TRAVELS BENEATH THE EARTH - CELEBRATING THE UBSS CENTENARY
Well, we did it, folks, we pulled
off a centenary symposium that did the society, past and present,
proud! And we can justifiably claim 100 for the 100th!
UBSS twitter mascot Whatley Mammoth inspecting the comestibles before giving them a mammoth seal of approval.
We started the weekend in style with
celebratory cake made by our esteemed president for new and older
members alike in the Stables.
Attendance exceeded all our expectations and there was a great turn out
from current students, alumni and others in the caving community. We
were joined by the Lord Mayor of Bristol, Councillor Jos Clark, and
Nigel Taylor, the Chair of Somerset County Council. Jos, herself a
caver, is a long-time friend of the society, as is Nigel, a member of
the BEC.
Lord Mayor Jos Clark with Whatley.
The Geography Department were amazing, and
we owe them a huge thanks for hosting us so well. David Richards from
Geography, also a UBSS member, was part of the organising committee that
consisted of myself, Gina Mosely and Andy Farrant. Thanks are also due
to Estates Assistant Matt Burt who helped to look after us so well on
the day. It was so nice to see that the relationship with Geography
remains so strong, as one of the things that came out of our Oral
History Project led by Andy Flack was how many members have come to the
club through the Geography Department, which Andy touched on in the
first talk of the day.
Rick Schulting, aided by you know who, failing to gross out the audience with detail.
The lectures were all great and the keynote
talk from Rick Schulting was a complete eye-opener on the subject of
Bronze Age cannibalism on Mendip. The audience listened with rapt
attention as Rick described the unmistakeable hallmarks of humans
butchering other humans, including evidence of gnawed finger bones!
Bonfire night parties at the hut will now seem positively tame by
comparison. It even topped the sight some years ago of Paul Harvey
picking at scraps of meat on a sheep's vertebra that had been outside in
the rain going cold for several hours. Rick will have to up his game
though, if he gives the talk to other cavers in the future as he didn't
manage to gross anyone out, but then he's not yet had the pleasure of a
hut barbecue, so he didn't know quite how low cavers' standards can be!
The following day, Rick had the pleasure of a trip down the cave he's
been studying so closely, and more of that later...
We were also joined for the weekend by Peter Burgess, one of the editors of Darkness Below, who's done a full write up of the day,
so do hop over there and read in more detail what we got up to on the
symposium weekend, and I'll add in some selected highlights below as
well.
The poster entrants and the judges, from
left to right, David Richards (judge), Sophie Chambi-Trowell (University
of Bristol, current Tratman Scholar), Andy Farrant (judge), Tim Pearson
(Royal Holloway, researching the UBSS Rhinoceros Hole collection), Jos
Clark (judge, without Whatley, for once), Adele Brickling (winner),
Eirini Konstantinidi (University of Cardiff, researching mortuary
treatment in southwest caves), Gina Mosely (judge).
We had a room packed with poster
presentations, with four from students. The winner of the best student
poster prize was Adele Brickling from Cardiff University who presented
her work on the UBSS collection from Backwell Bone Cave.
We had some excellent live tweeting during the day thanks to UBSS member Nathan Cubitt and Adele using #UBSS100. If you're on twitter check out what was happening and follow them and Whatley! And retweet some of the picccies. It's never too late for positive publicity!
So thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success, from
the wonderful speakers to the fully engaged audience! And thanks to Andy
Farrant for a GB field trip on Sunday, Alan Gray of the Axbridge CC and
Gina for the Shute Shelve trip and Graham for his immense patience
while I wittered on outside Aveline's to a very polite audience before
he did the bits inside the cave.
There'll never be another symposium quite like ours, and a piece of
advice to any of our successors who might organise one in 100 years
time.... start planning early, and I mean really, really early, it'll
definitely help! So here's to the next 100 Years of Faff! And all credit
to the team who wielded sparklers and took photos to such good effect
at the Bonfire weekend! We owe them our new header and banner!
Linda Wilson
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FAREWELL TO DR PETER STANDING
Peter Standing, front bottom right, at the centenary symposium/
I'm very sorry to bear the sad news that
long-standing UBSS member Peter Standing has died. Peter joined the
society in the mid-1960s and was a very active caver and cave diver and
was also the society's librarian.
Peter, who had been ill for a while, made a huge effort to attend the
centenary symposium and we were delighted that he was able to join us
for the day and to hear, amongst other things, Andy Flack's talk on the
oral history project, as Peter's generosity to the society was a major
factor in the success of this project. He was also credited in Dick
Willis' talk with being the person who single-handedly wrecked Dick's
apparently promising academic career by sensibly refusing to pass him as
fit to go diving, so Dick turned to caving instead. The rest, as they
say, is history. When questioned by Peter after the talk about the
direction said promising career might have taken, Mr Willis was
unusually lost for words.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter for the Oral History Project
and hearing his fascinating story of his caving and diving career. A
full obituary will appear in the next Proceedings and we'll be reading
Peter's story in his own words in future issues of the newsletter. Our
sincere condolences go to Peter's family.
Linda Wilson
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CAVING ODDITY (with apologies to David Bowie)
Rick approaching the squeeze in Charterhouse Warren. Look at that happy smile! Photo by Elaine.
Singing and songwriting is a
tradition that goes back right to the beginning of the society in 1919,
and to commemorate his trip down the cave of his dreams on the symposium
weekend, Rick Schulting was moved to follow in those earlier footsteps
and record his exploits in song....
UBSS Control to Oxford don
UBSS Control to Oxford don
Take your caving light and put your helmet on
UBSS Control to Oxford don
Commencing descent, anchor on
Check carabiner and may Tratman be with you
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Lift down
This is UBSS Control to Oxford don
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose wellies you wear
Now it’s time to twist the corkscrew, if you dare
This is Oxford don to UBSS Control
I’m stepping through the floor
And I’m falling in a most peculiar way
And the rocks look very different today
For here…
Am I stuck inside in a tight place
Far below the earth
I need to use the loo
But there’s nothing I can do
Though I’m past point 0186 miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my body’s very stuck below
Tell my dogs I love them very much they know
UBSS Control to Oxford don
Your ass is stuck, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Oxford don?
Can you hear me, Oxford don?
Can you hear me, Oxford don?
Can you… Here am I stuck inside in a tight place
Far below the earth
I need to use the loo
But there’s nothing I can do
Lyrics by Rick Schulting, tune by someone with considerably less experience of dismembering people.
Henry below the squeeze, avoiding ritual
dismemberment. Ali and Elaine have very sensibly stayed well out of the
way of an archaeologist who knows 40 different ways of cutting them up
for breakfast. Photo by Elaine.
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GO BIG OR GO HOME
The Workshop. Photo by Elaine.
UBSS members head north (but not too far north) for some history and big pitches. Elaine recounts what went on...
Derbyshire:
home of mines, lots of radon and the location of my first SRT trip with
UBSS a number of years ago. As the club gears up to initiate this
year’s freshers into the world of vertical caving, the Peak District
felt a fitting place to refresh my own ropework, having managed to avoid
needing to use this skill in a cave since August.
James
Hall’s Over Engine Mine was the chosen spot, so it was off to Rowter
Farm to pay our fee and say hello to a very barky dog, a friendly horse
and some rather menacing sheep before playing hunt the entrance in the
thick fog. To our great surprise we walked straight there, and it wasn’t
long before a rope was hanging down the 50 m entrance shaft and I heard
“rope free” float up from below. The brand-new 9 mm proved rather
“exciting” on the descent – my stop became a go and despite my best
efforts I still had to prusik up a little to clip in to the rebelay! I
reached the floor in a much more sedate fashion, then we proceeded along
the Cartgate to Bitch Pitch, trying not to think about the floor or
touch the ceiling.
Bitch
Pitch was a little awkward with a tackle bag, but offered the kind of
SRT I enjoy – lots of working out the optimum angle of approach! At the
bottom I was presented with a choice of routes: low and wet, or low and
dry. I chose dry, which turned out to be correct because I emerged to
find Haydon in a chamber called The Workshop, which is filled with the
remains of lots of old mining equipment, including a 200-year-old
wheelbarrow, and sits directly above our third and final pitch of the
day – Leviathan.
As
the name suggests, this pitch is not particularly small – it’s 80 m
deep, to be precise. I’ve descended bigger pitches in the past, but
feeling a little rusty I found myself checking and double checking my
own equipment and the rigging before taking off. Once underway, though,
the abseil was both pleasant and impressive, and the massive natural
vein cavity provided excellent acoustics for a mid-ab chanson.
Always a fun one halfway down an 80 m pitch. Photo by Elaine.
However, pints at the Cheese were calling,
so having landed on the Boulder Piles at the bottom of Leviathan, there
was just time for a quick run around to find the ways on to various
other locations of interest before beginning the long prusik out. The
ascent began uneventfully, but Bitch Pitch with 150 m of soaking wet
rope strapped to me and doing its best to get wound up in the rope I was
trying to climb certainly lived up to its name! Note to self, bring a
minion next time...
As
I passed the rebelay on the entrance shaft, Haydon suddenly announced
he had lost his hand jammer, so he disappeared to look for it –
presumably it had to be somewhere along the Cartgate as he had managed
to get this far up the cave! This gave me plenty of time to admire the
ginging around the shaft and work out how on earth I was going to lift
the ridiculously heavy metal lid covering the top of it. As Haydon
returned triumphant with his jammer (from almost as far back as the
previous pitch head!), after several attempts I finally gained the
momentum to flip the lid and we were released into the foggy night air,
and thence down the hill into Castleton for a welcome pint. In fact, it
was so welcome I had a second.
Elaine Oliver
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FROM ROUFFY WITH LOVE....
Few people know that Mendip caves are home to a rare survivor from the Pleistocene... Photo by Cara.
As most people will know by now,
the UBSS museum is personified on social media by that scene-stealing
mammoth, Whatley, named after a 14,000 year old mammoth tooth from
Whatley Quarry. Whatley can be followed on twitter @UBSSmuseum.
What isn't so widely know, though, is that Whatley has a younger
cousin, Rouffy, who travels with Cara Hulse. Rouffy has recently penned a
letter to Whately about his travels, and he's even done some caving...
Dear Whatley,
I am sorry that it has been a while since I wrote to you last. I have
had a very busy year hunting out some new caves to explore.
My adventure started with a trip to Mexico.
Mammoths are apparently very partial to Tequila and Tortillas. It was
initially not a successful start as I was obviously searching in all the
wrong places. The closest I managed to achieve was this fictitious cave
in Tlaltizapan. The only saving grace was my fantastic tan!
My next journey led me to Wales where
surprisingly the weather was warm. Unfortunately, here my caving antics
were again minimal. I blame my carer's inability to find any suitable
locations. That said, I did enjoy playing in the sea and making
sandcastles and at least these rocks are real.
Rouffy (top right posing with Cara (top left) and Elaine (below).
I finally made it to the Mendips, where I
had the best time. The first trip down Pierre's Pot (Upper series)
turned out to be a difficult fit for a mammoth to fit down the slot! I
had a fabulous time and this type of caving suits me down to the ground.
The slight downside was that I did get super muddy and soggy, which is
not good for my fur, Ooops! It took me a whole week to eventually dry
out. The day ended on a high note with a great social evening in the hut
- definitely the best accommodation in the Mendips.
I am now looking forward to future adventures.
Much love Rouffy x
Editor's note: there is a random prize awaiting the first person who can tell me where Rouffy gets his name from.
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NEW YEAR'S EVE DINNER AT THE HUT
If you think there are some odd
rituals that take place at Bonfire Weekend and CHECC, then it's high
time you came along to the New Year's Eve dinner at the Hut where we
solemnly and not-so-solemnly perform the rituals that ensure the sun
will rise on New Year's Day. Well, it continues to happen, so we must be
doing something right....
We normally gather at the Hut between 7pm -
9pm and aim to eat around 9.30pm. There will be a full turkey dinner
and all the trimmings, with a veggie alternative if requested. Bring
whatever you want to drink and about £10 to cover the cost. If you need
transport from Bristol, let me know and I'll do my best to help arrange
something for you. Some people stay overnight, some head back to Bristol
sometime after midnight. It's all very relaxed.
Rituals include singing and drinking and 'sneezing' to absent friends.
Yep, I told you it was all a bit weird, didn't I? But the club has been
doing this in one form or other since 1919 and legend has it that during
the Second World War, Lauren's great-grandfather, Bertie Crook, cycled
out there with a turkey (or maybe turkey sandwiches) and performed the
rituals by himself so that there was no break in tradition.
If you'd like to come along, please let me know as soon as you can
for catering purposes, but in practice we follow the UBSS tradition of
being 'never knowingly under-catered' so we never turn away latecomers.
Linda Wilson
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PHOTO CORNER
In the last newsletter, we had a
photo with a couple of unidentified faces, so there was an appeal to the
UBSS hive mind. Within a matter of minutes, Mike Ballister supplied the
information that the missing names were that of Tony Stockdale (left)
and Cliff Ollier (right).
The full line up for the UBSS in Ballynalackan Hotel, Co Clare, circa
1953 now reads, from left to right: Tony Stockdale, Trat, Harding
Jenkins, Cliff Ollier, Terry Piercy, Angus Watkins, Mike Balister. Photo
by Geoff Fuller.
Mike also supplied the information that Cliff Ollier now has his own Wikipedia page!
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100 MEMORIES - WETSUITS AND CONTORTIONISM
Just to prove that contortionist tendencies
are nothing new, here's a shot of Steve Trudgill from 1968 outside the
Little Neath River Cave in South Wales, trying - with limited success it
seems - to extricate himself from the trousers he'd been wearing over
his home-made wetsuit. The photo was taken by Isabel Buckingham and is
used with her permission.
And here's a photo of Steve (second from left) taken at the symposium
with Eve Gilmour (left), Tony Boycott (third from left) and Isabel
Buckingham (right). This group were, with others, all involved in the
discovery and exploration of the Little Neath River Cave.
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