database
linked to both map visualisations and a comprehensive bibliography. This
map is not it, but until I can coerce volunteers with the required
skills and time to do the necessary coding and data entry for that, it
is a useful update, for the areas which it covers, from the 2006
version, which is still available.
Graham Mullan
FIVE GO TO G.B.
Bank robber chic underground in the first grotto. Left to right: James and Helen Rossington, Jan Walker, Tony Boycott.
On the Tuesday after the A level
results came out, James Rossington got the chance to celebrate getting
into uni with a long-promised trip to GB in company with Helen
Rossington (proud mum!), Linda Wilson, Tony Boycott and Jan Walker.
James and Jan had both completed enough trips to take them beyond novice
status, so two households and a bubble went on a covid-compliant caving
trip, as Linda reports.
On our way to look over into Main Chamber.
Yep, it took so long to get the patient
James to GB that we no longer needed to get a parental consent form
signed, as he turned 18 in May. Actually, he wasn't that patient, but it
just took us a while to get around to things! We all met up at field
gate (no parking at the farm in plague times by request of the
landowner) and after the usual amount of faff (that included me putting
my back out doing nothing more strenuous than bending down to pick up my
car keys) we headed underground.
James in White Passage.
We bimbled down the Gorge and Main Chamber,
then came out via the Loop and White Passage, taking in the usual
sights on the way. I was playing with my latest acquisition, a
waterproof case for my relatively new phone, which meant I could trust
myself with it underground. It turned out to be a really good buy, with
the touch screen even working without the need for me to take my gloves
off, which speeded up taking underground snaps immensely, no doubt to
everyone else's irritation when I yelled: "Stop just there!" when
someone was in the middle of a precarious move.
James and Jan, who'd both done Wild Wookey on the Centenary weekend as
well as the usual array of Burrington caves, took to the larger
environment like ducks to water. We quickly discovered that the upside
of caving in masks was that the usual clouds of breath didn't fog up the
photos, but for Jan the downside was that her glasses kept steaming up
instead.
Jan proving it's sometimes easier to go down the rift climb than it is to go back up it.
Although she makes it look easy on the way
down, some creative combined tactics and the deployment of a sling to
grab hold of helped Jan back up the rift climb on the way out (the
disadvantages of being shorter than everyone else!). OK, at one point,
she almost ended up with her feet higher than her head, but in Tony's
defence, she was standing on his shoulders at the time, proving that he
still provides a remarkably good and stead foothold! We tried to promise
her that it would be easier next time! She might even have believed
us...
GB was as beautiful as ever, and remains one of my favourite caves.
Linda Wilson
SOUTH WALES WEEKEND - TRIP REPORTS
In lieu of any caving phtoos, here's one of
Zac with his spirit animal, the llama. Editor's Note: Thanks to Zac I
was introduced to the concept of a gay llama mass murderer called Carl,
in the utterly surreal Llamas with Hats. So if you ever here me yelling Carl! it's actually Zac I'm after (Linda).
A group consisting of Zac Woodford,
Elaine Oliver, Haydon Saunders, Charlie Harding and Dickon Morris spend
a weekend in South Wales at the Dan yr Ogof camp site. Zac reports on
their exploits.
Llygad Llwchwr
Ash, Dickon and I went out to the cave
early on Saturday after Dickon suggested it might be a good trip to do
in wet weather. It’s located on the west slopes of the Black Mountain
and is a stream cave which ends in a resurgence. The entrance is next to
this resurgence, a short way up a rock face and leads into a short
crawl. There’s then a series of short tight rifts and crawls that largen
into a couple of lake chambers before entering the base of a boulder
chamber.
Ascending the boulder chamber, you enter into a large series of passages
big enough to walk in, pocketed with lakes and connected by smaller
crawl tubes. Each of the larger passages end in a large chamber that the
main streamway passes through the base of giving some excellent views.
Each of the stream chambers starts and end in sumps due to the near
forty-degree incline of the rock (according to Dickon). We all had a
bimble around finding all the streamway chambers and the small tunnels
that connected them, eventually deciding that it would make a good
freshers’ cave.
We then wandered over to the second entrance which enters the upper
streamway from the base of a shake-hole via the most horrible grotty
dig. We had to climb over a rotting dead mole and after that squeeze
into the low ceiling streamway. Following it leads to a sump but on the
way is a steep passage into an unstable boulder chamber, past which are
some nice lake passages a few formations.
Overall Llygad Llwchwr One is a very good trip with lots to see, but
Llygad Llwchwr Two is a little underwhelming for what you have to go
through to get to it.
Elaine performing her pre-caving exercise routine.
Pant Mawr
The Saturday of the Wales trip Dickon took
off early and the rest of us, after packing up, left for the SWCC. After
a protracted changing period (thanks Haydon) we began the hour-long
hike through the OFD nature reserve to the Pant Mawr entrance.
The entrance itself is a large crack at the base of a shake hole which
leads into a giant chamber via a 16 metre ladder pitch which took all
six of us (me, Haydon, Ash, Elaine, Si and Charlie) half an hour to
descend, during which Elaine made friends with several newts and frogs
living at the base of the pitch.
Following the streamway through another large chamber lead to a boulder
choke which when traversed leads to another large chamber which ends in
another boulder choke that can be bypassed through a side passage. This
leads into another giant chamber which ends in yet another boulder
choke. Climbing over this last one we entered into a titanic passage
that just seemed to keep going and going through boulders and mud over
the top of the streamway. This passage eventually narrows down into a
tunnel akin to a Yorkshire stream cave which terminates in a sump.
It wasn’t long getting back out and the hike back was a little more than
gruelling. However, it was well worth it, the cave was absolutely
incredible.
Zac Woodford
DUCT TAPE AND STRING - SAMPLING IN ST VINCENT'S SPRING
Jan in St Vincent's Spring.
On the Sunday of the Bank Holiday
weekend, Graham Mullan, Tony Boycott, otherwise known in newsletters as
AB (Dr), Jan Walker and Linda Wilson were roped in to help David
Richards (aka Intrepid Scientist) take some water samples from St
Vincent's Spring, a little known hot spring in the Avon Gorge, once used
as spa waters. Linda Wilson reports.
I first got acquainted with this site last year, when we helped to get a
bunch of David's students underground as part of an undergraduate
science project to sample the thermal waters. Behind a small ornamental
fountain beside the Portway lies a short climb down into a section of
dug tunnel that leads to a circular five metre deep well shaft.
Science stuff.
The aim of the trip was to check the depth
of the water at the bottom of the well shaft and take a water sample. As
ever, the water bottles always float, so a rock was pressed into
service and securely duct-taped to the plastic container. Then David
amused everyone but himself with his efforts to unravel some orange
twine. It's clear he's never done any knitting. In best Blue Peter
fashion, he then manufactured something with more than a passing
resemblance to a large phallus, or maybe I've just got a dirty mind. A
water sample was successfully obtained, then it was time to get AB (Dr)
wet, which is always an amusing hobby.
AB (Dr) at the bottom of the well shaft.
The ladder was rigged to two old but very
serviceable iron bars across the passage and Tony was life-lined down. A
yelp told us that the water had reached a crucial depth, but its
temperature (around 21 degrees) meant that he didn't moan nearly as much
as he usually does when water reaches his groin! Tony deemed water
levels were slightly too high to make it through to the small chamber
off the bottom of the well-shaft, or rather I vetoed the idea as any
mishap would have meant me getting wet as well.
Intrepid Scientist on the ladder while the Hired Help make encouraging noises.
Then it was David's turn to play the
intrepid explorer and get a closer look at what he'd been sampling.
Graham lined him down and back up again so he could get wet as well,
while the rest of us stayed happily dry.
There's always a lot of fascinating scientific talk with David
underground, but as ever, the trip reinforced my view that cave
scientists rely heavily on duct-tape, string and convenient rocks. On
this occasion, though, there was no need to deploy that other scientific
staple, the cable tie! Clearly we weren't being scientific enough for
that!
Linda Wilson
CONGRATULATIONS!
As everyone who read our last issue
(Jacob, high time you caught up, being busy is no excuse!!) will know,
The Caves of Mid-West Ireland, edited by Graham, won the prestigious
Tratman Award for 2019, which was great, as it was our centenary
publication, and had involved a huge effort by a large number of UBSS
members.
Naturally, I took the opportunity to blow our trumpet widely around the
university and the union, and got some lovely responses. This is what
people said.....
"That is really great news. Thanks for letting us know. What a fantastic society UBSS is!" - Ben Pilling, Chief Operating Office, University of Bristol Union.
"Fantastic news Linda, congrats to you, Graham and the UBSS! If you
are sent a physical award at any point, please do send in a photo of
UBSS members with it, we’d love to show off a photo somewhere on our
office wall." - Christy O'Sullivan, Interim Associate Director of Student Opportunities.
"Many thanks for flagging this excellent news to us, and
congratulations to all involved. I think the age of the Society, and
indeed the way that alumni have collaborated so well with students
throughout its history is such a wonderful and positive story. And as
you, the way in which the success shows students, staff and alumni
working together, and is supported by such great volunteering as well as
by gifts such as Professor Tratman’s incredibly generous legacy shows
the full breadth of how we can work together." - Andrew Monk,
Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations. [Note: The
legacy referred to is the one Trat left the university, that funds the
Tratman Scholarship and the Tratman Award.]
"That’s excellent news.
I think it's especially important because of the nature of the UBSS,
that it claims to have had 100 years of scientific contributions (not
just diving down old holes), and the journal and other publications are
testament to this. Also of course, I’m sure this is just what Trat had
hoped for from his legacy." - Professor Mike Benton, Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. [Note: Mike is the point of liason for the Tratman Award.]
"That
is such brilliant news -many, many congratulations and it's so
wonderful for that to have happened in your centenary year of all years.
You should definitely celebrate this and make a splash of it.... I will also report it at Heritage and Public Art Committee (it does no harm for the DVC to know about such achievements!)." - Jo Elsworth, Director of Cultural Collections (Library Services).
MAMMOTH IN THE MEDIA
Student Museum Curator Nathan Cubitt is keeping our hairy superstar busy on social media.
The winner of last month's
competition is Tim Hill, who correctly identified this as a photo of Ian
Standing. Elaine Oliver was runner up, thinking this might have been
Pete Standing.
Tim's winning response appears below in our Letters to the Editors section.
LETTER TO THE EDITORS
Hi Editors,
Fascinating!
Unmistakeably Ian Standing whose surname actually appears on the attached note.
I expect that I was not at the hut at the time as that date was a
Wednesday and I wonder how they had managed for transport as I do not
recollect Ian had any but Julian Clokie had a motorcycle to which was
attached the frame for a sidecar thus meaning - as I recollect - some
relaxation on the licencing requirements.
Whatever, it would have been very very cold outside. I note that Ian is on the seat beside the fire.
Do you have any contact with Clokie? A look at the internet suggests that he might very recently no longer be with us if that was him but the face and birth date look about right.
Best Wishes!
Tim
[Editors' note: if anyone knows anything about Julian Clokie, do pass it on to us.]
FICTION CORNER
Linda's offering this week is part of her continuing efforts to produce a drabble
(a 100 word piece of fiction) for each of the Fellowship of the Ring
characters in the Mines of Moria. This one looks at Legolas' reaction to
the mines.
Legolas walked with Aragorn at the rear of the sombre group.
Ahead, the steady tramp of Gimli’s iron-shod boots echoed in the dark as he walked at Gandalf’s side.
Unlike the dwarf, Legolas saw no beauty in the carefully hewn tunnels
nor in the cavernous halls where unfriendly eyes could watch their
progress through the depths of the Misty Mountains.
He longed for a cloudless sky, green trees and the smell of warm earth, not the dank reek of black rock.
For once, the long knife at his belt and the slender bow in his hand gave him scant comfort.
I READ TO THE END! I DIDN'T CHEAT, HONEST!
In the reading photo shoot today,
we have the very erudite FT bear, long-time companion of Sharon Wheeler
and avid reader of the UBSS Newsletter. FT was a present from a friend
when Sharon went off to uni. The friend's mother was shocked and didn't
consider this a proper present for someone as sensible as Sharon. She
clearly didn't know her very well! His initials stand for Furry Teddy
(or Furry Testicles, on account of his cotton wool balls!). Pick which
you think suits him best! He is a well travelled bear and has has an unrivalled repertoire of early 1980's New Zealand cricketer impressions!
Thanks to Sharon for the photo and his backstory. It's also fitting
that Sharon and FT were the winners of last month's Read to the End
competition. Here we go with the results ...
- Me ’n' FT are checking in. Great issue - and the
special instructions at the end for Dr B made me laugh! Pic of FT coming
soon. He’s looking a tad threadbear (!). (Sharon Wheeler)
- Such a nice lot of news! Best wishes as usual. (Chris Howes)
- Don’t disrespect the rules of dibs >:( (Megan Malpas, coming
in a very respectable third, but proving that some students still aren't
out of bed even at 11.30am on a Saturday!)
- Terrific drabble; gave me chills! And our dear Whatley really needs a custom-made mask! (Jan Walker)
- No where near first but tried (In car back from eastbourne)! (Zac Woodford)
- Excellent issue - you're an inspiration! (Martin Joyce) (Editors' Note: We've never been called an inspiration before!)
- Thanks very much, Linda and Mia, Much of it made me laugh and brought back some great memories! (Eve Gilmore)
- and I read to the end as well! :) (Elaine Oliver, after being told she hadn't won the photo comp)
Hint for the lovely AB (Dr), who still hasn't managed to get to the end
yet .... to send an email to say you read to the end, click on the words
below in blue!
Come on. folks, let's have lots of love for your harassed (or rather,
harassing) editors and all our wonderful writers, with a rousing cheer
for Zac for all his excellent trip reports!