UBSS Monthly Newsletter

Welcome to our sixth monthly newsletter! As you will see, it's been a busy summer for our beloved hut! And for the newsletter, things seem to be taking on a life of their own now, which is also great! I've even had unsolicited contributions, which is the delight of any editors heart, so please do keep the content coming. Contributions can be as short or long as you like, so if you have anything for future newsletters, please let me know. And don't forget to send us some Memories for the 100 Memories project.

Back issues of this newsletter can be found here.

Linda Wilson

SUMMER PARTY: 13th - 14th JULY

Party time is nearly upon us! It would be really helpful is anyone thinking of coming could let me know so I can deal with the catering. If anyone fancies running a barbecue, that would be great, otherwise we'll be cooking stuff inside the hut. So come along and see the newly-refurbished hut, complete with its shiny new roof!

We'll be doing some oral history interviews that weekend as well. If you're intending to come along, please let Linda know so she can coordinate the catering and other arrangements.

BRIGHT AND SHINY - RE-ROOFING THE HUT

Haydon and Henry hard at work.

That’s the hut’s new roof (rumours that pilots approaching Bristol Airport have reported being dazzled by intense sunlight reflecting from the ground have not been substantiated).

Masterminded by Haydon, the UBSS construction team replaced the roof of the hut with brand new panels, as well as digging out the drainage channels at the back of the hut and pressure washing the outside of the building. In addition to Haydon Saunders, club members taking part were Tony Boycott, Rosie Daniels, Simon Hadfield, Henry Morgan, Chris Pepper and Clive Owen. Haydon’s dad deserves a special vote of thanks for providing a pick-up, a comprehensive array of power tools and a lot of sound practical advice.

The pick-up proved its worth not just for delivering the new panels but also for taking away the old wriggly tin. Other jobs that were tackled included putting a new roof on the drying room, waterproofing of the chimney with grey paint and removing a large amount of the ancient rubbish lying around behind the hut.

Clive Owen

THE RAVE IN THE WOODS

Party time!

Hut traverses and plenty more at the party!

With this year’s student exams now a rapidly fading memory, what better way to welcome the long summer break than a party at the newly refurbished UBSS Hut? While the student members arrived to set up the hut and get the party into full swing, Elaine joined Andrew and Sioned for a quick afternoon trip to Upper Flood Swallet to carry a diving bottle to one of the sumps, followed by a diversion to see some of the beautiful calcite formations of Neverland. It was a brisk and energetic return to British caving – and I can confirm that the streamways of Mendip are definitely chillier than those out in Mulu!

We timed our return to the hut impeccably, to be greeted by mugs of Pimms and with the barbecue just about ready to cook. Liberal application of Pimms to students during the day meant we opted to postpone the planned treasure hunt, and instead took a walk to the Iron Age hill fort on Dolebury Warren to watch the sunset, swinging by Read’s on the way back to show some of those who’d never visited just how lofty Burrington chambers can get. Back at the hut, someone had had the fantastic idea of melting chocolate into bananas over the campfire, and these were devoured with gusto!

Si traversing.

The evening descended into the usual selection of late-night caving games, the newest addition being the Hut Traverse (a loop of the interior, then over the roof and back inside, all without touching the floor). A fun time was had by all – and many thanks to the chefs especially!

Elaine Oliver

RESCUE PRACTICE IN EASTWATER

As there aren't any photos of this practice rescue, this isn't Technical Masterpiece, but it is still in Eastwater. Photo courtesy of Peter Glanvill.

UBSS members turned out in force to a rescue practice down Mendip's Eastwater Cavern, where Technical Masterpiece certainly lived up to its name. Dickon describes what went on.

On Sunday 30th June, a number of UBSS members attended a cave rescue practice in Eastwater Cavern. The aim of the practice was to simulate a rescue from one of the more awkward places on Mendip such as Charterhouse Cave, Upper Flood Swallet or the West End Series of Eastwater Cavern by conducting the practice in the Technical Masterpiece.

Clearly the evacuation of a casualty on a stretcher through this passage would be impossible so the aim of the practice was to get the various pieces of rescue equipment such as first aid supplies, rigging gear, the stemple kit and stretcher (broken into two pieces).

The equipment was all successfully carried to the end of the Technical Masterpiece but it was very clear that the stretcher could not be taken through in one piece. An accident in this cave would therefore be very serious and would likely require hospitalisation of a very seriously injured person at the bottom of the cave.

There was a good UBSS contingent on the practice comprising: Dickon Morris, Ashley Gregg, Rosie Daniels, Andrew Atkinson, John Bennets, Si Flower and Sioned Haughton, At the end of the exercise, Andrew Atkinson stressed that most practices are open to all, not just rescue wardens. In the future, these will be advertised on Facebook and in the newsletter.

Dickon Morris

100 MEMORIES - A FRESHER'S TALE

Ian levitating in flares, proving - if any proof was necessary - that the 70s might have been a great decade for music, but it was a bad decade for hair and clothes!

There's a long standing piece of wisdom in UBSS that says anything you agree to after 10pm which involves alcohol isn't binding. Unfortunately no one told this to Ian Cassely in his early days in Bristol...

I don’t remember the freshers’ fair in 1973 but future events suggest I got in with a bad crowd and signed up for the UBSS freshers’ weekend at the hut. I quickly became an addict and ended up caving most weekends (conveniently ignoring the Saturday morning lectures) and, whenever possible, midweek. Unfortunately, my caving ambitions were being thwarted because the more senior student members of the club were reluctant to let me join them on the more interesting trips. With the naivety of youth, I decided on a strategy to resolve this.

A quick look through my newly purchased Complete Caves of Mendip guidebook showed only two serious undertakings at that time: Primrose Pot in Eastwater Cavern (graded 5) and Swildon’s Long Round Trip (graded foolhardy and dangerous). My solution was simple, complete these two trips and gain credibility.
Fortunately, although naïve I wasn’t totally stupid; I realised that embarking on these trips solo with only a few caving trips under my belt might win a Darwin Award. So, I decided to work on the non-student club members. They appeared in Bristol occasionally and would have little or no idea of my caving inexperience. My first target was Julian Walford. Over many beers I convinced him that he needed to go down Primrose Pot again. We set off, swore a bit in the squeeze and tired ourselves out on the ladder pitch. Strategy 50% complete.

I then approached Bob Churcher, again over a few beers, about the Swildon’s Figure of Eight (extension on the Long Round Trip). The damp link was the key challenge. It is necessary to bail the lower duck, squeeze through it and then bail the upper duck which refills the lower duck. This supposedly irreversible section of the route coupled with rumours of bad air in the link deterred many cavers. However, we completed trip successfully in good time.

To my credit I had knocked of the hardest pots on Mendip early in my first year. Two episodes that follow next are not quite so creditworthy. I had achieved my aim; I was invited on the more serious undertakings. However, I also found myself being approached to take others on the Figure of Eight. On the first occasion an ex-student female (unfortunately no longer with us) who was an experienced caver suggested that we should do the Figure of Eight next day. Having already consumed a fair amount of beer it didn’t seem a good idea and as deterrent I said foolishly I would do it for five pints.

Unfortunately, five pints suddenly appeared in front of me and I was trapped. I did manage to get up, assemble my kit to leave at the duly appointed time. As I remember the first bit was ok but the impact of cold water suddenly started to sober me up and bring on the inevitable hangover from hell. I can’t remember how many times I was ill on the way round, but I do recall that my caving partner wasn’t overly impressed. However, we successfully completed the circuit and I even felt human by the time we got out. I decided not to pursue a career as a professional caving guide.

The second episode was when I did the Figure of Eight with Clive Owen. I was sober this time and we were moved fast and were quickly through the damp link. It was here that our problems started. Previously when I had done the trip the area past link was dry and the route obvious. This time it was completely flooded. We spent some time trying to progress though a maze of tight ducks but to no avail. Conventional wisdom stated that the damp link was irreversible. However, we had no alternative but to go back though the two submerged squeezes. Clive being a gentleman and quite a bit smaller than me volunteered to go through first and bail the ducks to give some me airspace on the way through. That we are both here today is proof that the link was reversible. I learnt two important lessons here; don’t always trust conventional wisdom and always cave with someone smaller than yourself.

Ian Cassely

100 MEMORIES - WATER SAMPLING IN GB CAVE

A water collection system in White Passage in 1978.

Dr Hans Friederich FRGS talks about his PhD carried out between 1977 and 1982 in GB.

My PhD involved measuring and analysing the hydro-chemistry of percolation water. I was Professor Pete Smart’s first PhD student, and spent many hours underground. A number of UBSS colleagues helped with moving equipment and taking notes. I also constructed a number of automatic water sampling stations in GB Cave.

A measuring site in White Passage.

In 1982, I was awarded my PhD, on the basis of my research. One of the key findings was the unexpected speed of percolation water when the volume of rain exceeds a threshold, and this creates small temporary waterfalls in the cave. My studies also showed that a significant volume of water is stored in the immediate sub-soil zone of the limestone, which feeds small drips throughout the year.

All-in-all, the work in GB Cave helped us to better understand the underground flow patterns in karst terrain.

100 MEMORIES - ABSENT FRIENDS

Oliver Lloyd taken about 1965, probably in Yorkshire, sitting on the edge of the boot of ‘Shadowfax’, his trusty Oxford Cambridge.

Geoff Wood remembers Oliver Lloyd, UBSS treasurer and Proceedings editor, who died in 1985.

Oliver generously put me up for a couple of weeks while I was moving flats. That was a very interesting experience — he would appear for breakfast in his underpants, dig bones up from his flowerbeds to add to his collection of pathological specimens (no doubt collected from cadavers at the BRI) and served claret at dinner from an ancient decanter with the heaviest sediment I had ever seen….

MUSEUM NEWS - HUNTING HUMANS

Rhiannon and Hazel looking through the material from King Arthur's Cave.

Rhiannon Stevens, Hazel Reade and Tom Dwyer from University College London visited the collection recently and spent a day talking samples from bones from King Arthur's Cave in the Wye valley

They will be using new chemical techniques using bone scraps for species identification from protein sequences as animals and humans have unique protein sequences. To date, there are no known later Upper Palaeolithic human remains from the site but there are lots of cut marks on bones showing people were present. The hunt for humans has begun!

NEWS - SOUTH WALES ROAD CLOSURES

Adrian Wilkins provides an update on some roadworks that will affect anyone caving in South Wales.

There are major roadworks in place in south Wales, in particular on the Heads of the Valleys road (the A465) between Gilwern/Abergavenny and Brynmawr. This is the section up the Clydach Gorge which is being widened to dual carriageway, and is closed to ALL traffic for the foreseeable future.

This means that the "old route" to the SWCC and OFD from Bristol via the M4/M48, Chepstow, Devauden, Llansoy, Raglan and Abergavenny is now out of the question and the only real alternative is to take the M4 all the way to Cardiff and turn north at Junction 32 up the A470. Many people use this route anyway although it is far less scenic. However, all west-east traffic that once used the Heads of the Valleys route is now using the M4, and traffic is absolutely diabolical as a result (it was frequently at a standstill on the weekend of 8th-9th June). The advice would be to leave early and come back late.

It also means that if you are planning a trip to Ogof Draenen (which lies under Gilwern Hill and The Blorenge) you will have to approach from the south via Pontypool and Blaenavon (various routes from the M4 at J25A and the A4042, A472, A4043 and then the B roads.

Lastly, these roadworks have also closed the bridge across the A465 at Brynmawr which leads to the Llangattock escarpment and the Whitewalls caving hut (and hence to Ogof Draenen and Agen Allwydd ). If you are planning a trip here, take the "old route" as above to Abergavenny, then the A40 to Crickhowell, turn south over the River Usk and up the unclassified roads through Llangattock village and up the steep hill to Whitewalls.

Just beware, if you are planning on going further west (for example the waterfalls walks near the Talybont Reservoir) , the B4558 alongside the Monmouth and Brecon canal is also closed between Crickhowell and Llangynidr. So to get to Talybont-on-Usk stay on the A40 through Bwlch and a further 2½ miles to the hard left turn back to Talybont, then right at the T-junction through the village and then follow the signposts.

One other road closure of note is the A465 up the Wye Valley between Chepstow and St Arvans (across the Chepstow race course) which probably means that trips to Otter Hole (with its famous tidal sump) are problematic at the present time.

Lastly, beware - there are average speed cameras on the M48 and the old Severn Bridge.

Happy motoring ! At least the Severn crossings are now free.

Adrian

2019 CALENDAR

Don't forget to get these dates in your diary!

13th July, Huge party for everyone at the Hut. We're hoping to get as many members as possible to the Hut for a weekend party consisting of lots of food, singing and even caving!

19th - 21st July, University of Bristol Reunion Weekend and Reunion Lunch in the Wills Memorial Building

27th September, University of Bristol Students' Union Welcome Fair

25th-27th October, SUICRO Symposium in Carrick, Co Leitrim including the Irish launch for Caves of Mid-West Ireland.

8th November. 7pm in the Stables. Book launch for Caves of Mid-West Ireland, the successor to all the society's previous guidebooks to Clare and the surrounding areas.

9th - 10th November, UBSS Centenary Symposium in the School of Geographical Science. There will be a programme of talks on Saturday 9th November including the Bristol book launch for Caves of Mid-West Ireland, the successor to all the society's previous guidebooks to Clare and the surrounding areas , On Sunday there will be various field trips.