UBSS Monthly Newsletter

Yes, the sun does sometimes shine on Mendip! Thanks to Charmaine Sew for the header photo taken on the first weekend.

The term got off to a busy start with the Welcome Fair and the packed chilli night hosted at Sam and Megan's house. This has been followed by busy pub nights and even busier away weekends to our hut on Mendip and to South Wales, with both weekends fully booked very quickly. New members have been introduced to a variety of caves, both large and small, and a good time seems to have been had by all! The Welsh weekend included trips into OFD Top, Cwn Dwr, Agen Allwedd and Ogof Draenen.

We're offering prizes in each newsletter for the best trip write ups received from new members, so please keep these coming, and to give you an idea of the sort of thing we're very happy to receive check out what Charmaine and Quingyuan have written. Prizes will be winging their way to both of you soon, with presentations in the pub! Any of the trips mentioned above and others are most welcome.

Many thanks to everyone who's helped make the start of term such a success! We are Worm!

You can find all the back issues of the monthly newsletter online. So if you're sitting in a dull lecture, take a look at what the club has been up to recently.

Zac and Linda

UBSS DATA PROTECTION POLICY

Before we get onto the fun bit, we need to do some housekeeping for the sake of our new members, so Graham Mullan (our treasurer who maintains our membership records and acts as data controller) has put together a short note on our data protection policy.

This will be perhaps the first or second Monthly Newsletter that some of you will have received. Obviously this means that we have some data of yours – eg your email address – and the society does have a Data Protection Policy.

Anyone who wishes to see the full policy can contact me at as the designated data controller, but in a nutshell, we hold just enough information to enable us to maintain contact with our membership: emails, postal addresses, telephone numbers. This information is shared only amongst those committee members who need it and also with the British Caving Association (BCA), of which you all become members on joining the Society, as your membership of the BCA brings with it the benefit of the insurance we need for our caving activities. Neither we nor BCA share your data any further than that without express permission of the individual, in situations such as insurance claims etc.

We also hold email addresses, only, for friends of the Society who have asked to receive this Newsletter. They are not shared any further.

Anyone who wishes to see what information we hold on them and thinks it may need correction should contact me at the email address above.

Graham Mullan

BONFIRE WEEKEND AT THE HUT

There'll be a bigger bonfire than this, honestly! Photo taken from a video by Charmaine Sew.
The traditional UBSS Bonfire Weekend is being held at our Hut in Burrington on 5th/6th November with caving, a lamb roast/veggie alternative and beer! And, of course, the infamous Squeeze Machine...

If you would like to go, please contact Zac Woodford asap and no later than 5pm on 4th November either on Facebook or by email.

TRAINING AND MIDWEEK CAVING

Ladder training on the recent South Wales Weekend. Photo by Zac Woodford.
As well as organised weekends, the club offers other opportunities for those new to caving to participate in our activities.

The best way to get involved is come along to meet us in the pub. Our regular pub is the Eldon in Clifton, with other 'guest pubs' featuring as well. The weekly pub meet will be advertised in the caving chat on Facebook, so do find us there and ask to be added to the group chat if you're not there already. Social Secretary Ben Alterman keeps everyone informed of the weekly pub meet. Midweek caving trips are usually organised in the pub, but if you can't make it along there, do contact Midweek Caving Officer Zac Woodford wither on Facebook or by email and he'll do his best to sort you out with a trip. You will need to have signed up as a member in the SU site before going caving for insurance purposes.

There will also be training sessions for those wanting to learn ladder and rope techniques as these will be needed in particular for trips to Yorkshire and Derbyshire later in the term. Again, please contact Zac, as he's also organising the training sessions.

UNDER A BLANKET OF STARS

Photo by Charmaine Sew.
Our two weekends of the new term were busy ones! New members Charmaine Sew and Quingyuan Huang have a few words to say about their first experiences of the club, with Charmaine talking about Mendip and Quingyuan saying a few words about Wales.

A couple of us headed off to the Mendips for the freshers' weekend. As the name implies, there were many new faces but it was still good fun!

As usual, we broke up into different groups to head into different caves. There was a bit of a kit shortage (donations always welcomed?) but in any case, it all still worked out.

The Saturday passed paradoxically slowly yet quickly. Some of us did one cave while others managed two. As the day passed some got the bonfire going while others helped out in the kitchen. We had piping hot pasta and the highlight of the meal was probably the halloumi that disappeared in a matter of seconds. (Well actually to be fair, any food is good in the outdoors so..you be the judge).

The infamous Squeeze Machine in action! From a film clip by Mia Jacobs.
The night was spent basking in the bonfire’s heat, taking on one another on the squeeze machine, drinking carton wine and walking up the hill.

As with every other outdoor trip, nothing beats the feeling of sitting on top of a hill, under a blanket of stars with a group of people that share the same love and awe for the natural world.

Charmaine Sew

First weekend in Wales. Photo by Zac Woodford.
I would like to say that this caving was absolutely a wonderful life experience. The old members took good care of the new members, from the equipment preparation to caving activity.

In the hut, I also experienced a warm and lively family atmosphere. With the help of everyone, I adapted quickly as a newcomer. My heartfelt thanks to you all.

Quingyuan Huang.

WE ARE WORM!

Thanks to Merryn Matthews, we can now all have UBSS stickers to ... er ... stick on things!

The 'We are Worm' design was created by Merryn. The crest is the UBSS's very own shield.

These cost 50p each or three for £1. Available in the pub from Merryn or by post (postage extra) from our Sales Manager. Please specify which ones you want. There's a limit of two worm stickers per person.

WORMING AROUND IN PIERRE'S POT

Mia at the Hut, before (or after) the trip!
No first trip to Mendip these days seems complete without a visit to Pierre's Pot, the underground equivalent of the Squeeze Machine, but without all your friends standing around and drinking beer. Elliott McCall and Mia Jacobs headed in that direction with some new members in tow for classic worm antics and both Mia and Elliott have done write ups, with Mia coming first, as befits our esteemed Prezz...

HIPS DON'T LIE

Dan hyped to go caving!
The morning after too much ‘mead 2018’,Mia grumpily prepared to lead with Elliott in Pierre’s Pot with James Hatvany, Alex Blencowe, Simon Payne and Dan Hill.

We had been well prepared by the squeeze machine on Saturday night and our group made it to the bottom in good time. The streamway was just a puddle, so we decided to waste some time by poking our noses down the crawl that’s usually too wet to bother looking in, where Dan made the wonderful discovery of clay. We then had a great time crafting sculptures for the next cavers to enjoy, including a cock and balls, a shark, and another cock and balls.

Simon reclines after the joys of the trip.
We wriggled our way back out with ‘hips don’t lie’ as our mantra while I was outshone by our (importantly) male freshers. Going up the slot bypass proved to be the trickiest part of our trip and everyone tackled it amazingly. Our hangovers had been sufficiently wrung out of us.

Mia Jacobs

ELLIOT'S HIPS MIGHT HAVE TOLD A SLIGHT FIB ...

The Slot Bypass.
In which we learn that Elliott wasn't listening when Mia was chanting 'hips don't lie' ...

The trip began with a detour up the hill to find the cave having missed the obvious entrance on the way up. We quickly made our way to the slot which I slithered down to show to the freshers that you were unlikely to get stuck, and then Mia and I began encouraging everyone to go down it. One by one people posted themselves down the tight slot. Some mild congestion built up at the bottom since I was helping people get down the slot from below and Mia was encouraging from above and a pile of people sitting awkwardly in the small chamber began to form.

Oh the enduring appeal of sculpting cocks and balls in clay!
We then continued down the tight passage thinking wormy thoughts as we made our way to the ‘streamway’ which due to the extremely dry weather was nothing more than a trickle. We followed the stream along to the climb up to the dig and some of intrepid new cavers followed the streamway all the way down to where it got tight and unpleasant enough to encourage them to turn around. (But not without first bringing back a handful of clay!)

We chatted for a bit while making clay sculptures of a pot, a dolphin, and several phalluses. We then realizing we had been having such a good time were now running a smidge late so began to make our way out of the cave.

No one else fancied crawling up the slot so I figured I would give it a go while the others went through the bypass. Having made my way all the way to the top, head poking out, I slipped back down and gave up. After some brief confusion as to the relative locations of Simon, who had gone on ahead, and the exit, which definitely couldn't have moved, we came back out into the sunlight happy and content.

All-in-all an excellent caving trip for the first Mendip weekend of the year!!

Elliott McCall

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE PUB ...

Photo by Charmaine Sew.
People went caving, of course! What on earth did you think we were going to say?

To many people's surprise, Bristol contains a lot of caves, from enormous holes in the ground such as Pen Park Hole in Southmead, to somewhat smaller spaces such as the cave shown above, known as Observatory Hill Cave.

The entry for this in Volume 1 of Somerset Underground by Rob Taviner reads as follows:

"Located in a small quarry at the rear of a children's playground, this cave consists of a single, rubble-strewn and moderately roomy chamber. It is entered via a small hole cut into the top corner of a much larger archway, which was walled up in 1955. Local legend holds that it was once possible to follow this down to the base of the gorge. Lead was also present in that vicinity and Rev. Alexander Catcott reported seeing galena in a fissure on the downs close to Litfield Place." The grid reference for the cave is ST 5666 7325.

There are loads of small caves and even some larger ones in Bristol, and plenty in easy reach of most pub nights, so invest in a copy of Somerset Underground Vol 1 and start exploring! Price £10, and if anyone wants one, let us know and we'll see if we can get some copies to sell in the pub.

Your next challenge is to find Bridge Cave (alternative name Lower Cave). This has featured in a past newsletter, so start hunting ...

BLOODY SOGGY DRAENEN

Entrance series, Ogof Draenen.
Zac, Merryn, Ryan, Charmaine and Alex went out to Draenen on the Sunday of the Wales weekend and, as Zac reports, it was a tad on the damp side.

All the photos in this write up are screenshots taken, with permission, from the film Ogof Draenen: The Journey to Dollimore Series, Part 1 The Entrance to Fault Chambers by Andy and Antonia Freem. You can follow their channel, Catchpool1 on YouTube and watch this film in full if you fancy trying the trip.

This was the first time any of us had been to Draenen. As we were getting changed the weather became exceedingly Welsh. Merryn also misplaced her phone in the car somewhere with the description, so going off her memory we made our way to the entrance.

Arty shot of wet bits in the dug shaft.
We were all thoroughly drenched by the time we got there, which was just as well as much of the entrance series was indistinguishable from Swildons on a bad day. We had to shimmy down the rift after the frontal crawl amidst a waterfall. Being so drenched meant that when we did finally get to the big stuff we could only go as far as a roped climb before turning around and swiftly exiting.

Proof that it does get bigger!
Once out, providence graced us with sunny weather which we swiftly capitalised on to change quickly and head back. Not the best intro to Draenen but having seen the big stuff I am keen to go back some time.

Zac Woodford

SOUTH WALES WEEKEND PHOTO DIARY

Merryn (left) appears stunned at the sight of flowers on the table at dinner. Note the handy OFD survey in the background for anyone who wants to take notes or photos before going caving. Photo by Zac Woodford.

The traditional Burning of the Pumpkin ceremony. Photo from a video by Dan Hill.

Ryan and Alex practising rescue techniques. Photo by Zac Woodford.

Charmaine, Ryan and Dan in top Entrance, OFD. Happy to go in, or happy to get out? Photo by Simon Hadfield.

To prove that some caving was done. Charmaine and Ryan. Photo by Simon Hadfield.

Always remember to take a back up light on a caving trip. Photo by Ash Gregg.

And we're reliably informed that a good time was had by all! With thanks to all those who shared photos of the weekend and we hope this small selection gives you a flavour of what went on.

BANWELL BONE CAVE

Jan Walker beside one of the bone stacks in Bone Chamber. Photo by Linda Wilson.
UBSS/Axbridge Caving Club member Colin Rogers recently organised an event for cavers at Banwell Caves, providing a great opportunity to visit both the Bone Cave and the Stalactite Cave. Linda Wilson went along with Jan Walker and Tony Boycott.

The Banwell Caves are in the grounds of a house in Banwell near Mendip, and are open on certain days a year by arrangement with the owners. I hadn't visited the caves for years so when an opportunity presented itself, I was keen to revisit the Bone Cave. I joined BEC members Martin Grass and Stuart McManus who were taking some CO2 readings in the caves while Jan and Tony wombled around in the first chamber as Jan had recently hurt her leg, and found it rather less bendable than she'd hoped.

Mac taking CO2 readings. Photo by Linda Wilson.
The bone cave is famous for he plethora of Pleistocene animal bones discovered there in the early 19th century, and one of the impressive bone stacks left by William Beard can still be seen in the first chamber. The cave was opened to the public from 1825 until 1864.

Formations in Ruby Chamber, Photo by Linda Wilson.
The cave is 100m long with a vertical range of 20m. From Bone Chamber, a 3m climb assisted by a fixed steel ladder leads to a hands and knees crawl and a squeeze over an inclined slab into Ruby Chamber. The rib I cracked nine months ago didn't thank me for that afterwards! A short crawl leads from here to the Galleries, a large chamber 15m long and 2m high, with fractured stalagmites on a sloping scree floor. A short climb leads into Frozen River Grotto with more plentiful decorations.

Formations in Ruby Chamber. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Banwell Bone Cave is an interesting short caving trip and on an open day can be combined with a trip into the longer Stalactite Cave, also in the grounds of the same house.

Linda Wilson

COMMON OR GARDEN RIGGING

Thanks to Haydon's willingness to drill holes in the walls of his garage, UBSS members are able to practise their rigging skills on the surface, as Mia Jacobs demonstrates.

We're not quite sure where he acquired the standing stone from, but it makes a good garden version of a natural belay. The colour of the outside wall isn't quite so natural, though!

Thanks to Haydon and Mia for showing what can be achieved with a little UBSS creative ingenuity!

MORE TALES FROM THE EMERALD ISLE

Inflatable unicorns aren't what most people think of when essential equipment for a surveying trip in Coolagh, Co Clare is being put together, but as anyone who's been to Ireland in recent years will know, no trip is complete without one.

And if words fail you, a picture is worth a thousand, or so we're told.

As ever, Zac celebrated his birthday in style, then after a hard day surveying, Renaissance Man relaxed in style back at the cottage.

So as you can see, it's not all nose to the grindstone on the annual Irish trip!

Thanks to everyone who contributed log entries and artwork!

And for those who would like to know more about what went on, expedition coordinator Ashley Gregg has put together a few facts and figures about the work carried out between 28 August to 9 September 2022 by a team consisting of, Mia Jacobs, Merryn Mathews, Zac Woodford, Dan Runcan, Jake Reich, Ben Alterman, Rob Watson and Yi-chun Chen.

Zac Woodford on the Chert Waterfall just above Balcombe's Pot in Coolagh River Cave. Photo by Yi-Chun Chen.
During the summer break of 2022, a group of the keenest UBSS cavers travelled out to County Clare in Ireland in order to conduct a cave surveying expedition.

We made our way over on the ferry, setting up base in a cottage near the Burren. This year the main project of the trip was continuing the re-surveying of the Coolagh River Cave. This large system, over six kilometres long, has not been surveyed to modern standards and numerous new sections of passage have been discovered since the original survey. Fun and sporting trips were also held to Ailwee cave, Doolin cave, Cullaun One, Faunarooska and Poulnagollum. The opportunity to visit the beaches and cliffs (where we were lucky enough to see dolphins) provided variety on our days off.

The weather proved to be only a minor issue for the expedition. Under high water conditions the caves are not suitable for exploration and the expedition was careful not to take any risks in this respect.

We surveyed as two teams, working on different areas of the cave. One team generally focused on a series of bedding caves in the Eastern branch of the cave, crawling along gravel banks and across pools of water. The other team surveyed from the Chert Waterfall up to the ducks near the North Entrance, climbing up small cascades and meandering through narrow canyon passages. This concluded a large loop between the multiple entrances. progressed from previous surveyed passage from the North entrance. In addition, approximately 200m of new cave was discovered, named “the Delightful Bedding” off of the Second Bedding.

The Main Drain, Coolagh River Cave. Photo by Yi-Chun Chen.
For several members this was also there first time surveying, learning on the job. We were able to progress fairly quickly, using our DISTOX laser measures and PDAs to draw up the map of the cave. This equipment was incredibly useful, and allowed us to complete most of the work we did accurately and in good time. A total of 1565m of cave was surveyed throughout the expedition.

Our work left it clear that continued work in the Coolagh River cave, and the rest of the Burren, will be necessary. The UBSS will continue its work in documenting the caves of Ireland and will publish our findings in a report for the next edition of Proceedings.

The expedition members (Ashley Gregg, Mia Jacobs, Merryn Mathews, Zac Woodford, Dan Runcan, Jake Reich, Ben Alterman, Rob Watson and Yi-chun Chen) are very grateful for the support received for the expedition from the Tratman Fund of the University of Bristol and the Oliver Lloyd Memorial Fund.

Ashley Gregg

AWARDED (AT LAST)!

Three dimensional sculpture by Ceris Jones. Photo showing front, middle and back of the award.
The highly prestigious Tratman Award is given annually to the best caving publication of the year. In 2019, this award went to The Caves of Mid-West Ireland, published by UBSS and edited by Graham Mullan.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the presentation of the award, a handmade sculpture by artist Ceris Jones was delayed, but this finally took place at the 2022 British Cave Research Association Symposium and AGM in Manchester. The trophy was presented to Graham by BCRA Chair John Gunn.

John Gunn (left, Graham Mullan (right).
The sculpture cleverly evokes the front cover of the book, with a caver disappearing into the narrow darkness of Pollnageh in Co Clare.

Copies of the book can be obtained from UBSS Sales Manager Jan Walker at the discounted price of £15 (+p&p) for members.

A write up on the award and the runners up for that year can be found on the caving website Darkness Below.

LAUNCHED!

Graham Mullan at SUI launching the new book.
And while we're on the subject of books, Graham Mullan and Linda Wilson attended the annual symposium of the Speleological Union of Ireland (SUI) to meet up with old friends and launch the UBSS's latest guidebook, The Caves of southern Ireland, as Linda relates ...

The journey to Ireland doesn't get any nicer in winter, with heavy rain on the way out and on the way back and the obligatory boring time spent on the quay waiting to board, but once on the other side of the Irish Sea, things always seem to look up. We'd had an order for new books from Crag Cave in Castleisland, Co Kerry, which is featured on the front cover of the book, so the obvious thing to do was take a detour on our way to Ballyvaughan in Co Clare, where the symposium was being held. In fact, due to recent heavy rain, we took several detours as the Blackwater River had burst its banks in numerous places, flooding the roads to the extent that roads had been closed to prevent over-optimistic motorists from stranding themselves.

Formations in Crag Cave.
Once at Crag, the only difficulty we faced was the usual one of not eating yourself into a food coma as the Geaney's fabled hospitality certainly hasn't changed over the years. It was lovely to see Margaret Geaney again after many years (and she can still rival Mrs Doyle from Father Ted with offers of breakfast, soup, sandwiches and cake!). We chatted to Margaret, now retired from the day-to-day running of the cave and her daughter in law, Lisa, who was instrumental in bringing in a self-guided system in the cave to help surmount the twin challenges of lower visitor numbers during Covid and high radon levels, which formerly meant all staff had to be pressed into service as guides.

One of the formations on the left clearly has no fucks left to give!
We downloaded a copy of the audio commentary and set off for a quick trip around the cave. It was really nice to see Crag again and to catch up with old friends and make new ones!

Then it was on to the Hyland's Hotel in Ballyvaughan for a relatively sober first evening, catching up with many more old friends and selling books to anyone who lingered in our vicinity for too long!

Flowstone cascade, Aillwee Cave.
On Saturday, we teamed up with fellow UBSS member Mike Simms and wombled off to Aillwee Cave to deliver more books, both old and new, and again we were invited to tour the showcave to look at their new recently installed LED lighting. We had an excellent trip in company with guide Dave Bennett who, despite only starting work at the cave just before Covid came along to trouble us all, now knows the place like the back of his hand, and was able to unerringly point out even the smallest fossils in the dark rock of the cave walls.

Fossil gastropod. Dave's finger for scale.
The new LED lighting has been excellently installed, and beautifully picks out the phreatic roof tube and other geological features in the cave. There are also two lovely little light displays, the first of a bear near the hibernation pits in the cave and the second of bats towards the end of the trip in the exit tunnels.

Projection of a flying bat.
The three of us were blown away by how well the new lights enhanced the cave. New paths have also been installed throughout much of the cave so that the cabling could be buried out of sight. A huge amount of work has been done and it really does look most impressive.

The obligatory 'bunch of parsnips' formation that no self-respecting showcave can be without.
After that it was down to The Rock Shop in Liscannor to drop off more books and back via Fanore for a good catch up with old caving friend Carl Wright who has created the most amazing garden at Cahir Bridge Cottage. If you're ever in the area, do contact Carl and drop in to see him. The garden is absolutely stunning! You can also have a cold swim off Fanore beach if you're feeling intrepid.

George Linnane talking about his rescue from OFD.
Saturday evening, as ever, was less sedate, and naturally we had to take advantage of the clocks going back an hour to stay up absurdly late after watching some excellent talks. The one that left everyone gobsmacked was a joint talk by Peter Dennis of the British Cave Rescue Council and George Linnane of OFD rescue fame. Peter and George took a rapt audience through the rescue from the perspective of both the rescuers/surface co-ordinators and the casualty, with insights into both that left a forest of hands shooting up at the end with more questions. I think the bit that made everyone cringe the most was when George described how the energy gel he was given fell out of his mouth through the hole driven up under his chin by a flake of rock, as did the water he was given to wash it down with.The collective shudder could probably have been seen from space!

In a mini trip report from Pete Talling and Fleur Loverige, who visited Pol na gCeim on Saturday as the cave was open by special arrangement for the symposium, the cave was described as 'wet, wet and wet'. One of their companions did took exception to the bolting in places and fired off an unimpressed text on the subject to her husband on exiting the cave only to discover that he'd done the bolting! So the Symposium Prize for tact and Diplomacy goes to Aileen Brown. History doesn't record Les' response to the text. Fleur recommends a very long sling for one of the deviations!

On Saturday evening, Graham said a few words about the new book and thanked SUI for their financial support, then we stood around selling books for the rest of the evening. To say that they were positively flying out of the boxes is no exaggeration and we even had people coming up to us to buy a copy as we were leaving on Monday morning!

Many thanks to Stan Drapala for all his hard work organising the symposium. Stan is very much a force of nature and is responsible for much of the new information about Cork caves. And as one speaker said, he's also nice! So every time his name came up after that, his niceness was always mentioned. So if you ever meet him, be sure to say you've heard how nice he is. (And it's true!)

Copies of the new book are available via the UBSS website. Price: £15 + £5 P&P for non-members. Members please contact UBSS Sales Manager Jan Walker for the discounted price of £10 + £5 P&P.

Linda Wilson

UBSS PROCEEDINGS - FISHING FOR ANSWERS

The new Irish guidebook isn't our only publication to have come out in October. The long-awaited issue of UBSS Proceedings finally rolled off the press and was launched at the Ship Inn, Alveston to an audience of UBSS and Hades Caving Club members.

This issue concentrates entirely on the work at Fishmonger's Swallet in South Gloucestershire, a site first dug into by members of the Hades 25 years ago. After the breakthrough at the bottom of the dug shaft, the team, including Hades/UBSS member David Hardwick, quickly started finding bones and were finally forced to confront the reality of a human cranium sitting on a rock.

Diggng in the first chamber in 2021. Photo by Jan Walker.
To cut a long (and as told by David, very hilarious) tale short, the police arrived in full Tyvek crime scene suits to find a couple of muddy cavers quite happy to take them underground. The police were less keen and the site was declared to be of archaeological interest rather than being treated as a crime scene. Time Team subsequently filmed at the cave and you can watch that episode on YouTube. From this you'll see what the cave is like and get a sense of its importance as an archaeological site. Naturally, the press and various film-makers have always been very excited about the possibility of cannibalism at the site as the dating on the human and animal bones came out as just on the cusp of the Roman invasion of Britain at the end of the Iron Age.

Eventually, interest died down and for many years the bones languished in boxes, the faunal remains in the Natural History Museum and the human remains with Oxford Archaeology.UBSS came into the story when the then owner of the site, Mrs Joan Hawkins, a wonderfully indomitable lady who took muddy cavers and dead bodies entirely in her stride, expressed her wish to donate the material from the site to UBSS museum so that it could be properly curated and further research undertaken.

UBSS member Dr Adelle Bricking digging in Fishmongers Swallet, June 2021. Photo by Linda Wilson.
You can read the full story of the site in our latest Proceedings. All members are entitled to a copy as part of their membership. Copies can be obtained by post from our Sales Manager Jan Walker and can also be brought to the pub for distribution. If you would like to receive one there, please contact Proceedings Editor Graham Mullan.

Graham and UBSS Museum Curator Linda Wilson were joined at the launch by Zac Woodford, Alice Holland and Nell Beckett, none of who appeared daunted by tales of mud and dead bodies! The cave has now undergone a change of ownership, but to everyone's delight, the new owners, Ian and Geraldine Potter, are as interested in the cave and as sympathetic to cavers as Mrs Hawkins and her family always were and an access agreement will shortly be signed with Hades CC and this will include the donation of any further archaeological material from the site to the UBSS museum. Many thanks to David Hardwick for all his work on this.

Adelle underground in her happy place, proving it is possible to look glamorous in a cave. You too can look as happy as this in Fishmongers! Photo by Linda Wilson
Further archaeological work will be taking place in the cave and there'll be an opportunity to get involved in that as well as visiting the rest of the cave.

It was a really great evening, with an excellent buffet that left us all thoroughly stuffed, and our latest issue of Proceedings was well and truly launched!

Linda Wilson

FOR SALE

If you've just joined UBSS, one of our members has an oversuit for sale. For the avoidance of doubt, the toes aren't included.The suit is a size small, chest width 45cm from side-to-side, body length about 66cm neckline to crotch.

Jan Walker says the suit is in very good condition. She's looking for about £50 (originally cost £96). If you're interested, or would like to try the suit on, drop Jan a line.

CHLOE THE CAVE CRITTER READ TO THE END - DID YOU?

Meet Chloe, who joins us courtesy of Midjourney AI, Linda's new way of procrastinating! Rumour has it Chloe has been sighted a few times in Pierre's Pot ...
Congratulations to anyone who has got this far! There are prizes tucked away in our sleeves for any new members who have made it here, so if you think you might be first, or even if you just fancy seeing if you're caught us in a generous mood, click the link below and let us here from you! You'll make your hard-working editorial team very happy!

Thank you to all the lovely folks who wrote in last time ...

- Nice one Colin! Great read as usual, and it’s always fantastic to see UBSS so active. Looking forward to reading about the multiple Coolagh trips! Hopefully I’ll bump into some of you if you’re up in Yorkshire later in the year. [Paul Savage]

- Angus’s stories are fab. Really enjoyed reading about him. Thanks for the great issue :) [Mia Jacobs]

- I did it., I read to the end and was pleased to see that another older UBSS member married another UBSS member We enjoyed seeing pictures of the younger members and reliving my 1960's caving trip to Co Clare. [Eve Gilmore]

- Another great newsletter, particularly enjoyed the mental image of Elliott putting his 'above ground' glasses in a tupperware for an SRT descent. 🙂 [Kat Osei-Mensah]

- The Fitoja trip must have been absolutely amazing. And a few others might have scared me off. Yeah, no. Welcome to all the new cavers! {jan Walker]

- I am dictating this audit orally and it seems to be just about keeping up right to the end good newsletter blah blah blah see you next time [Zac Woodford]

- Thanks for another edition crammed with interest, including Redhouse Swallet past which we walked unknowingly two weeks ago, and Angus Watkins. [Tim Hill]

- Yes I read to the end (to be honest, I did skip a few bits and pieces so I don't expect a prize). A wonderful way to do nothing but be entertained for free! Reading about your muddy crawls made me quite nostalgic for my student days. [Pat Hill]

- Thank you for the amazing newsletter, makes me feel I’m still part of the club! I miss everyone so much! [Guy Maalouf]

- Have you got a moment? I need some help ... [Fake Elaine] [Editors' Note: what is it this time? Amazon vouchers? New mobile phone? You're becoming very demanding, and you haven't paid us back for the last load of dosh we leant you.]

- Made it! Better late than never right? Too busy holidaying.... [Cat Henry]

I did read to the end, Chloe, I did, honestly, and a very fine cave critter you are!

THE END