THE PARTY AT THE HUT!
A mixed party of UBSS/UBES/UBMC students in search of Lionel's Hole.
With the relaxation of covid
restrictions, the UBSS Hut was the venue for some much needed student
relaxation after exams and a difficult year, as Student Prezz Henry
Morgan relates...
A
group of us headed out to the hut in early July to try and make what we
could of an abnormal summer! The event was open to UBSS, UBES
(Exploration Society) and UBMC (Mountaineering Club) members, as an
attempt to introduce other like minded people to caving and all have a
party together. Due to restrictions, we couldn't actually use the hut to
sleep in so everyone had to stay outdoors, not a problem at all for
this group, of course!
The
forecast was ominous and we decided it was best to grab a few gazebos
for the weekend, funded by the covid grant, which proved very helpful! I
went caving twice, taking some first timers to Swildon's Sump 1, before
getting lost (for my third time!) in Lionel's after we decided we
weren't tired enough back at the Hut.
Ponies on Blackdown, avoiding hungover students.
We
ran back to find out that England were trouncing Ukraine (yes, some of
us do enjoy following the football I'm afraid!), And also arrived to BBQ
food prepared for us, a welcome relief as the last thing we wanted to
do at that stage was cook! We, of course, made good work on the barrel
of Butcombe Sara had picked up from the brewery on the way out.
The Squeeze Machine in action. Christian
Chourot's famous contraption still torturing people to good effect at
parties many years after it was first manufactured!
Then,
following a thankfully mostly dry night, we packed up and headed out
onto Blackdown for a little walk to soothe some sore heads! All in all
an excellent weekend which we will be sure to repeat next year when we
can hopefully be indoors and invite many more people!!
Henry Morgan
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BERGER TRIP 2021
Berger entrance pitch. Copyright Gilbert Bohec, used under this Wikipedia commons licence.
Thanks to the efforts of our very
own Hon Prezz, UBSS was lucky enough to secure a coveted permit for the
Gouffre Berger this year. There is still considerable uncertainty due to
the Plague Situation and complications of travel to France, but our
collective fingers are still very firmly crossed for the trip. Mia
Jacobs has a few words to say on the subject.
Members of UBSS are getting geared up for something very exciting: our first caving holiday of the year!
We are very much looking forward to exploring the Gouffre Berger (a
system that is over 1,000 metres deep and over 30,000 metres long) in
the beautiful Vercors region of France, along with the Cambridge
University Caving Club and Wrocław Caving Club.
Thanks to generous funding from the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund and the
Tratman Fund, students with strong SRT knowledge are able to come along
too. This presents a brilliant opportunity to experience feats of
rigging, descending and ascending pitches and experiencing expedition
caving in a different way to caving in our home country; this,
therefore, brings the chance to train up a new set of students for
bigger expeditions in the future – for example, in Austria.
Among the UBSS members joining the trip (we hope, covid situation
allowing, as only those who are fully vaccinated can currently enter
France) are students Henry, Merryn, Sam, Imogen, Jakob and myself. We
can’t wait to write all about it!
Mia Jacobs
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DOWN AND BACK UP AGAIN!
Taken from the film.
If writing up a trip report doesn't
float your boat, we're open to other types of entry, including films,
photos, interpretive dance, painting and drawing!
Earlier this year, Merryn Matthews took a few friends caving on a Rod's Pot to Bath Swallet through trip.
One of those friends, Barnaby Emmens, made a film about his first time
underground. This is a lot of fun to watch and gives a great sense of
what the trip was like.
You can find the film here on YouTube.
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ACCESS TO SINGING RIVER MINE, MENDIP
Plank Walk to Great Hall. Copyright Mark Burkey, used with his kind permission.
The following Public Information Announcement has been received from the Council of Southern Caving Clubs.
Just before the beginning of the Covid pandemic the ownership of Singing
River Mine changed. Since then there haven’t been many visits, however
with the relaxation of restrictions the number is increasing and issues
are beginning to arise.
The mine is at the rear of the house in a piece of land that was
previously a field and it was not necessary to enter the garden to reach
the entrance. With the agreement of previous owners a standard CSCC
lock was fitted and there were no access restrictions.
The situation has changed and the garden has been extended to include
the mine. Since the end of lockdown there have been a number of visits,
some of which have been at antisocial hours very early in the morning or
late at night. There have also been large numbers turning up at the
same time and on occasion when the owner would prefer no caving
visitors. Additionally there is a concern about liability.
Although the owner is OK for the mine to be visited, subject to
confirmation that insurance cover is adequate, these and other issues
have led him to want access to be strictly regulated. Arrangements for
future access are under discussion and will be available as soon as
possible.
In the meantime all visits should be avoided.
Information on access requirements for Mendip caves can be found in the Access Guide on the CSCC website.
Graham Price
Conservation & Access Officer
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100 MEMORIES - BACK IN TIME TO 1995
Mainly Explorers, but far left is Chris
Woodhead who I lived with and who wasn’t UBSS but occasionally got
dragged underground. Also back right is a friend of mine from Sheffield,
Nick Stones. He was in the Navy at the time and based in Yeovil and
must have journeyed up for a weekend in Bristol. [Editor's note: nope,
old photos aren't flattering, but they are fun!]
Just as visits to Singing River Mine have
been temporarily suspended, former Hon Sec Ian Wheeler has kindly let
us have access to his Secret Diaries to whet appetites for future
visits.
Present Me was rummaging around in my mum’s
loft recently. My time as Acting Head of Sixth Form was coming to an
end and there were some assembly topics I wanted to get through before
my tenure ended. One of them was about the importance of keeping a
diary, something I did from the age of 14 to 24, but I had no idea where
they were now other than somewhere in the many boxes of books and
accumulated detritus of existence that I had put into storage when I
moved to London, planning to move them down gradually. They are still in
a loft in Sheffield 14 years later. Eventually I found a couple of
volumes, enough to make my point, and then went down the rabbit hole of
reading and reliving the life of Past Me. I managed to entertain and
appal myself in more or less equal measure and there were loads of
mentions of people I had forgotten and things I had done that I would
question if I didn’t know it had actually happened. One of the diaries
is from 1995, covering most of my second year and the start of my final
year at Bristol. There are many mentions of caving trips. Here is the
only one that has photographs attached…
Saturday March 4th 1995
Rupert Hay-Campbell, before his MBE.
The day that the Expedition Society had no
doubt been looking forward to for many an age arrived at last. Yup, we
were off caving with a large quantity of novices in tow. What could
possibly go wrong?
Curiously, we managed to get away from the tackle store a mere 30
minutes after we arrived, compulsory running around time having been
mercilessly trimmed. Such efficiency, of course, could not last. We got
out to Burrington right enough, then had to stand around waiting for a
whole hour for Hugo to arrive with the lights, the delay turning out to
have been caused by his obstinate desire to eat a hearty breakfast in
Wells before agreeing to move another step.
Eventually, after more sorting out (Andy Cooke tried hard to cock up the
lights by bringing along some extra people without letting anyone
know), we set off for various different caves, my chosen one being
Singing River Mine. A couple of hours of fun and a roll of film later,
we were back out and heading back to Burrington for a pint. Grateful exp
soc members gave us a bottle of whisky which Tim and I did our best to
consume on the drive to Wells and back to Bristol.
 Hugo Pile (left) and someone I don’t recognise so assume they were an Explorer.
Now horrendously drunk, I had something to
eat, had a shower, threw up, went to sleep for ten minutes and woke up
an hour later to find Nick had gone to the pub. Pull my fuddled wits
together I set off in pursuit, sluthered back some gin, came back home
(being chastised all the way about drinking myself silly), had more to
drink, watched a couple of episodes of Blake’s 7 and, at long last, fell
into a deep, drunken and splendidly untroubled sleep.
Chris Woodhead again, without his helmet on. He is clearly a dangerous fool.
Author's Note: Present me is absolutely
delighted that the actual point of the day – the caving trip – is not
described in any detail whatsoever. And while my consumption of whisky
is disgraceful, I am delighted that the cure for being sick is to
briefly sleep and then carry on drinking. I was a true professional in
those dark days. I cannot remember with any clarity how this day trip
down various caves came about, but I was Hon Sec at the time and someone
had probably got hold of my contact details and asked if we could sort
something out for them. There are more of these daft recollections in my
diary if there is enough interest for me to type up some more of them!
[Editors' Note: Yes please!!]
Notes – who are these people of which I speak?
Rupert is Rupert Hay-Campbell. He now has an MBE and is important. I
last saw him for a burger and some beer 13 years ago and must catch up
with him again.
Nick was an old friend of mine from Sheffield and was in the Navy in
1995, stationed in Yeovil. He would often pop up to Bristol for a
weekend of nonsense. He’s now a much more sensible lawyer.
Hugo comes from a family of gentleman farmers and went to Eton. He was
therefore in my eyes always considered to be extremely posh. He joined
the UBSS at the same time as I did and would spend the next three years
referring to me as Wazak. We occasionally found common ground in a love
of Gaelic poetry.
Tim is Tim Parish, who led me astray and made me drink too much. I was
never all that interested in whisky, but haven’t really touched it since
this day in 1995. I bumped into him 20 years ago while we were both
climbing the same cliff in Pembroke.
Ian Wheeler [past and present]
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MORE MEMORIES - THE FIRST CONNECTION IN THE THREE COUNTIES SYSTEM
Calcite formations in Gavel Pot, part of the Three Counties system, copyright Langcliffe used under Creative Commons Licence.
With plans afoot in t'North for a complete traverse of the Three Counties system, Bob Churcher remembers one of his own trips there in search of the often elusive and much sought after connections.
In the summer of 1975 the late Dave Yeandle (Pooh) and I decided on a
week's diving in the Dales, since we both had ideas on where to push -
although all but one of them failed to go at that time. The one that did
produce results was a dive downstream in Gavel Pot.
Mostly we hadn't managed to persuade anyone to carry for us, so we
alternated carrying the gear and supporting each other. I had dived
Gavel before, so that day was my turn. I set off downstream in
reasonable viz. My log entry reads: Mon 23rd (June 1975) - yet another Gavel trip. Dived downstream, possible side passage right silted up after 100 feet or so.
There were three existing lines in various states in the main passage,
so I tied them all together at intervals. At around 640 feet in (200m or
so) I found another side passage, with another line in it, following it
I rapidly surfaced "in what I thought must be Lost Johns" - a thought
which subsequently caused much merriment when Yeandle misquoted me in
the pub....where there was a low key celebration of the first connection
in the postulated "Three Counties System"
Overall it was a good summer; in July I went on to summit Mont Blanc,
and then in August went down Spluga della Preta (877m deep) near Verona
in northern Italy, followed by some exploration on the Astraka Plateau
in northern Greece.
Bob Churcher
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HERE WE GO AGAIN - MORE DRAMA FOR THE MUSEUM
Left to right, Nathan, Helen, Tony. Note the bowing to the ceiling beyond the light fitting. Photo by Jan Walker.
Just as our museum curator arrived
in France for the first time in a year, she received a photo of the
ceiling in the museum display area in the Stables, asking the sort of
question she really didn't want to be on the receiving end of ... "Does
the ceiling usually look like this?" To which the answer, sadly, was
"No."
Just when I thought we were done with Stables related drama, the above
conversation took place by email, with the person in the Estates
Department tasked with putting together a risk assessment for fire for
us. The ceiling certainly hadn't looked like that the last time I'd been
in there.
Estates took a wary look and decided that further investigations were
needed and that for the safety of the exhibits, it would be better to
evacuate the contents of the cabinets to the library room downstairs.
Getting that news just as friends were about to arrive for dinner on a
Thursday evening, the day after our arrival in France caused a moment of
unusual interest (as they used to describe problems at the Savoy
Hotel), to say the least. I promptly phoned student museum curator
Nathan Cubitt, applying the principle that a problem shared is a problem
halfway to being shuffled off onto some other poor bugger!
Nathan nobly said he was available for emergency evacuation procedures
on Saturday afternoon and I don't mean of the bowel-related kind, or
maybe I do? Mine had certainly loosened at the mention of possible
structural issues and an emergency move. I then phoned Helen Rossington,
Jan Walker and Tony Boycott to assemble a team to help. I was very
relieved when Helen and Tony said they were available as well as they'd
been involved in the last move to accommodate the work on the new
staircase, and Jan is always up for a challenge, including the one of
keeping Tony to the Agreed Plan.
Linda Wilson
Harrassed Museum Curator
Nathan takes up the tale ...
Helen hard at work. Photo by Jan Walker.
In 2020, with impeccable timing, Linda went
to France just as the work started on the condemned museum stairs. Now
in 2021, she went to France just before the ceiling to the museum was
declared potentially dangerous.
With hectic phone calls and emails crossing international borders, an
arrangement was made to grant limited access so a team was quickly
assembled to evacuate the main museum room.
Whilst the photographs do little justice, the ceiling has bowed
considerably inwards, and there was some debris that had fallen behind
the cabinets that were directly underneath. Fears of more material
falling meant that caving helmets were deployed, and that, alongside
call out times, made it feel very much like a caving trip. Just
brighter.
Unfortunately the arrangement to gain access prescribed us from going
upstairs to investigate further - that will be undertaken by the Estates
Office, and we should hear back in due course. Our team (Helen,
Jan, myself and Tony) was focused solely on removing all the exhibits
from the cabinets and storing them within the Stables library. As
the damage is limited to the museum room, they should be safe there for
now, and quantities of bubble wrap, tape and boxes were used for that
purpose. In all the madness some method was applied, so it
shouldn't be too difficult to place everything back correctly!
The cabinets were left in position, and it is to be hoped that repairs
can be made around them, otherwise Estates will need to temporarily
house them - although this will be some task as the lighting systems
within them are wired to the main light switch.
At the time of going to Press, Estates have said they've employed
outside contractors to make an assessment and they'll keep us informed
of progress.
This is an extract from the instructions Linda provided for the move:
11. Take some photos of before, during and after for the newsletter. Include some people shots.
12. Resist the temptation to poke the ceiling.
13. If anything above you starts creaking ominously, leave immediately!
[Note from Linda: Jan was under
instructions to strictly enforce Rule 12 where AB (Dr) was concerned. He
really, really likes poking unstable things with sticks.]
Until the cause is discovered and remedied the Stables will remain
off-limits for the foreseeable future. As a precaution we may have
to have Linda's future holidays voted on by committee!!!
Nathan Cubitt
Equally Harassed Student Curator
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COUNTDOWN TO CAVING ...
WITH ZAC WOODFORD
Hello! I’m Zac! I’ve previously written
about myself in the newsletter in an article on my experience caving
before coming to university. so I'll give you the short version, I had a
mad aunt! That and I've always been drawn to doing things most others
would turn their nose up at. I went on a few trips in various places
around the UK before my time in UBSS (mostly mines) and during that time
I became enthralled with the "inverse earth".
I’ve been with the club since autumn 2019
and since then have seen the weird and the wonderful. I've caved in the
UK and Ireland but am hoping to expand my repertoire abroad.
I’m going into my third year of a four year computer science course at
Bristol and my hobbies include writing and helping bring this newsletter
to fruition for your reading pleasure. When I have time to read, I
devour Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
Countdown ...
Ten words to summarise your caving career ...
Haven’t even reached the entrance yet, looking forward to t'stal!
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
- Rick Stanton (the man, the myth, the legend)
- Tony Seddon (the man connected to everyone)
- Tony 'JRat' Jarratt (getting struck thrice by lightening is a story worth hearing)
- EK Tratman (of whom I know too little)
- John Volanthan (it'd be interesting to hear from a relatively sane cave diver)
- Robert-Jacques de Joly (googled 'famous caver', don't know that many)
- Bill Stone (read about him, sounds like he has an interesting worldview)
- Bob Churcher (heard he makes for a good pub companion)
- Joseph Berger (list filling...)
Eight things you don’t ever want to hear underground ...
- “Don’t worry…”
- “Is it me or is the water getting higher?”
- *sudden rumbling*
- “Right, so this doesn’t look familiar.”
- “Ten minutes till call out.”
- “Sorry if it’s bad, I had curry last night.”
- “I forgot the survey.”
- “I’ll only be a minute.”
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Bear Grylls
- Piers Morgan
- Tucker Carlson
- Vladimir Putin
- Jeff Bezos
- Elon Musk
- Nigel Farage
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
- Bobbed about on an inflatable unicorn in a pot while drinking Guinness
- Fried custard
- Drunkenly, and while naked, demanded cake
- Stuck my head in a hole and twerked
- Pretended to be a shark.
- Brought my fellow trip members to tears laughing with my anecdote about being made redundant from Maplin.
Five of your favourite caves ...
- Marble Arch
- Dan Yr Ogof
- Gaping Gill
- GB cavern
- Pen Park Hole
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- My black helmet customized with retro-reflective stickers.
- My perfectly sized wetsuit.
- My adequately sized undersuit onesie.
- My as yet unused personal bag.
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
- Mendip Underground [5] edited by Alan Gray, Rob Taviner and Richard Witcombe
- Blind Descent by James M Tabor
- Aquanaut by Rick Stanton with Karen Dealy
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
- Mendip
- Wales
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
Cave more! Take every opportunity!
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COUNTDOWN TO CAVING ... WITH LINDA WILSON
Linda in Catgut Rift in St Cuthbert's
Swallet many years ago. Does her bum look big in that wetsuit? She
wishes it to be known that she still looks remarkably similar and anyone
disagreeing will be promptly unfriended on social media. Photo by Peter Glanvill and used with his kind permission.
I started caving properly in 1979
when I came to Bristol to study law, but before that I'd spent a
childhood poking my nose into any underground hole I could find. I've
mostly caved in the UK and France, which are the two countries I know
the best. On a trip to Slovenia (then Yugoslavia) in 1989, I became
fascinated by the conservation of showcaves. which led to a passion for
cave art. I've been lucky enough to visit places like Lascaux and
Chauvet, as well as a large number of other prehistoric art caves. I got
dragged into caving politics in 1985 on the back of the 'Great SSSI
Debacle' when I was persuaded to take the job of CSCC Chair; a job I did
for about ten years until I refused to stand again even though there
was no one willing to take over. I was a Trustee of the National Caving
Association back in the days before the creation of the BCA when caving
politics could still be fun. I'm the Conservation Officer for the
Charterhouse Caves and UBSS Museum Curator, a job that has taught me a
vast amount about dead 'uns, both human and animal.
Countdown ...
Ten words to summarise your caving career ...
Beautiful, fun, fascinating, muddy, wet, but caving politics is shitty.
Nine cavers (living or dead) you would like to go for a drink with ...
- One of the people who modelled the clay bison in Tuc d'Audubert (I'd love to know why they chose that spot)
- Howard Kentish (I developed a huge soft spot for him reading old
Yorkshire Ramblers' Journals. He died in the Battle of the Somme and
left his name in Poulnagollum.)
- Jean Cadoux (I loved his book 1,000 Metres Down)
- Rick Stanton (we've got a lot of catching up to do)
- Carl Wright (Not seen him for ages!)
- Chris Shirt (Not seen him for ages either)
- Dave "Wig" Irwin (He and I could talk for hours when we got together, and I still miss him hugely)
- John Christy (He left his signature and age, 12 and a half, on
the Signature Stone in Poulnagollum in 1880 and died at the tragically
early age of 19)
- The person who painted the 'unicorn' in Lascaux. (I would love
to know why they painted one 'mythical' style animal in a cave full of
paintings and engravings of real animals and whether they were sacked
after that one painting for not following the design brief.)
Eight things you never want/wanted to hear underground ...
- “Now where did I put the key?”
- “I forgot to pack a spare light, too.”
- “I don’t want to worry you, but…”
- “Sorry, I forgot to put the film in the camera.”
- “Are you sure you can reverse that?”
- “Is it me, or does that water sound louder?”
- “It doesn’t go.”
- A thunderous fart whilst behind someone in the Cwm Dwr crawl
Seven public figures you'd least like to go caving with ...
- Boris Johnson
- Donald Trump
- Nigel Farage
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Priti Patel
- Bear Grylls
- Joanna Lumley
Six of the weirdest things you've done, seen or heard of in connection with caving ...
- The sound of a fridge landing on top of a metal storage box on the floor below 2am after being thrown out of the
trapdoor in the first floor of the TSG hut in Castleton. By way of
warning, someone yelled: "Fridge!" My only thought before going back to
sleep was that it didn't sound loud enough for that.
- Leg wresting. I first came across it at the SUI Symposium. If it was an Olympic sport, I might even watch the games!
- A party of Swiss cavers stopping for lunch on a traverse in
Borne aux Cassots in the Jura, France. The even odder thing was that the
traverse was wholly unnecessary in the first place. The rest of us did a
short freeclimb and bypassed it totally in the (dry) streamway.
- A Slovenian friend stopping half way through getting changed to
go caving to eat a lunch consisting of a hunk of cheese and and entire
bulb of raw garlic.
- I stripped completely naked to dive a duck at the end of Cateran
Hole in Northumberland to see if it went anywhere. For the record, it
didn't. It was just easier to dry me than it would have been to dry my
clothes!
Five of your favourite caves ...
- GB Cavern, Mendip
- OFD, South Wales
- Chauvet, Ardeche, France
- La Saut de la Pucelle, the Lot, France
- Skocjanska Jama, Slovenia
Four pieces of gear you've fallen in love with ...
- My kneepads (all of them over the years!)
- My Sten light
- My adjustable Petzl helmet
- My vast collection of slings (don't make me choose between them, I love them all!)
Three of the best caving books you've read ...
- Aquanaut by Rick Stanton with Karen Dealy
- 1,000 Metres Down by Jean Cadoux
- The Plume of Smoke by Edmund Wilson
Two of your favourite caving regions ...
- Slovenia
- The Dordogne, France
One thing you'd tell yourself as a fresher ...
You'll have him a lot longer than you'll have that pair of boots he lent you.
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ANCHOR CHURCH CAVE PAPER GOES VIRAL!
Anchor Church Cave, Derbyshire. Photograph by Ed Simons.
It's not often that a paper in UBSS
Proceedings goes viral in the media, but it happened this year with the
one by Edmund Simons on Anchor Church Cave the which hit the media
globally, from Thurso to Vietnam, taking in most points of the compass
en route. The press seized the idea of the cave being a medieval
dwelling and a possible home to an exiled king with enthusiasm and ran
with the idea far and fast, in many cases!
The first we knew of this was when David Richards flagged up that the
paper had hit the Guardian, and then things simply snowballed, with
headlines such as Derbyshire cave house identified as ninth-century home to exiled king and Derbyshire cave may have been hermitage for Anglo-Saxon king and saint. The
coverage then absolutely exploded in the media, with sales of
Proceedings receiving a welcome boost from numerous people who wanted to
read the original paper.
If you haven't already done so, you can read real story in Proceedings and then wander through the press coverage, spotting all the exaggerations!
The Guardian
BBC
CNN
ITV News at Ten
The Daily Telegraph
Daily Mail
The Independent
Washington Post
Boston Globe
Evening Standard
The Sun
Derby Telegraph
Archaeology Online
Irish Times
New Delhi Times
Church Times
Express Informer
Smithsonian Magazine
Express and Star
Yeovil Express
Southern Daily Echo
Hendon and Finchley Times
The Epoch Times
Science Times
Redditch Advertiser
The Scottish Sun
Leicester Mercury
Live Science
This is Local London
Staffordshire Live
Stoke Sentinel
Stuff (New Zealand)
Medievalists
The Insider
Germanic News
Headtopics
News Chant
News Groove
WKTV
Big World Tale
KNews UK
News 247
News 24
Heritage Daily
Kopalnia Wiedzy
Business Fast
Daily Sabah
Business Mayor
Toys Matrix
UK News
Newsbreak
Politiken
Techregister
Geo
Press From
Arabic CNN
Liputan 6
Origo
Press From
ArchyNewsy
Newsbreak
Revistagalileu
Lavanguardia
VN Express
NG24
ZonaPriangan
NPlus1
Elpalco
LaStampa
La Nascion
The Hill
The Vintage News
Art News
Newsbreak
The Jerusalem Post
PopMech
HypeNess
And more, many more!
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MRS CHICKEN READ TO THE END. WE HOPE YOU DID, TOO!
The great thing about this section
is the unparalleled opportunity it presents to pounce on hapless members
who then agree to write articles for us! but don't let that put you off
participating ... so, without further ado, the winner of last month was
... *drum roll* ...
- This has been a very pleasant distraction
at the start of a busy day of tracking down bloody students with covid
and doing contact tracing. [Ian Wheeler] [Editors' note: and we wish to
place on recod the fact that Ian promptly offered us an unsolicited
'memory'! Top man!]
- Thanks team! Great read - nearly made me miss my stop on the
tube as I headed to work! [Jon Hauser] [Editors' note: there is a
distinct possibility that Jon would have won if there had been wifi on
the tube.]
- Liked the frogs, liked the carved face, liked the fishmonger ... well, and the rest. [Chris Howes]
- I'm very envious of all the exciting caving that's going on. It's been
far too long since I was last underground. Once the school term ends
I'll see if I can make it down to Bristol for some caving. Keep up the
excellent newsletter writing and curating! [Chris Smith]
- Came as a surprise! Even to me! [Zac Woodford] [Editor's note: ooops, minor comms issue!]
- A really great edition with massive amounts of interest! Thanks. [Tim Hill]
- Good work, everyone! I was particularly impressed by the photos - some
stunning images there. And blimey, I think I spotted a man without a
beard! [Sharon Wheeler and the blessed FT Bear]
- Another fun newsletter with nice photos. Good to know UBSS is doing well. [Hans Friederich]
- Thanks for such a great read! [Kat Osei-Mensah]
- Oh dear, at first I misread that reference to shameless nagging...😆
I dip in at intervals. Don't like to binge. So I will never win the
wealth and acclaim that comes with being first to read to the end. But I
did count the frogs (but I forget now how many there were). I'd love a
trip down PPH one day! [Mike Simms]
- I did, it was me, I read to the end! [Eve Gilmore]
Now,
who read to the end this time? Late entries accepted! For those new to
the game, there will be a splendid prize for the first person to read to
the end and tell us that you did!
THE END
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