Yes,
folks, it's January now! Or rather we're just entering February, but
that's fine as we work a month in arrears, as you know, otherwise we
couldn't tell you what's just happened.
We are officially (in this context) ignoring the wider events of Friday
night. There's nothing we as cavers can do about that other than go
caving or read about caving, or whatever. But on the bright side, we can
always just follow the example of the Spelaeological Union of Ireland
who have always been a one country, one organisation set up. It helped
them get grants from both country's sports councils, in the days when
caving in the UK got grants, before all the dosh went to things you can
get a gong for. SUI are good-humoured, effective and don't bully people
in meetings. The UK national body could learn a lot from them.
Yep, it's a two-person. height adjustable squeeze machine! Can we have one for the Hut? Pretty please...
The SUI also drink like fishes,
party well and have some great ideas for squeeze machines. It would be
really nice to have a bigger UBSS presence there next October. Plus we
have another book under way...
OK, that's my editorial rant over with with, now onto the really good
bit. After an experimental year running the newsletter, I'm now
delighted to announce that I've been joined by Mia Jacobs as co-editor.
Mia is a first year Modern Languages student (French, Spanish, and German), so she can swear in three languages. Be very afraid...
Mia is running the student side of things and we're running the rest
jointly. We already have a stack of material, but that's no excuse not
to get writing!
So if you have anything for future newsletters, please let us know.
We're at home to anything and everything that relates to caves, caving,
UBSS past and present, etc, you get the drift... But please please
don't be offended if we can't use everything every time, it's always a
judgement call as to what fits best. We're trying to keep track of
everything, but if you think your bit has waited too long, prod one of
us and we'll check the system hasn't gone wrong somewhere. Yes, I know,
cavers who have a system, it'll no doubt only end in tears.
Back issues of this newsletter can be found here.
Linda and Mia
PS:
Chris Howes won the random prize for being the first to read my equally
random witterings last time. It will be delivered with due ceremony when
we go graffiti hunting! For this months random prize, we're going to
hide one somewhere.... because we're nice like that.
|
|
AGM AND ANNUAL DINNER - SATURDAY 14th MARCH 2020
Yep, we know we've used this one before. More food photos would be useful, please!
We're opening with this in case
anyone hasn't opened the emails and newsletters sent on the subject by
Jenny and Henry. Not everyone reads everything all of the time, so some
repetition is needed, but woe betide the person (Dickon, we're casting a
glance in your direction...) who asks for the details now after being
told umpteen times what's happening! We would love everyone to come
along as we have The Square to fill. The food has always been good in
the past, and they haven't banned us yet, which is a bonus. Jenny is
serious about the deadline, though, as we have the restaurant manager to
appease, although no doubt the usual suspects will try her patience.
We'll tell you about the AGM in a minute...
Details of the dinner follow again. Skip at your peril...
~~~~
This year's annual dinner is soon going to
be upon us, and we will be celebrating in style by heading to The Square
for a sit down 3 course meal.
The dinner will be on the 14th of March after the AGM from about 6pm onwards.
If you would like to come we need your choice of food from the menu below and payment by the 22nd of February. There will be a glass of prosecco on arrival and half a bottle of wine with dinner.
We have managed to get a large subsidy from the Oliver Lloyd Memorial
Fund to encourage as many students and recent graduates to come as
possible. Therefore prices are as follows:
Students £15
Recent graduates (last two years or less) £25
Everyone else £37.50
If you aren’t sure which category you fall into feel free to check with me or Graham.
Please email me (Jenny Rodgers) with your menu choice to [email protected] (Not me!)
Please also pay the caving account using your name as the reference:
Sort Code 60-17-12
a/c no 66983673
Your booking is not complete until you have paid and please email Graham
to tell him you have paid so that he can look out for it! His email is:
[email protected]
We hope to see lots of you there
Jenny
Disclaimer: Photo may not be an actual depiction of the meal ;)
MENU
STARTERS
- Carrot and coriander soup served with toasted baguette
- Chicken liver Mousse, gooseberry chutney, brioche
- Cured salmon, compressed cucumber, horseradish cream
MAINS
- Lentil & Barley pudding, pomme puree, seasonal greens, vegetable
jus(ve)
- Roast corn fed chicken breast, pommes anna, mushroom ragout,
Savoy cabbage and pancetta, roasting jus
- Roast salmon fillet, creamed leeks, crushed new potato, braised fennel
SWEETS
- Chocolate crémeux, hazelnut, pear (ve)
- Hibiscus and orange crème brûlée, shortbread
- Lemon curd, meringue, puff pastry, mascarpone
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This is what a partial museum move looks like, more later...
Yes, folks, we really need to have
one, it's in the constitution, and it's the AGM that has the right to
have their say over what the committee has been up to in the past year.
But historically, it's never been the sort of bullying shit-fest that
some clubs indulge in. UBSS normally manages to keep it more civilised
than that.
This will be Elaine's first as President and fittingly there are a lot
of women on the current year's committee and there will be at the AGM,
too. We have always had wimminz (we say that as a positive, not a
negative) and we're sure our blokes are mature enough to deal with that.
We know Mollie Hall, Marjorie Crook and Dina Dobson-Hinton were all
towers of strength, and we (we do love this Royal We bit, by the way)
will be the same for Elaine.
So, to the details (and this is where it might get complicated and go horribly wrong...):-
Start time: 10.30am
Location: The Stables, behind 21 Woodland Road. Find
the entrance to 21, follow the internal access road round to the right,
under the glass bridge, following the Prayer Room signs. You'll see a
big covered bike shed to the left when you find the Prayer Rooms, we're
the building on the left. We don't have a sign saying Library and Museum
on the door for security reasons. Yes, thefts from museums are a Big
Thing).
Duration: AGM first. There
will be a sweepstake for length, if we get around to it. Entry £1 per
head, guess the length of talkie bits. Free UBSS pen for all entrants.
We can't say fairer than that, can we? Followed by a talk. It will be on
something relating to caving. Cut us some slack, we've all been busy.
If we fail to find a speaker we will busk it by means of interpretative
dance, in six languages.
The Possible Snags: We
currently have no access to the museum. we hope to have it back in
place by then but this will be in the hands of outside contractors and
Estates. See later for more news. Bear with us on this, it's
complicated.
The Random Prize: Yes, there will be one for something. Trust us on this.
|
|
DERBYSHIRE WEEKEND - 21st - 24th FEBRUARY
A caving hut. Warning, actual accommodation might vary slightly.
There is a Derbyshire weekend coming up on the 21st – 23rd
of February. Anyone keen for some SRT should come along, and there will
also be talks about an Austria expedition for those considering it.
SUSS will be there too – support Sheffield for Merryn! Yell if you need
details of who to contact.
|
|
UBSS IRELAND TRIP 2020
The UBSS has has a long history of
caving in Ireland, culminating in recent work by UBSS students that led
to the publication of new/updated surveys in the society's recent book,
The Cave of Mid-West Ireland, edited by Graham and a large team of
people. Ash Gregg is organising another trip this year, so over to
him...
This year the UBSS are planning a return to the emerald isle for a
fortnight of caving, surveying, and generally having a good time! Dates
are too be confirmed as soon as possible depending on people's
preferences/input but definitely in the summer break period. We'll be
staying in a cottage based in Co. Clare near the Burren and all of it's
wonderful caves. Key objectives of the trip being to continue our
surveying projects in the Coolagh River Cave and Cullaun One, as well as
increasing the club's interest and activity in Ireland. There will also
be plenty of sporting trips! Estimated cost (based on past expeditions)
is around £250 which is not bad for a fortnight's holiday!
Any questions let me know - there will hopefully be a talk and also a surveying workshop in the new term. Please join the Facebook event and input any dates that work (or do not work).
Yay caving!
Ash
|
|
THE MENDIP MASSIVE
Half of Henry, Sam, Mia and Imogen doing Bath/Rods midweek This picture counts as a Trip Report. Yay caving!
As was mentioned in the last
newsletter, a lot of folks decided to head out to the Hut for a full
weekend of tradition sewing bees and tea out of china cups. Mia
takes up the tale...
Exams were left a mere distant nightmare as we ventured out to Mendip
for a particularly muddy weekend. Though we spent our time significantly
showerlessly, the lack of water was compensated for with copious
alcohol consumption. DJ Fresh got the tunes going for a cosy Friday hut
night filled with MORE BEER and MORE WOOD. Having done Rod’s Pot to Bath
Swallet earlier in the week, Henry and I set out that night to do Bath
to Rod’s, just to prove that we knew the route after how long it took
last time (we may or may not have accidentally taken a different route
the second time, but at least we didn’t get lost again!). All slept more
or less soundly, despite being rudely awakened by Sam’s screams when
Masaab accidentally grabbed his toes.
| |
Left
to right: Henry, Sam, Mia and Imogen in the main chamber of Bath/Rods
trip. Yes, we know it's dark and a bit fuzzy. Caves are like that! So
are cavers. |
The next morning more did Bath/Rods and
some did GB. They said it was very nice. Sam, Imogen, Henry and I took a
trip down Pierre’s Pot (underground before midday, if you could believe
it). I have never sworn so much in a cave, and at one point Imogen
genuinely sounded like a banshee. We squeezed and wriggled our way down
to the streamway and set off to find the Hanging Gardens. I explored a
passage that got so tight I had to take my helmet off to keep going,
only to find a definitely un-human-sized hole staring back at me. Henry
and Sam eventually discovered the sump bypass (which doesn’t even bypass
the sump completely) by crawling through the anus of mother nature
herself, nearly reaching her very bowels. They suffered their way
through an extremely muddy and claustrophobic 25 metres that felt more
like 100 just to worm back again, and then it was sadly time to head
out.
Sam getting cosy in Pierre’s.
During our return, I accidentally found and went down the slot bypass
after having got up it, and Sam started talking to himself in the form
of Vine references, rather than actually asking for help when he got
stuck. If it were anyone but Sam, we would have seriously thought he’d
hit his head on a rock. Pierre’s, though we currently stand defeated, we
vow to find the Hanging Gardens next time!
There was a long debate on neeps and
tatties and cheesy mash. Food ensued. Historical Note: those plates were
donated by Graham to the Hut probably 30 years ago when the Elderly
Persons' Home where he worked was getting rid of them. It shows things
get broken at the Hut less than people might think. This counts as one
of our 100 Memories!
Dinner was a very momentous part of the
weekend, kindly coordinated by mother/head chef Imogen. We took Burns
Night in full stride, carrying out all the traditions, including
declaring “to the haggis!” to six individual haggises (spell check seems
to prove that the plural of haggis is not haggi - sorry to disappoint).
Burns Night Dinner. Proof that Standards Have Not Slipped.
We devoured the chieftain, veggie, and
normal haggi with mash and suede, topped with whisky sauce (ingredients:
whisky). We recited our toasts to the lads and the lassies - us females
became victim of the ultimate deception as the toast to us was not at
all sarcastic and rude, leaving us defeatedly reading out burn after
burn in response to a soft single-verse poem. The UBSS songbook even
came out, and then the real music came on for a wild time around the
bonfire.
| |
Mia, Sam, and Imogen looking very muddy after Pierre’s |
On the Sunday, some of us headed straight
back to Bristol, while others actually went caving (on a caving
weekend!?). Judging from the amount of mud, beer, and generator
failures, we all made the most of our end of exams weekend.
Mia Jacobs
|
|
A WOODY TALE (NOT A TINNY TALE)
How it all ended. We like you all to know there was a happy ending.
Those who have known Linda well
over the years are aware of how her frequently annoying OCD goes into
turbo-overdrive when you put her near a wood store. Generations of
cavers have been abused in pursuit of a tidy wood store. Her little face
crumples with disappointment if she's not allowed to play. She will now
give you chapter and verse, only without the chapters and the verse.
I like wood stores. No, not just like, I mean really, really like, with a
sort of unhealthy, woody love. I commune with mine in France every two
years and build four stares (French for loose cubic metre when stacked)
of wood into a long pile. I moan like hell about my back, demand help
and get very cross if an end collapses. I drive down roads having log
pile envy. It's beyond a normal obsession. M, Brouzailles (still driving
a huge wood truck at 80) thinks I'm relatively normal. Someone has to. I
bore people silly on the subject. Did I mention the fact that I really
like wood stores?
So, a depleted and messy wood store wounds me to my core. You get the
drift? The UBSS one has suffered recently for various reasons. We don't
go into reasons. This isn't a culture of blame - unless it's funny, then
we blame like blaming things.
Chris and Clive kindly volunteered as usual to wield a chainsaw, an axe
and a wheelbarrow (must pump those bloody tyres up!). There's lots of
wood down near the hut and they chopped and barrowed, occasionally
press-ganging random student cavers who naturally wanted to sit around
the fire due to the lack of water (see memo from Henry on said subject
sent separately). I forgot to get photos of them working,as usual. But
have one of Merryn and Henry instead.
Henry, supervising. Merryn working.
Don't be fooled by the above. Merryn can
carry logs that would make a lumberjack quail. Henry is a domestic
goddess with a broom in hand and is way, way, more obsessive than me at
cleaning roofs (yes, I know we can argue about the correct plural for
days!) when he starts. All spiders survived. Spiders Are
Important. (Even when dead, as Jacob knows!).
We cleared, stacked, cleared, stacked and got rid of a lot of rubbish.
Thanks to Jon for building nice 1919-style roof supports. They'll
probably outlive the rest of us. Inside wood shouldn't be burned
outside, we all know that? Probably. Anyway, there is now a System, and
we might even have labels if Haydon can be prevailed on. Haydon really
likes labels. Inside Wood is now directly opposite the internal door
from the Hut. Oldest wood there. Newer wood is to the right of that and
at the back. That should ideally wait a bit longer before it gets burnt
inside. Inside wood is now under one of the benches. The other has a
radiator, thanks to Haydon and others. It's very nice for warming your
feet on at New Year. Handy hint: remove shoes first.
That was before the Smoke Incident. Ash was still having fun at this stage.
We also had to burn things. Ash likes
burning things. I didn't get a photo as mostly I couldn't see him
through the smoke. It was wet, but we had rubbish to get rid of. I'm
told it wasn't as bad as the old mattresses. We're used to burning old
mattresses. Luckily the smoke melded into the mist that was falling and
no one complained. We also learned that smoke doesn't leak into the hut
if you keep the shutters closed, which is fortunate.
Si even sawed in half all the long wood that we'd left for Chris and
Clive to shorten next time. Si appears to really like sawing things
whilst still in his caving gear. We didn't judge. I forgot to get a
photo.
How it all began. Merryn looking
surprisingly cheerful despite the festering mess we started with. I
think Merryn might secretly really like wood stores, too.
End result: A Tidy Wood Store. Thanks to
Merryn, Zac, Si, Chris, Clive, Henry and everyone who carried a log when
asked, which was actually pretty much everyone. It won't stay that way
for long, I'm sure, then I get to do this all over again. Humour me, I
really do like wood stores.
Linda
PS: The Random Prize this issue is for the person who can tell me where the title comes from. If you've entered before, please enter again. We like smart arses! Trust us, we really do.
|
|
NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Loads of people in the hut at the Massive.
Some are referred to below. Those that aren't will soon have a label
stuck on them by Haydon.
We bet you're wondering how the
hell this is all happening at the moment... well the truth is that there
are a lot of new, keen folks who have been happy to take on roles until
the AGM (all delightfully constitutional) then at the AGM there will be
huge bust up about who does what. Nope, not likely, we don't behave
like that, not since the mid-70s anyway. Apply to Tony Boycott for that
story. Mia tells all...
Now is time to introduce our new committee members. We only managed to get a write up from one, as follows:
Hey, I’m Merryn Matthews, the new vice secretary, I’ll be helping Henry organise the caves. Get hyped for caving!
To continue, Imogen Clement is our new student treasurer, Sam Bowers is
social secretary, and Mia Jacobs (myself) is newsletter co-editor and
tackle warden.
Haydon is kettle sec.
|
|
And while we're on the subject of labels...
Haydon went out to the hut to have a look at the fire and ended up
having the time of his life with a label maker that he'd smuggled from
work. Next time you’re over there, keep your eye out.
QUOTES OF THE MONTH-ISH
Although the notable farts column
has been vetoed, we are bringing quotes to the newsletter. Decipher the
meanings for yourselves.
“If I ever die” – Haydon
“I’ve recently gained an appreciation for Caligula” – Zac?
“I’m going for a victorian wee” – Mia
“Vag, vadge, or vach?” – probably Imogen
|
|
CEILIDH
Merryn, Haydon (hiding) , Mia, Henry, Imogen, Sam.
Recently, some cavers have been going to Ceilidhs held at the SU Balloon Bar...
Last Tuesday a bunch of us attended a 'give
it a go' session and got very much sweaty, discombobulated, and hyped. A
perfect night for crazy cavers.
Merryn (left), flustered while waiting for a dance to start.
It is rumoured that the UBSS Hut might make
a good venue for a ceilidh, as Kirsten Hopkins knows all too well. One
for next New Year's Eve, Kirsten? It'll be your Mendip year 2020. I
promise to do an Attack Polka. (Linda)
|
|
MUSEUM NEWS
Big pots and big moves.
The big thing for us this month has been the need to move part
of the museum to accommodate work on the new staircase. Linda
explains...
Much to everyone's surprise and (partial) delight, Estates and their
outside contracts sprang into life really quickly. Normally this sort of
thing takes ages.
We had a site meeting with everyone concerned and agreed a plan of
action to tale into account all risks etc etc. Then a bunch of us sprung
into action too, comprising:
Linda - Museum Curator and General Nagger in Chief
Allan Summerfield - Deputy Museum Curator and person who poses with
stal. If he emails you, his email header is Oscar Summerfield. Oscar was
a late, much-missed beagle. Allan thought it avoided spam. A lot of
people now call him Oscar as a result. Don't worry, he's used to it.
Nathan Cubitt - Student Museum Curator and person who didn't mind going
on committee despite no one knowing who actually arranged it. (he's 20
years younger that Linda and Allan, so that's a move in the right
direction!)
Tony Boycott - Librarian, Sales Librarian and person who fixes everything when needed
Helen Rossington - Mostly Free on Tuesday for Museum Work, Walking and Caving.
Left to right: Tony, Nathan, Helen, Allan,
We made plans. Lots and lots of plans. Then
we made them again and again, and finally we started shifting stuff.
Providing the contractors and Estates stick to the plans, it'll all work
out fine, but there really are a huge amount of variables still, so you
now understand why we were hedging our bets where the location of the
AGM is concerned. The plan also depends on everyone finishing in time
and an electrician coming in as well. Then we have to assemble the same
team for the move back the week before the AGM. We think it'll all work
out, but that might be Famous Last Words.
We got it all done with uncharacteristic efficiency and has an earnest
discussion about Naked Attraction on TV. Helen was definitely puzzled.
Allan posed with a broken stal that looked like a thingy (prize for the allusion) in a wholly adult manner and I took a photo.
The big pots from the middle were hard to accommodate. They are safer in
cabinets, so we gave them a temporary holiday in the Aveline's cabinet.
Our dead archaeological people always play nicely with others, even
those Neolithic or Bronze Age types. The geology collection is a
better collection that I'd anticipated, thanks to Charlie Self's work,
but we still have to identify and provenance a lot of stuff or it will
have to end up in a rockery or as a teaching collection. Nathan knows
about this sort of thing and Tony knows where a lot of things came from.
So that's a job for March/April/Whenever.
We'll definitely dust before we put stuff back, but the dust is handy to
know what went there. Joking aside for a moment, we took record shots
of everything and did work to proper museum standards. We might look
chaotic, but we actually all know what we're doing and did it well. And
Graham has made sure the insurance position is OK for us until we hand
over to Estates and the contractors. Then it's down to them for a while.
I won't lie, the need to get this done really tripped my mental health
for a few days as it seemed like an impossible task from the beginning,
(especially as this all blew up two days before the Symposium) but
now it's all going well. Oh hell, Famous Last Words again!!!
We'll keep everyone informed of progress and when museum working parties start again, all offers of help will be welcome!
Linda
|
|
UBSS MUSEUM - GUEST BLOG - Using Dental Wear to Estimate Age at Death
And this, darlings, is why we get told to use dental floss.
Sammy Field, from the University of Southampton, visited our
collections as a PhD researcher. She visited the collection to collect
data for her thesis, ‘Re-evaluating the use of dental wear to estimate
age at death of British archaeological remains.’ Sammy has kindly
written a guest blog for us about her work in the collection, and she
takes over from here (apart from a caption, by us) …
Age at death is one piece of information archaeologists attempt to
establish when examining archaeological human remains. There are many
ways to do this but one approach, and possibly the most commonly used
way, is to examine the amount of dental wear on the permanent (adult)
molars.
Teeth, unlike bone, do not remodel during life. This means dental
tissues do not regrow or heal when damaged. Therefore, eating a hard,
coarse diet such of those in the past) will gradually wear down the
white enamel revealing the yellowish sentinel underneath. This produces a
pattern of wear that changes with age. It is this pattern that
archaeologists use to estimate age at death.
One of the most frequently used methods to age human skeletons was
produced by Brothwell (1963). Brothwell introduced a chart of dental
wear patterns in his book ‘Digging Up Bones,’ which, he suggested, could
estimate the age at death of individuals dating from the Neolithic
(4000BC) to the Medieval period (1550AD).
Although Brothwell’s chart is often used by archaeologists the samples
used and approaches taken to produce the chart are unclear. My research
aimed to establish whether a single chart for estimating age at death
using dental wear could be applied to remains dating from multiple
different archaeological periods.
To carry out this research, a large number of archaeological human
remains were required. UBSS holds material from archaeological digs
including Neolithic human remains from Backwell Cave, Somerset. The
remains from this site were combined with others from around the UK to
produce period-bound samples.
The pattern of wear and crown height of molars was recorded from a total
of 861 individuals. A comparison of wear rates across these multiple
archaeological periods suggests that a single wear rate could indeed be
used to estimate age. This supports the work of Brothwell.
However, the research from this project strongly recommends further
development and the use of population-specific wear rates to obtain the
most reliable estimates of age.
With thanks to Dorset County Museum, and the many other institutions,
for granting access to their collections. Without this the research was
not possible. Further thanks to the Arts and Humanities Research Council
and Historic England for funding this research, and to my supervisors,
Sonia Zakrzewski and Simon Mays, at the University of Southampton and
Historic England.
Sammy Field
If you would like a copy of Sammy’s thesis please contact her. You can also follow Sammy on twitter. @BeautifullyBony .
Reference: Brothwell DR (1963) Digging up Bones: the Excavation,
Treatment, and Study of Human Skeletal Remains (First Edition). London:
British Museum
|
|
100 MEMORIES AND TRAVELS BENEATH THE EARTH PROJECT
This is still chuntering on happily. We have a vast amount of material and are working our way through it as fast as we can.
The eagle-eyed Nathan spotted a really nice write up by Nick Stromberg in Epigram,
the university's student newspaper. Nick was one of our history student
interns who worked on the project from May - December 2019, along with
Lena Ferriday.
We hope to have a pub night or Stables night with Lena talking to us
about her perspectives and outcomes of this project, which is the
biggest of its type in the caving world as it was run by History
Lecturer Andy Flack, a professional historian with a huge interest in
darkness.
While you're here, check out Epigram in more detail. There's a vast amount of student and university content there.
,
|
|
SHAMELESS PLUGS
Adverts in the newsletter have had a
great success rate. Hell, don't knock it, we (Linda and Graham) sold
our old car through here! We've never above helping members, family and
friends if it's caving related, so let us know if you have anything
you'd like to plug and we'll see what we can do.
DESCENT
Photo-montage of this year's anniversary covers by Chris Howes.
If you're new to the world of caving, or an old hand at it, you can't do better than Descent magazine
for items of all round interest. Wildplaces Publishing comprise the
outstanding team of UBSS member Chris Howes and his partner Judith
Calford. Descent is the best place for general news and views from
around the world and the stuff that they are able to pack into a
bi-monthly magazine is stunning. The covers and photos are also amazing.
It's not expensive, and well worth looking at. Head over to the subscriptions page and take a look.
If you can't easily afford the subscription now, don't worry, we do have
copies of all these in the library and could maybe host a library to
wallow in the pretties when the Stables is available again.
DARKNESS BELOW
This is just a random screenshot of the
front page. It changes every time we upload something new, but it's
fitting that this one has Mendip and UBSS stuff on the front page.
A caving news website
co-edited by Graham Mullan, Linda Wilson, Sharon Wheeler and caving
friends Tony Brocklebank and Peter Burgess (who came to our centenary
symposium and the Aveline's trip). We cover general news, occasional
views and anything we can lay our sticky paws on.
Take a look, it's free!
THE VIDEO FROM THE LAST NEWSLETTER THAT DIDN'T WORK
|
|
|
|
