Ben Alterman in Fishmonger's Swallet, South Gloucestershire. Photo by Linda Wilson.
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The
summer is nearly over, despite a last minute resurgence of hot weather,
and we'll soon be gearing up for more new members when the new academic
year starts at the end of September. Welcome Fair this year is and as
usual, we'll need people to help look after the stall and tempt
prospective new members with the delights of our underground world aka
engage in a desperate search for people who like the idea of getting
muddy and finding their inner worm. A calendar of events for the first
term will be out as soon as there's been a committee meeting, which will
be happening soon.
In the meantime, please note that the UBSS page on the Student's Union
website is now open for business. If you put your name down as being
interested in UBSS last year but never got around to joining or going
caving but have been opening and reading the newsletter ever since, this
one will be the last you receive unless you join. Come on, we're only
the price of a couple of drinks, surely our deathless prose is worth
that? OK, don't answer that question, we're sensitive souls, as we keep
telling you.
There's still time to get your tickets for Hidden Earth,
a weekend of talks, boozing, socialising and buying kit with cavers
from all over the UK. This year it's taking place in Portishead, a mere
stone's throw from Bristol. There's a camping field, as well. UBSS will
be having a club stand so we can sell our publications. If you can spare
an hour or so to help with this, that would be great. There might be some beer in it for you!
You can find all the back issues of the monthly newsletter online. So if you're relaxing in the sun somewhere, take a look at what the club has been up in past months and years.
Very worm wishes,
Linda and Alex
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TALES FROM EXPO 2023 - VOLUME 2
Limestone plateau, Austria. Photo by Merryn Mattlews.
A lot when on in this year's
Austria Expo, where UBSS was ably represented by Merryn Matthews, Ash
Gregg and Zac Woodford. In this issue, roving reporter, Zac, tells his
story of how the trip started off, and Ash fills in some extra detail
from one of his trips. In the September newsletter, we'll be hearing
more from Expo correspondents.
So where to begin. I think this tale would be incomplete without a
recounting of the events leading up to it. To that end, the beginning:
With the weather looking up, a veritable horde of cavers descended on
the Totes Gebirge plateau in Austria, me included. It was my first time
there and so I was not only unfamiliar with the terrain but also had an
incredibly heavy backpack loaded with both my caving and camping kit to
haul up the mountain. While Mealy set a comfortable pace, the journey
still took its toll. That, combined with my unfamiliarity with the
terrain, meant that I struggled in places. Before we’d even got to the
plateau I’d grazed my hand when the sodden path gave out underneath me.
Janis and Ely Brookes-Hefetz prospecting for caves. Photo by Ash Gregg.
We rested at the Col (the saddle point in the mountain where we left the
main footpath and ventured onto the plateau) and enjoyed a jelly snake
each. Phil Sargent, who happened to also be resting there at the time,
came running at the shaking of the bag.
If I thought the walk so far had been bad, the plateau was worse. As its
name suggests the whole thing is rock with the few islands of soil
dominated by the impenetrable ‘bunda’ (a very sappy, very springy, very
annoying coniferous bush). The rock isn’t like pavement either, it’s
slanted, rugged, sharp and full of water-carved channels and holes. Even
a small slip can warrant a trip to A&E if in the wrong spot
(foreshadowing much?). Despite being half the distance from the car-park
to the Col, the path across the plateau takes as much time. As it was
my first time I was introduced to all the named spots: Ashes Hole, the
Plateau Monster and the Manoeuvre to name the few I can remember.
Merryn cooking in Top Camp. Photo by Christian Kuhlmann.
Arriving at top camp we found it swarming
with people. It was a struggle just to find a bed that wasn’t already
occupied. Not long after we arrived, the rigging team for Fishface set
off. The plan was we’d give them some time then follow on. This would
give them a long enough head start so that by the time we got to the
rigging front it’d be at the shallow lead our team was investigating.
This left us several hours to recover from the walk. Time I spent
exploring top camp and helping Martin Green set up his ‘Snort Shack’ (a
small tent apart from the main bivy that would spare us all his
snoring).
Finally the time came for my group to set off. Despite it being only
roughly 700 metres away from top camp it still took half an hour (at
least) to get to Fishface. As we were bashing our way through the bit of
Bunda just before the cave Mealy (who was in front of Emma who was in
front of me) screamed and ran. I soon saw why as a snake at least the
length of my arm slithered into a hole at the side of the path.
Apparently she’d almost stepped on it and in response had been the
recipient of an angry ‘hiss’.
Mealy in the entrance to Fishface. Photo by Ash Gregg.
Snake aside, we reached the Fishface
entrance just as it began to patter with rain. Thankfully the shower was
light and we were underground quickly. I’d been warned that Austrian
caves were cold, but I didn’t really appreciate how cold until I was in
one. I could rattle on for hours about how cold but freezing sums it up
well. I can’t remember what order we were in and it doesn't much matter
as after the first pitch we bumped into the rigging team. Please bear in
mind that they’d had about THREE HOURS head start and had only rigged
the first pitch. Collectively it was decided that we should wait and
give them some time to rig ahead so we weren’t breathing down their
necks. In this time Ash and Mealy calibrated the disto while me and Emma
sat around getting cold. So cold that we had to whip out the bothy bag.
This level of faff set the standard for the rest of the trip. The
second survey team, led by Mike Butcher, soon caught up with us. We
decided to let them pass as their lead was shallower than ours. Once
they’d all cleared the next pitch we set off.
Mealy led followed by me then Emma then Ash. Things went well for a bit.
The next few pitches went well up to Pendulum Pitch which Mealy
directed me through. However, following that is a rift. It was here that
Mealy went wrong, and I made the mistake of following (because I didn’t
know better). We descended too soon and wound up in a narrow crack
beneath the pitch-head for Blitzen Boulevard. Fortunately, the survey
team ahead of us was waiting to descend and by calling out to them we
were able to correct our path. Unfortunately, they were waiting to
descend, and as Emma and Ash soon caught up, we once again found
ourselves sitting, rather cosily (tightly), in a bothy bag.
Eventually we all made it down Blitzen Boulevard, then came the real
faff. Mike and his team found their lead easily enough but ours took a
bit more time. An hour if I remember rightly. Ash did the preliminary
exploration and realized that it just connected round to Mike’s lead.
Nevertheless, me and Mealy surveyed it while Ash and Emma bolted a small
pitch in the hope there was a going lead at the bottom. There wasn’t.
However, another pitch at the bottom of that one connected to Mike’s
lead meaning we were able to tie off a small loop. It was also Emma’s
first time bolting and Mealy appreciated the surveying experience.
Another gorgeous plateau photo by Ash Gregg.
It was then time to leave. With both the
rigging and other survey team long gone, the way out was clear. That
said, it still took a while as, after the start of Blitzen Boulevard I
completely ran out of energy. I don’t know if it was because I was new
to the caves, or the long hike up or even the constant heating and
cooling of moving and stopping in the cave but for some reason I really
struggled with my SRT for the rest of the trip. The next few pitches
were a slog as I had to regularly take breaks while on the rope. I even
had to pass the tackle sack I was hauling over to Mealy for the last
couple of pitches. The J-hang at the top of the first / last pitch
though proved to be very difficult; after changing over I found myself
flying over to the far wall.
Despite being in the middle of the night, it was a relief to be out. I
changed quickly and stowed my kit in an emergency bivvy bag before being
joined by the others. It sounded like Emma had also had a hard time on
the entrance J-hang but they didn’t complain nearly as much as me. We
then had the long slog up-hill to top camp in the dark. It was on this
walk, at a point called Spider Man, that Emma fell. It wasn’t far but
they still sustained a very nasty, quite deep cut to their hand. Once
back at top camp we had to make a quick dinner without waking up an
entire camp full of people. While I was successful in that department, I
completely failed to realize that the curries were boil in a bag.
Instead I’d opened one into my mess tin and covered it with water. It
was a relief to fall into bed for what was left of the night.
Zac Woodford
Meanwhile, Ash Gregg takes up the fishy tale with his log book entry:
July 7th 2023, Fishface – Surveying Stalagtite Loop to the top of Liquid Luck
Ash, Mealy, Will Kay, Alice Kirby
Following our previous shallow trip into Fishface we set out to continue
the previous combined leads from the day before. The journey across the
plateau and into the cave was uneventful, aside from the other group
catching up with us. Dropping down into Blitzen Boulevard we continued
along the rift and dropped Mike and team's previously rigged pitch (as
we had de-rigged fivemoose), getting to the pushing front.
Since the PDA had officially died, it was on to sexytopo on phone, with
Mealy keen to do more on notes. Alice and Will were both (unusually)
keen to survey which allowed me, as the most experienced, to take on the
role of chief scooper / co-ordinator.
Mealy Oliver looking at spotty calcite in Fishface. Photo by Ash Gregg.
The rift continued, bending slightly to the
right as we surveyed along, soon becoming a sandy crawl. Passing a
tight deep hole (likely connecting into Liquid Luck) we reached a
junction. Right quickly crapped out at a puddle below a blind aven.
Left, crawling continued with stalagtites and popcorn/coral formations.
In hindsight we should have taken photos. The passage became more rifty
again with a few more formations.
We could hear voices seemingly ahead, which did not bode well. I scooted
ahead to find the rift connected with the far side of the top of the
Liquid Luck Pitch. Unfortunately, this was Jonty and team's lead for the
day so they were quite annoyed, although they hadn’t started bolting
their way across yet.
We finished off surveying and I went round the long way to the far side
of the pitch to ensure we could close the loop. Done for the day, there
was now a clusterfuck of people all trying to leave fish at the same
time. One by one people left the bothy and headed up Blitzen to the
surface. Back to top camp for curry.
Ash Gregg
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GIANT MARROWS AND FAIRY LIGHTS
Zac looking cosy. Photo by Merryn Matthews.
The fun didn't stop at Expo! Zac
and Merryn went camping in South Wales for Expo 2, with the kreche – the
youthful japes of expo. This involved luxurious hammock camping and
cooking over an open fire as well as caving, as Merryn reports.
Emily had prepared a host of excellent meals, chilli, daal, pancakes,
for us to heat up over the weekend, along with Zac’s giant marrow.
Giant marrow, with cat for perspective. (This might also be a very small cat with a courgette). Photo by Zac Woodford.
Day One: Zac I joined a
group doing the Top-Bottom through trip in OFD, in the highest water
I’ve ever been in the streamway in, just enough to be splashy fun but
not too much to feel unsafe. Zac brought a foam water cannon, and we
wore wetsuits to be able to jump in all the pots. A highlight was
becoming caver soup in a whirlpool pot. Trip members: Zac Woodford, Eva
Hesketh, Oliver Harris, Harry Kettle, Charlotte Payne, Jono Lester.
How many cavers can you fit in a small pool? Photo by Harry Kettle.
Day Two: Me, Zac, Joel Stobbart and Lizzie Caisley did
some route finding in Cwm Dwr to visit Tapioca – a pretty calcite wall,
AKA ‘the cum wall’. It was a fun trip even though I was feeling pretty
low stoke after a late night round the campfire. We brought a rat named
Belay (see picture) and decided to complete a through trip, leaving via
bottom entrance.
Zac and Belay at the poetically named "cum
wall". (Be fair, most of us have thought this at some point in a cave!)
Photo by Harry Kettle.
Day Three: Dan yr Ogof. I was SUPER STOKED
to finally visit this cave and it did not disappoint; a 10/10 trip. We
sped through the show cave entrance, giving a quick hello to the
dinosaurs, before beginning the round trip. We only branched off quickly
to visit a slightly blue stalactite – likely due to some copper ions.
Merryn and Belay in Dan yr Ogof. Photo by Harry Kettle.
Best bits are the lovely phreatic
passageways, the Green Canal rubber dingy rapids, and a rare worm
colony!! See picture of me greeting my worm friends.
Merryn meeting new worms. Photo by Harry Kettle.
Trip members: Zac Woodford, Harry Kettle, Buck Blake.
Merryn Matthews
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GONE FISHING - BACK LATER
Alex Little performing acrobatics in the
entrance climb and proving that we really need to get some more club
oversuits. Photo by Linda Wilson.
On a sunny day in August, the next phase of
work at Fishmonger's Swallet in South Gloucestershire saw a bunch of
cavers, a gaggle of archaeologists and two very enthusiastic youngsters
getting very muddy both above and below ground in the hunt for more
answers to what was going on in and around the cave in the Iron Age.
Linda Wilson reports on what went on.
A fleet of cars descended on the Manor House early on the morning of
19th August, a large team reported for work. From UBSS there was David
Hardwick (also Hades CC and one of the discoverers of the cave), Adelle
Bricking (henceforth known as Dr Adelle Bricking - congrats on the
PhD!!), Graham Mullan and Jan Walker (surface support), Charlotte Harman
(along with Emilio and Marcello), Ben Alterman (and his brand new
oversuit) and Alex Little. We were joined by a crew of people put
together by Adelle namely Anna-Elyse Young, Jake Smith, George Whatley,
Chris Griffiths, Clara de Sousa Cunha (surface support and wet sieving,
Chris Exley (surface support, setting up and carrying buckets of spoil).
The team - looking remarkably clean -
before getting stuck into the job. Trigger (white lurcher) and Gwen
(brindled greyhound) are a close match in size for many of the dogs from
Fishmonger's. Photo by Linda Wilson.
David and I went in as part of an advance
party with Adelle, Charlotte and two very excited young boys, who were
going to put together a couple of minutes of film as part of a school
science project. They coped really with the narrow, twisted entrance
shaft, lifelined from the top by David and were soon helping Adelle and
Charlotte load buckets with sticky mud from the digging areas in Bone
Idle Chamber. While this was going on, David did his best to explain the
system for hauling full buckets out of the cave and after formulating a
plan (which naturally didn't survive first contact with the cave), we
started hauling. I started out at the top of the scaffolding climb down
into Bone Idle Chamber, then moved back into the small chamber at the
bottom of the entrance climb and then spent the next three and a half
hours there hauling full buckets up a small wooded barrow run, clipping
them onto the next rope and then sending them on their merry way up and
out of the shaft, occasionally shouting down such pleasantries as: "Not
so bloody heavy next time!"
Emilio (left) and Marcello (right) gather information for their science video. Photo by Charlotte Harman.
With Adelle and Anna-Elyse burrowing like
moles and dumping mud and rocks into buckets, David took Charlotte and
the boys on a tour of the rest of the cave, with each chamber being
prefaced by the doom-laden words: "The next bit is even muddier!"
Undettered, our two new worms wriggled right to the end of the cave and
the next time I saw them, they were covered in mud and grinning widely.
We made sure that they were lifelined up the shaft, with me giving
lessons in tying bowlines (whilst admitting that figure of eights
confused my spatial awareness), and sending the boys on their way. They
both shot up the climbs like greased rats, with Emilio reaching the top
before Ben (who was following behind to help) had got up the bottom
climb.
When asked for comment later, Emilio admitted: "I was a little bit
scared at first but then I was mostly excited and everyone helped make
me feel better and confident."
Marcello added: "Im a real explorer now and I liked finding things and washing the rocks and pottery."
Fishmonger's was Charlotte's third cave and she fitted in as well as her
adventurous offsping saying: "I really wasn't expecting quite so much
mud but the descent into the cave was very exciting, i can now say
officially been caving where it wasn't a gentle stroll to get inside!"
Now, tell me again, was that knit one, purl
one? Ben Alterman getting ready to haul in the entrance climb. Photo by
Linda Wilson.
The cave's certainly not a gentle stroll,
but it is a lot of fun, and at the end of the underground working day,
David made another trip to the end so that Ben and Alex could see the
rest of the cave. They all emerged covered from head to toe in mud, but
excited to have found a lovely chunk of dog jaw, with a tooth still in
place, as well as a separate dog tooth. Ben's oversuit certainly got an
impressive baptism by mud.
Surface work, washing and sieving buckets on mud. Photo by Linda Wison.
We then spent another couple of hours
finishing off the wet sieving on the surface, using a hose run out from
the courtyard. It's hard at times to distuinguish sticks from bones, and
pebbles have a nasty habit of disguising themselces as Iron Age black
burnished ware, however we definitely found some Roman Samian ware,
along with an impressive amount of bone. Our next job is to go through
the spoil heap from our dig last year and see what else can be extracted
using wet sieving.
Chunk of dog jaw with tooth still situ. Photo by Linda Wilson.
The finds are in Cardiff at the moment with
Adelle, drying out after being properly washed and sorted, and the
paperwork for their accession to the UBSS museum was signed a few days
later, along with an access agreement between the owners and the Hades
CC, which contains a clause that any future finds from the cave will
come to the UBSS museum to join the rest of the collection. I'm
incredibly grateful to Ian and Geraldine Potter for their generosity. We
were all understandably nervous when the cave changed hands, but
they've proved quite happy to have muddy cavers burrowing under their
land as was the late Mrs Joan Hawkins.
Washed finds drying out and awaiting assessment. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Don't be put off by the mud! Fishmonger's
is a great cave, and the digging and hauling is great fun, as is washing
the mud and seeing what emerges. You never know, the next bit of bone
you find might turn out to be human, probably dating to the pre-Roman
Iron Age. And if you want to know more about the site, our last issue of
Proceedings will tell you everything we know so far. Contact the sales
manager if you don't have a copy and would like one.
Linda Wilson
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GET KNOTTED!
One of your editors has been
wanting to use that headline for ages! Those of us who are occasionally
existentially challenged by which way the rope goes in two common knots
might be grateful for these diagrams. Thanks to Graham Mullan for finding these images.
Regarding the bowline, remember that you first have to make a rabbit
hole, then the rabbit (or rat, or worm, if you prefer) comes up through
the hole, goes round the tree then disappears down the hole again. If
you've got it right, you have a knot. If you've got it wrong, it falls
apart and you look a bit of an idiot. If you get it right, finish off
with a couple of half hitches using the trailing end. The bowline
is useful for lifelining if the person climbing isn't wearing a belay
belt.
There doesn't seem to be a similar aide memoire with the figure of
eight, but maybe something involving a pair of worms might be worth
considering. It's also worth making sure that you can tie these knots in
total darkness by feel alone.
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ONLINE CCC LTD SYSTEM NOW LIVE!
Example permit created online.
No more paper permits! Everyone who
is likely to be caving in the CCC Ltd controlled caves should now head
over to the CCC Lts website to get their online permit. For more
details, read on...
The main caves involved here are GB, Charterhouse, Longwood and Rhino
Rift. The first two are in Gruffy Field and the latter two are in
Longwood Valley.
All you need to do is 1) check you have your BCA number. This (for now)
will be on the green, credit card sized bit of plastic that you've
probably only ever used for scraping the ice off your cars, if you have
one. If you can't find the card, then email Graham and ask him, as he's got a spreadsheet of them all then 2) go to the relevant page on the CCC Ltd website and start following the instructions. It really is easy.
For anyone responsible for issuing keys to our members or others, you
MUST check that ALL people in the party have a valid permit.
Once you've got your permit, then you can save it to your phone, or
print out a copy yourself, if you have access to a printer. You MUST
have a permit in your possession before visiting any of these caves and
you MUST show it to the person who issues you a key. Not everyone will
want to take their phones with them when they go caving, so if you're
ever asked on the ground by a representative of the landowner (Somerset
Wildlife Trust) or CCC Ltd, then the person who checked the key out will
be able to confirm that everyone in the party did show valid permits.
If you're then asked for a name and what club you got the key from so
this can be verified, please respond politely with the information.
Remember, the person asking you is only doing their job and making sure
that we can keep access to the caves.
Permits run for each calendar year, as that's in step with the BCA
insurance year, so you'll need to get a new permit on or after 1 January
2024.
Remember that novices must not be introduced to caving in these areas,
which means they must have done at least four trips before a visit.
It would be good if all our active cavers would go online now and get your permits. If you have any queries, please contact the Company Secretary,
UBSS Member Gabriel Littler, who has taken over from Graham Mullan in
this role. Many thanks to Graham who has done the job for 27 years,
since the company was set up to handle access and take a 150 year lease
of the caves beneath Gruffy Field.
In other CCC Ltd news, a new Licence Agreement has been signed by
Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) and CCC Ltd, for the caves beneath
Longwood Valley and Velvet Bottom. And as we go into windier weather in
autumn and winter, please check out the special arrangements for caving in Longwood Valley
now that the old permissive footpath in the valley bottom has been
closed to the public due to the dangers of ash die back. SWT and our
main contact there, Chris Eyes, worked hard to maintain access for
cavers, taking down many badly affected trees in the areas around the
entrances to reduce risk to visiting cavers. All of this work was done
at SWT's own expense and we're hugely grateful to them for their help.
Also many thanks to Dave Cooke, who has put a huge amount of effort into
setting up the online system. Cookie has done all this on a volunteer
basis.
Linda Wilson
Conservation Officer, CCC Ltd
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MEMORY LANE - BAKER'S PIT, DEVON - 1992
As part of our 100 Memories project, started in 2019, our
centenary year, we're aiming to collect 100 (or more) memories of times
past in UBSS, and one way we can do this is through old photos. Bill
Miners recently unearthed this little gem from the 1980s. Linda Wilson
did some detective work.
Bill said he wasn't sure who took the photo but thought it might have been Steve Cottle. I emailed Steve who replied to say:
"It's not my photo as I don't think I ever took photos in Devon. In fact I think I only ever caved there once.
From Left to Right.
Tim Parish, Julian Todd, WDM, GJM, AB, (Chris Bennet? Behind AB (the
reason I say that is that a he was generally camera shy and b always had
a spare bulb in a film cannister), LJW, ARF, Allison Garrard, unknown
and Andy Cooke."
The abbreviations above are WDM = Bill Miners, GJM = Graham Mullan, AB = Tony Boycott, ARF = Andy Farrant.
So by the time I started to write up this piece, we were still short of
one unknown. I then took volume 1 of my caving logs off the shelf and
started flipping through. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever find the
entry, then ... drum roll ...
Picture me muttering again about the importance of keeping a log and
starting early! A quick look in my own list of abbreviations at the back
of my log for people I cave frequently with confirms that SBC = Steve
Cottle and CHB is Chris Bennett. So, by a process of Holmesian
deduction, I conclude, m'lud, that our unknown is Richard Swann and that
Steve Cottle, who isn't in the picture but is listed as on the trip,
took the photo, despite him thinking now that he never took any photos
in Devon.
The full line up is therefore (from left to right): Tim Parish, Julian
Todd, Bill Miners (above), Graham Mullan, Tony Boycott, Chris Bennett
(behind), Linda Wilson, Andy Farrant, Allison Garrard, Richard Swann and
Andy Cooke, with Steve Cottle behind the camera.
Yes, we all look incredibly young! Most, with the exception of Julian,
Chris, Andy C and Richard, are still members. I'm afraid to say that I
don't remember anything at all about Richard Swann and as far as I can
tell, this was the only time I caved with him.
This piece of detective work was a lot of fun to do. I'd really like to
visit Baker's Pit again, so that's something to add to my ever growing
list of places to return to, this time with me taking the photos.
Linda Wilson
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GIVING UP IS SO DAMN HARD TO DO
Dick Willis and Pam Fogg in White Fathers. Photo by Tim Fogg.
In the best UBSS tradition of
growing old disgracefully, Dick Willis, one of the club's most
experienced expedition cavers, tells how the road to the underworld is
often paved with the best of intentions, but as we all know, no plan
survives first contact with the enemy, and giving up is so damn hard to
do.
Five years ago, I had a minor stroke following a period of illness that
started on a trip to Mulu. The medics never found out what was wrong
with me, although I suspect I had atypical migraines due to a change in
medication (being an old fart, I'm on various drugs, so think of me and
stay healthy, keep your booze consumption down, don't eat junk food,
smoke funny cigarettes or otherwise waste your tender young lives).
Anyway, the stroke was in the bit of my brain that controls balance.
Although I was very lucky and I'm generally fine, when I walk, I tend to
stagger a bit. I was always notorious for falling over in caves - on
one China expedition, I tripped when crossing a boulder pile and was
helped up by a very attractive show cave guide dressed in red uniform
skirt and high heeled shoes who seemed to manage the boulders
effortlessly. Oh, the ignominy. .. So, I decided that the prospect of
having a caving accident and causing a rescue was too much to bear. I
would have to die, if I survived the piss would be taken out of me
unmercifully. which would be entirely reasonable, as I have always taken
the piss out of friends who've been rescued and I'm sure they'd like to
get their own back. So, I stopped caving.
But on a recent trip to Northern Ireland, my good intentions were subverted.
My hosts, Tim and Pam Fogg, insisted on taking me caving - beer
consumption was not to be permitted until I'd been underground, so I had
to go. One trip was to Boho caves, to look for and collect moths that
had been parasitised by zombi fungi (subject of a forthcoming newsletter
article, if I can persuade Tim to write some notes for me). The other
was to White Fathers Cave, close to the N16 Enniskillen - Sligo road,
near Black Lion.
Moth parasitised by fungus. Photo by Tim Fogg.
Reluctantly (it was drizzling) I put on my
wetsuit, which seemed to have shrunk a lot, squeezed my feet into a pair
of Tim's wellies and followed the two of them over a stile, alongside
the river and, eventually into the entrance of the last of three small
caves.
These caves take their name from the nearby prison, Loughan House, which
until the '70s was occupied by the Capuchin Order of Franciscans, known
locally as the White Fathers. The third is the longest and very well
decorated. Because the system takes water, which can rise after heavy
rain and cause a sump at the downstream end (take note), the formations
are clean washed and make the place well worth a visit. Much of it
involves wading along a cobbled floor, which meant I had to keep contact
with the wall or lean on Tim or Pam to avoid falling in and looking
like a right twat, but towards the end, the section that sumps, the
water is sufficiently deep that you need to swim to reach daylight.
The caving in Fermanagh/Cavan is excellent, as is the local hospitality -
it's only a short drive from the cave to Black Lion and a pint in
Maguire's; if you get a chance to go, take it. There's an excellent illustrated account of White Fathers here, if you'd like to know more about the cave.
Dick Willis
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MUSEUM AND LIBRARY NEWS
Clive lifelining a cabinet down the stairs. Of course it was healthy and safe!
Work in the Stables has continued
over summer and so has our journey towards Arts Council acceditation, as
museum curator Linda Wilson relates.
On the accreditation front, Charlotte been busy with the first draft of
the necessary Forward Plan and we've worked together on updating our
Collections Management Policy. Once these are ready, they'll go to the
committee for approval. We have a meeting at Bristol City Museum shortly
with the South West Museums Development Officer and our museum mentor,
Kate Iles from the City Museum who has kindly agreed to work with us on
this project. Lesley-Anne Kerr, who prepared our original policy is also
helping, and we'll all be visiting a lot of museums in the area to look
at how they've tackled their displays. If you'd like to be involved
with this, please let me know.
When we did this in 1991 in preparation for our first displays in the
Stables, it was a lot of fun. To this end, Charlotte has also started
gathering ideas for this project.
In early August, I received an email from Nick Fitzgerald, who is currently undertaking a PhD on burnt mounds in British prehistory here at Bristol. Nick said: "As
part of this I will undertake organic residue analysis of pot lipids
from ceramics found in burnt mounds. This will allow me to uncover the
use and function of these pots as well as understanding the wider role
of burnt mounds in British prehistoric societies. I
am really interested in analysing the pots from the burnt mound found
in Bos Swallet (reference below). Is it true that the UBSS has this
collection?
"My
analysis would primarily utilise Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry
to both screen for and analyse pot lipids. This technique involves
taking and destroying a small piece (0.5-2g) of each sampled sherd after
extensive documentation. Of course, you would both have complete
control in deciding which sherds I would be able to sample. This would
be conducted both at the archaeological science laboratories in the Department of Anthropology and Anthropology and at the Organic Geochemistry Unit in the School of Chemistry, with the sherds kept in secure storage."
He
wanted to know if it would it be possible for him to access the
material and conduct analysis on a sample of pot sherds from this
assemblage. I explained that we still need to excavate our way back into
the museum store by relocating a ton of material back into the library
stack room. Nick kindly volunteered to help. The Bos material proved
relatively easy to unearth, and Nick was delighted to see how much
pottery we have from the site. He'll be putting in a formal proposal
soon.
We took the decision over summer to give two enormous and awkward metal
cabinets and a redundant metal filing cabinet a new lease of life by
passing them on to the university's Sustainability Team so that we can
replace them with bookcases that will make better use of the available
space. The only snag was that we needed to get them down the stairs.
That was easier said than done as they'd been installed before our
lovely new stairs and bannisters were installed, but undaunted, a team
assembled ...
Our attempts to get them around the head of the stairs quickly failed
and we had to move to Plan B. Tape slings and a rope were summoned, and a
dynamic risk assessment was carried our (the short version was 'don't
drop heavy objects on people's heads'). We succeeded admirably in all
respects and the cabinets were manoeuvred over the top of the bannister
rail and lowered carefully to those waiting below without even a
slightly bruised finger to show for our Herculean efforts. They're now
awaiting collection (which I hope will happen this morning).
Many thanks to the following for their help with this: Clive Owen, Si
Hadfield, Zac Woodford, Nick Fitzgerald, Graham Mullan and Tony Boycott.
Si was also co-opted to help continue the work of applying stain to the
woodwork on the stairs. It's all starting to look really great! The
next job is to apply a coat of clear varnish to that, and begin the task
of getting all the bookcases back into the right positions in the
library stack room. Librarian Nathan Cubitt will then need to play box
tetris and reorganise everything up there, so please be on standby to
help with this.
During our morning shifting cabinets, we learnt that Nick has hands on
expertise in two very interesting areas: flint knapping and ancient
beer-brewing techniques and he's happy to teach us how to do both, so in
the event of the zombie apocalypse we'll be able to make tools and get
pissed! It would be a lot of fun to do both of these things for a day at
the hut, so watch this space for more details.
We're hoping to get the Stables usable as soon as possible, but with so
many pressures on volunteer time and the usual people shortage over
summer, we can't guarantee that the space will be ready for general use
by the beginning of term, but we'll do our best achieve this within the
first term, so please bear with us!
Linda Wilson
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SAY HELLO TO RATIFER!
Ratifer Rat comes to you courtesy of Bing Images.
With the start of term only a few
weeks away, we're offering a prize of a back-up light to the first
student to say hello to Ratifer Rat. He won't bite, we promise. He's a
very laid back little chappie. Thanks to all our loyal readers who get
in contact. It's always fun to see comments and naturally we love
basking in adoration and praise so anyone pandering to our fragile egos
will be loved and cherished. Unless your name is Dick Willis, in which
case we reserve the right to take the piss. He'd be disappointed if we
didn't.
- Finally read one of these reasonably soon after publication :) [Stu Walker]
-
Lots of lovely getting-up-tos in fascinating places this month.
Congrats to Mia, and welcome to Charlotte! I do hope to be able to visit
the Lascaux VR before it leaves. I’m up for the Fishmonger’s if needed,
and also count me in for the Library fixing-up. PS Smauglet is
delightful (including the name) [Jan Walker]
- And
I loved the descriptions of Lascaux. Never made it, because it
was closed when I got to the entrance. The VR experience must be
amazing.[Hans Friederich]
- Ah the ladder dig… I remember being persuaded by Bob Churcher,
back in my youthful, enthusiastic days, to go on a solo trip to check
out the results from an attempt to chemically accelerate progress. I
made my way to the end where there was plenty of evidence of mud
redistribution but absolutely nothing else and came out with a splitting
headache. At which point I realised why I’d been asked to go in, rather
than Bob making the visit himself. [Dick Willis]
- Many thanks all who contributed articles and to hard working
Editors for putting together an excellent newsletter. [Bill Miners]
- Read to the end...I remember many hours digging in the dirt of
Ladder dig in GB in 1966. Two main memories...the smell of the dirt and
the unstable boulders getting through to the dig. [Eve Gilmore]
- Splendid worm, all round! Great range of articles and pix, and I
liked the image of Madam Editor crawling around the floor, managing not
to throw up and then engaging the French big-wigs in polite
conversation! And hello to Charlotte and congrats on your degree.
[Sharon Wheeler and the blessed FT Bear]
Ratifer Rat, nice to meet you! I did read to the end, I promise.
THE END
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