Whatley Mammoth (right) and his young cousin St Front (Left) posing in front of cryogenic crystals in Shute Shelve Cavern.

After a very successful recruitment drive at the start of term and even a few trips in which non-isolating new members were able to get underground, it sadly looks like we will now be under Plague Times Restrictions again from Thursday, but the caves will still be there when we emerge from this, and in the meantime, we'll be continuing with our Tuesday online pub nights. Keep an eye on Facebook for details but if you're not on there and would like to come along, let us know and we'll get the links for the Zoom calls sent over to you.

Hello and welcome to all our new members! You can find plenty of reading material here about caving trips and the club, and all our previous newsletters and back issues can be found here.

Stay safe in difficult times, and if any member - new or old - is struggling with anything and wants a listening ear, remember that UBSS is a supportive community that is always here to help. So drop us a line if you'd ever like to chat!

Linda and Mia

FRESHERS' WEEKEND

The UBSS Hut. Watercolour by Mia Jacobs.

Despite the need to work within Covid restrictions, the club still managed to get one non-self-isolating new member underground, as Kat Osie-Mensah relates ...

Following a Friday night polypin, various shenanigans, and a couple of cavers waking up in a bus stop, we were joined by Klaudia, the one fresher not under Covid lockdown, for a weekend of wiggling about under Burrington.

Having tried his very best to point some Cambridge cavers in the right direction (they only wanted to speak to Elaine but also didn’t want to wake her), Simon took Jakob, Klaudia and I down Sidcot Swallet. We spent so long looking at the ducks / faffing in the lobster pot / attempting to navigate that Elaine and Ash managed a quick tour of Pierre’s Pot before coming to find us, using the haunting tones of songs from Frozen II to echo locate us in the boulder chamber.

Elaine then took us back down Pierre’s for some more confused route finding and so I could show Klaudia how not to wiggle out of a slot (I got very stuck, she earthwormed out with great finesse).

The following morning we introduced Klaudia to the concept of faff with a three hour long breakfast debate (involving much tea and mushroom-egg surprise) about which cave to attempt next. We settled on Lionel's, despite Ash’s complaints, with a splinter group off to try to get into the Hanging Garden in Pierre’s.

Down Lionel's we spent many a happy hour deep in a boulder choke, really got to grips with bedding planes, and completely intentionally visited a part of the cave new to Elaine while trying to get out.

After some berry picking, and a quick side-quest for Elaine and Jakob down Goatchurch, we rushed back to Bristol to wash our gear before stores closed. Having dazzled Klaudia with this end of trip efficiency we then had to engage in some final faff to finish the weekend, so promptly drove off to the pub without Jakob, resulting in a confused and drizzly search around harbourside before a well earned socially distanced rainy pint.

Kat Osie-Mensah

EGM REMINDER - 8pm, 10th NOVEMBER 2020

As explained in our September newsletter, the society is holding an EGM on 10th November 2020 to address some constitutional amendments needed as part of our annual re-affiliation to the Students' Union. This affects the number of non-student members who will be able to vote at AGMs and EGMs.

The committee is supportive of these proposals and all the comments received from members after the last newsletter have been supportive as well.

The EGM will be held by Zoom and to make it quorate, we need 18 members to be present, so please put this date and time in your diaries and come along to the meeting! We really would like to have as many people there as possible. If you are new to the society, you can find details of the proposals in the last newsletter, all of which are linked at the bottom of the editorial above.

These are the details for the log in to the Zoom meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84417236363?pwd=RkQzSUlQMVNPQi9sdTR2cHNRM01MQT09

Meeting ID: 844 1723 6363, Passcode: 052544

The waiting room will be open from 7.45pm, so please try to turn up early or at least in good time.

As it's a Tuesday, there will be some form of social event after the EGM, so please stay around to meet friends new and old. We'll let you have the details when we've stopped faffing! We don't hold EGMs very often, so let's make an event of event! No need for best bib and tucker (unless you want to dress up!) and it's bring your own booze!

The Committee

LOCKED DOWN - AGAIN

Just as we were going to press, the government announced a new national lockdown starting on Thursday 5th November.

We don't know the full effect on caving as yet and must stress that all members must take responsibility for their own interpretations of the guidelines, but the following notes have been put together after discussions with the Council of Southern Caving Clubs who will be issuing a statement shortly. We'll pass this on by email and Facebook when we get it.

In an attempt to control the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, new measures have come into force, which can be found on the government website.

One of the the key issues for caving is that you can only leave home for specific purposes, one of which is "to exercise outdoors or visit an outdoor public place - with the people you live with, with your support bubble or, when on your own, with 1 person from another".

Note that this means you will be able to cave only with your own household or support bubble OR one other caver.

The guidance also states: "You should avoid all non-essential travel by private or public transport." and that travel to exercise is not considered essential. The guidance also states that "you should avoid travel in and out of your local area".

Please also remember that some landowners may not feel comfortable in allowing cavers onto their land during lockdown. In these cases please be understanding and respect their wishes. CSCC will try to maintain a list of lockdown access arrangements, but given the fast moving nature of the situation it is possible that cavers will come across restrictions not previously reported. In these cases please respect the landowners wishes and let us know so that we can advise others. In addition, local residents may well not welcome cavers, so again, if you do cave, please be discreet and avoid caves close to private residencies. If cavers are seen, or suspected, of breaking the national restrictions this could have serious long term impacts for our relationships with the communities we rely on for access to our caves.

A rescue during the lockdown would be a major issue. Whilst Mendip Cave Rescue (and other rescue teams) have always remained ready to come to the aid of anyone in need underground, if you do cave, please choose your trip carefully to ensure that it lies well within the abilities of all members of the party.

Please think carefully about the potential consequences of any trip and ensure that you are complying with the latest government advice. The situation is evolving quickly and so keep an eye on both the CSCC website and the BCA website for up to date information.

Remember, good times will come again, and in the meantime, we've got plenty of trip reports to show the range of things on offer when caving can fully resume again!

TRIP REPORTS - GB

Helicties near the first grotto.
There have been three GB trips this month, written up by Merryn Matthews, Kate Osie-Mensah and Linda Wilson. All photos here were taken by Linda on her mobile phone, ably lit by various assistants!

SAMPLING WITH ANDY FARRANT

A cave scientist hard at work while the rest of us lounged around.
Sampling in Charterhouse CC Ltd caves needs permission from both the company as the access controlling body and Natural England. Permission is only likely to be granted for studies that will extend our knowledge of the caves and which will lead to relevant publications bringing this knowledge into the public domain. There was no problem for Linda as CCC Ltd Conservation Officer in obtaining these permissions for Andy's work.

On 17th October, I went out to Mendip with Zac and Linda to meet Andy Farrant and his sampling team (Jo White and Andrew Mcleod) at the GB layby. I was very excited to get a chance to watch sampling work being done and learn more about the geology of the cave from Andy, who was trying to date some of the speleothems and sediments in the cave.

Andy's work is part of his project to learn more about the formation history of caves in Mendip, and infer information about the past environments at their formation by using the latest dating techniques to update our knowledge in this area. He also did his PHD on GB cave so has a lot of interesting information on it – very cool for a geoscientist to hear about.

Whilst getting changed for the trip, I realised most of our members had a variety of injuries, including Andy aching and bruised after the previous day's Wookey trip to the new extensions, Jo’s broken ribs and Linda’s knee brace. Surprisingly, everyone still agreed to go underground, their love of rocks fighting through the aches and pains.

Andy holding a small section of stal carefully cut with a dremmel. A moment later, it was almost impossible to see where the sample had been removed and the aesthetic value of the flow was undisturbed.
The first stop was for speleothems in the entrance passage, one of the oldest sections of cave on Mendip. Andy tried to only take the smallest fragments possible for cave conservation reasons, and to sample from the base/oldest part of the stal. The samples can then be used for Uranium-Thorium dating with a mass spectrometer. As Uranium in the stal decays to thorium with time, the ratio between them can be used to asses age.

Andy on ladder to the Upper Grotto.
We then went on to sample a stal at the base of the ladder to the Upper Grotto, being careful to sample only from the in-situ stal and not the fragments within the glacial sediments. Here, Andy informed us of the incredible complexity of geology in the cave.

Water levels and flow direction have fluctuated many times over the history of its formation, making it a complete maze to figure out! False floors (calcited sediments that jut out from the side of the cave) show that sediment has infilled and been flushed out of the chamber many times. A mixture of vadose (trench-shaped passage) and phreatic (tube-like old, submerged passage) show the changing water levels too.

Andy sampling sediment to demonstrate the reversal of the polarity of the neutron flow, or something.
We had a look down some of the lesser used passages in Devil's Elbow and the Ooze (the old way into the gorge which gets tight and grotty). At the base of the first rift climb in Devil's Elbow, Andy took several core samples from some of the sediment for paleomagnetic dating. This involves comparing the current declination to the past magnetic declination, inferred from grains that line up with the magnetic field at the time of deposition. It's possible this sediment was deposited before the last reversal of the magnetic pole 780,000 years ago!

There are some very pretty stals, helictites and flowstone deposits in these less visited passages, well worth a detour to from the typical GB route (but don’t touch them!!). We then looked at the upper part of the Gorge, another section of the cave we don’t visit often (it's very muddy!) to take samples, before heading down into the main Gorge. We spent some time rock-nerding about the folded layers and faults here showing the past deformation.

Zac doing his piece to camera for a promotional sixth form video.
Unfortunately, Zac and I had to dash back out of the cave for our first freshers' event on the Downs, so we cut our trip short leaving Andy to sample the rest of the cave. On the way out, Zac filmed a promotional video for his Sixth Form, cringing whilst forcibly professing his love for studying there. He may have recruited some future cavers with the video too.

It was a pretty geologically cool trip, hopefully Zac and I will be able to remember and pass on some of the facts to people on trips in future.

Merryn Matthews

GOING STRAIGHT ON TO BAT PASSAGE

Just testing ... a prize for anyone who can tell us whereabouts in the cave this photo was taken. Hint, it's not Bat Passage, because none of the buggers took a camera with them!
On Thursday 22nd October, Haydon took Jakob, Tom and I for a fun midweek trip down GB. We did a small round trip to the Rift Chamber at breakneck speed before climbing into the Ladder Dig to visit Great Chamber.

Haydon’s pace suddenly made sense as we stopped to marvel at the ‘Disney princess glittery bits’ for a while and still had time to wiggle down Bat Passage before returning the the entrance by climbing up the waterfall. We paused again outside the entrance to watch for a while as bats circled around our heads, which was a pretty special end to a really beautiful trip. That and the lay-by beers, thanks Haydon!

Kat Osie-Mensah

OTHER HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

Just to prove that not all the pretties are beyond Ladder Dig, this is either Rhumba Alley or the top end of White Passage on the way to East and West Extensions.
On 25th October, I fulfilled a long-standing promise to my Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) contact, Chris Eyles, to take him down GB. SWT are the landowners for GB, and own the land above the cave, as well as owning the freehold of the cave. Charterhouse Caving Company Ltd (CCC Ltd) hold a 150 year lease on the underground of the caves under Gruffy Field. Every year, Chris as reserve warden for SWT and myself as CCC Ltd Conservation Officer have to do an infra-structure check on all the cave entrances under Gruffy Field and Longwood Valley/Velvet Bottom to make sure that all entrances are in good condition and remain locked.

Chris exhibited a keen interest in the caves under his reserves when he started in the job two years ago, and so last summer, I spent a day in Burrington with him, Jan Walker and two CCC Ltd directors, Dave King and Graham Price, while Chris did enough caves to assure us that he was no longer a novice. These included Goatchurch so he could see what a cave with no access restrictions looks like now, and Tween Twins, a cave that has been on a leadership system since the dig broke through into a stunning section of cave passage.

It's always worth remembering to look up!
When we all emerged from lockdown and Chris from a house move, we scheduled his long-awaited GB trip and Dave King and I did the honours. Chris has taken to caving like a duck to water, and it was great to talk about the cave with him and I did my best to pass on the pearls of wisdom I'd gleaned from Andy Farrant the week before. We pretty thoroughly explored the lower cave, going further up East and West Passage than I'd done in quite a few years. Chris is keen to do more caving, which is great, and it was a delight to see how much he enjoyed the cave.

Linda Wilson

TRIP REPORTS - PEN PARK HOLE

Visiting Pen Park Hole is like being inside an enormous geode. See those brown lumpy bits? They're all enormous, dog-toothed crystals.
As befits Bristol's only major cave, we've been able to run a couple of trips to PPH this month. The first, described by Linda Wilson, was to confirm our wonderful Prezz as a leader for the cave, and the second was led by the Prezz, and is described by Zac Woodford.

On 10th October, Graham (the Keeper of the Key on behalf of the Access Committee consisting of the UBSS, the BEC and the WCC) gave Elaine the usual introduction to the complexities of opening the locks on the entrance gate. If you've never visited the cave, imagine a hatch leading into a nuclear submarine, only more secure. The reason for the security is that the cave is in the middle of Southmead, and the gate was designed in such a way that is it is ever tampered with, it will be impossible to open.

The website that Graham maintains will tell you all about the cave, and includes a couple of films shot down there to give you an idea of what to expect from a trip.

Si life-lining Elaine on the top pitch. Linda playing shadow puppets on the right. Needs to practice her bunny ears.
After Elaine successfully unlocked, locked and unlocked the gate again, our party (consisting of me, Si Hadfield, Si's friend Liam Ryan, and Mia Jacobs) made our way to the head of the pitch, where Si lined Elaine and Mia down to the ledge so that Mia could measure the length of the rope traverse prior to a new rope being bought and installed. Ryan was also life-lined on the ledge so he could look out and see the full extent of the huge main chamber.

Mia and Elaine admiring some of the pretties.
The water levels looked low, and Elaine and I estimated the CO2 levels at less than 2%, mainly noticeable in the narrows and on the ledge. I took photos while everyone else was having fun on the pitch.

Linda Wilson

Miner's shot-holes in the crystal covering the walls. They were mining for lead but the lead content is unlikely to have been commercially viable.
I’d been wanting to do Pen Park Hole for quite a while and I eventually got my opportunity the evening of Thursday the 22^nd October when Elaine led a trip consisting of me, Duncan Hine and Joey Lim. Elaine flawlessly opened the hatch and after a cursory glance for dropped needles, Duncan descended followed by Joey then me with Elaine at the back.

Looking over to the 'shrimp pool' containing the very rare (and very small) niphargus cochianus (repeatedly pronounced on camera by Chris Westcott from Natural England niphargus cock-in-anus. Watch the video on the website!
We went into to the first chamber where we revelled in the crystal-lined walls and the shrimp pool. From there I led the way through the tighter squeezes helping Joey navigate the environment in her second cave along the way. When we reached the pitch Elaine rigged it while I read out the poem pinned to the wall. It was also here where I began to feel the effects of the bad air.

Duncan then led the way, with Elaine belaying, descending to the ledge followed soon by me. We had a little explore along the ledge and admired more of the crystals before Elaine lined us down the other two ladders which Duncan rigged together allowing us to then descend to the very bottom of the cave where we explored around the lake edge marvelling at it’s clearness while spotting the various artefacts strewn about.

Satisfied, we ascended back up the pitch and made an uneventful exit. I must admit that it is one of the most incredible caves I have ever been in and I am glad I finally had the opportunity too experience it. It was also brilliant to get a new member caving as well!

Zac Woodford

TRIP REPORT - SHATTER CAVE

Shatter Cave in Fairy Cave Quarry on eastern Mendip, near Stoke St Michael, is one of Mendip's lesser known gems. Linda recently revisited the cave and takes us on a trip into one of the most beautiful caves in the area.

Its location away from the more well known areas of Mendip means it's not top of people's list for trips, but the leader system is very easy to navigate and there are plenty of pretties to see!

On 13th October, after a gap of quite a few years, I went to Shatter again, with Tony Boycott, Helen Rossington and Jan Walker for a trip led by caving friend Dave King. In the intervening years, I'd forgotten quite how stunning the cave is, and so I spent a long time taking snaps on my phone and instructing my long-suffering companions where to shine their lights for maximum effect. And yes, after spending many years vowing never to go underground with cave photographers, such as Pete Glanvill (who was infamous for keeping me in one of the ducks in St Cuthbert's for 20 minutes while he set up a shot, and then telling me afterwards he'd forgotten to put the film in the camera!) I do feel vaguely guilty, but in my defence, I'm pretty quick when it comes to photos. All the ones here were taken on my mobile phone, lit by everyone else's caving lights.

Shatter is a fantastic trip that I would recommend to anyone, and when we emerge from the threatened new lockdown, I'll be happy to arrange a couple of trips. Novices aren't allowed, so you do need to have done a few other rips first, and you will need clean caving gear so you don't cover the stunning formations in dust.

Linda Wilson

TRIP REPORT - SHUTE SHELVE CAVERN

Shute Shelve Cavern is another of Mendip's lesser known caves. but it's well worth a trip. Linda describes a recent visit.

Access to Shute Shelve Cavern can be obtained through the Axbridge Caving Group and Tony Boycott, who used to dig in the cave, obtained the key and on 27th October, Tony, Helen Rossington, Jan Walker and myself left Bristol in torrential rain, not looking forward to a wet change, but as we were meeting Nathan Cubitt at the parking/picnic area on the Axbridge bypass just off the A38, calling off the trip and leaving him there as Billy No Mates seemed mean. Kudos to Helen, who (due to Linda's lapse of memory) only learnt the trip was definitely happening 20 minutes before AB(Dr) was due to pick her up! A mad scramble to pack kit ensued, but luckily her new Fenix was charged in readiness!

Main passage, from top to bottom: Jan, Helen, Nathan, Tony.
The main problem with Shute Shelve is finding the entrance on a relatively featureless wooded hillside. The route is described in Mendip Underground but as that is effectively straight up a very slippery slope, Tony elected to rely on his GPS and follow a shallower but longer route up the hillside which proved to be reasonably easy to traverse, even on mud and wet leaves. To everyone's surprise (including his!) the GPS took us straight to the entrance.

Cryogenic calcite in the main passage.
A low downhill wriggle at the entrance leads to a larger passage with some nice formations. The cave was mined for oche, and evidence of old mining activities can still be seen. One of the main features of interest in the cave are the impressive cryogenic stal crystals formed under very cold conditions. In Shute Shelve these look like a sort of white powder on the rocks. This type of formation has been extensively studied by UBSS member Gina Mosely. An article on Darkness Below gives more detail on these crystals.

We were accompanied on the trip by UBSS museum mascot Whatley Mammoth and his young cousin St. Front (pronounced San Fron), named after the French cave Grotte de Grand St Front which contains a very large sculpture of a mammoth high on one wall. Naturally there were a lot of photo stops, and we learned that mammoth hair is a very good camouflage in an ochre cave!

Whatley (right) and St Front (left) respecting the conservation tape and not trampling the cryogenic crystals.
Nathan, Whatley's alter ego on Twitter, was able to try out his shiny new oversuit and helmet, and Helen was using her new helmet and Fenix. Tony Seddon at Starless River did well out of UBSS members at the Wessex hut on Sunday. I succumbed to a new oversuit (hey, I had to patch my old one last week, so don't judge me!) and a very nice new undersuit, plus a spare helmet, as Graham took a robust attitude to our very old ones when we were clearing the garage.

The cave is now closed for the bat roosting season but will be open again in spring, and I very much recommend this as a trip for cavers old and new.

Linda Wilson

FILM NIGHT - AS ABOVE SO BELOW

Nope, this isn't an unfortunate fresher lost in Goatchurch, it's a shot from the film.
With the country spiralling rapidly into another lockdown, what better way to ward off the lack-of-caving-blues than to settle down in front of the TV with a good caving film? Did we say good? OK, maybe that's not quite the right description. Sam and Imogen, our intrepid film critics, boldly went where no cavers have gone before ...

For our second trip into the world of caving film Imogen and I chose to immerse ourselves in the catacomb based horror flick As Above So Below.

For a film in which “cavers” literally venture into the depth of Hell, As Above So Below gets off to a very dull start. We are introduced to the protagonist Scarlett, a very annoying archaeologist, who is hell bent on achieving her late father's dream of finding Nicolas Flamel’s Philosopher's Stone (YES, the one from Harry Potter).

Having established the stone lay below Paris in the secret tunnels of the catacombs, Scarlett recruits two unwitting male companions and a French man called Butterfly to assist her in her quest. The French Butterfly Man also brings along a few unimportant friends who say nothing throughout the entire film. Dressed in sweatshirts and jeans, the group of “cavers” venture into the catacombs where it becomes quickly apparent that none of them know how to cave and that most of them are borderline claustrophobic. Not long after they enter, a mandatory cave collapse occurs, and the group find themselves trapped.

This is where the film takes an odd turn as our group of novice cavers soon find themselves at the literal gates of Hell and for some reason decide to venture in. (Editors' Note: Er, come on, hands up, who wouldn't?) From here everything becomes very violent as various demons appear and wreak havoc (which is to be expected when one is journeying through Hell). Following their run-in with Satan’s hell spawn, the portion of the group that were not brutally executed escape through a large tube shaped slide that pops up outside Notre Dame (who knew escaping Hell was that easy?!?!?!?) suggesting that Hell has been hidden under a manhole cover in the French capital all along.

Having done a bit of Wikipediaing we found out that the caving sections of the film were shot in the actual Paris catacombs which wins points for authenticity and gains the caving portion of the movie 7/10. However, when it comes to the movie itself, the plot and writing is horrific, and the acting is not much better. Plus, all the characters were supremely irritating, so it gets a 2/10.

Sam Bowers and Imogen Clement

POULELVA WE DESCENDED ....

Descending Poulelva Pothole. Photo by Elaine Oliver.
Continuing our write-ups from the 2020 Irish Expedition, Zac Woodford describes the attempts at route-finding at the bottom of Poulelva pothole, something that has bedevilled many parties over the years!

While in County Clare as a group we only visited two caves: The Coolagh River Cave and Pollnagollum-Poulelva.

Earlier in the week, Elaine, Megan and Mia did the Pollnagollum–Poulelva through trip and had nothing but good words to say about it. Intrigued, Haydon, Sam and Imogen tried it a few days later… and failed.

After having to exit back through Pollnagllum they were determined to come back the next day and enter through Poulelva and work back until they found where they got lost, and I thought I’d tag along. After finding the entrance pitch and giving Haydon time to rig it we all then had an SRT refresher before I led the way and descended into Poulelva.

It was great fun to get back into SRT having not done it since a Yorkshire weekend in February. However, for Sam and Imogen it had been far longer than that and Imogen admitted she needed a little coaxing when we met again at the bottom of the pitch.

Sam and Haydon soon followed, and we set off through the crawl with Haydon leading. I’m not saying these two things are connected but we soon took a wrong turn and had to spin round and head back, it was then that I found the squeeze mentioned in Elaine’s wonderful hand drawn survey/description.

I then led the way as we passed through a rift, which led into a fossil streamway passage which we followed for quite some way, passing over a live streamway and continuing on until we reached a low wet chamber. We stooped through this, looking for the way on until I found an opening into a boulder chamber. Leaving through the end of the chamber, we crawled over some small oxbows and arrived at where the group from the day before got lost, or rather at the turning they missed.

Sam, Imogen and Haydon then had a thorough ‘benefit of hindsight’ session where they repeatedly exclaimed their disbelief that they'd missed it, and that the route description was inadequate and should have said “immediate right after GP”.

Meanwhile I had a little explore in the large chamber next door, I then came back through and I’m not sure what the topic of conversation was that I decided to bring this up but just as we were about to leave I commented that I had been made redundant. Everyone of course stopped and Haydon, disbelieving me, demanded an explanation.

I explained that I had worked for Maplin in the few months up until it closed. This destroyed Haydon and he was in stitches for at least half an hour and the more he learnt the more he, and Sam and Imogen keeled over. First that I had got a redundancy payout and then that I was 17 at the time so couldn’t even drown my sorrows down the pub. So that somehow became the highlight of the trip as soon after, we swiftly left the way we'd come, making it all the way back with Haydon still chuckling to himself.

While it was not the most exciting or fascinating trip I did thoroughly enjoy it, and I believe the others did too. (Editors' Note: Zac seems to have survived the trauma of his companions' lack of empathy for his teenage employment plight.)

Zac Woodford

And yes, you've guessed it, there's a song, too. written in the 1960s by Oliver Lloyd, recalling the early exploration of the cave by UBSS Members. The tune , The Eton Boating Song, is a bit of a dirge, but the events related here will still resonate with many members, and including this definitely counts towards our goal of 100 Memories for our centenary! As with all caving songs, there are some minor variations in the words, given at the end. Many thanks to Eve Gilmore for confirming the authorship of the song.

Looking up from the bottom of the pothole. Photo by Elaine Oliver

POULELVA WE DESCENDED

Poulelva we descended, 97 long feet
And when we got to the bottom, a small crack we did meet
With pieces of grass on the ceiling, and sharp rocks on the floor
And the way was low and narrow, for 40 yards or more

Down here with tape and compass, eight bold spelaeos went
Six to survey the streamway, two others by Tratty sent
To explore the Craven Canyon, and to find out whether or not
It connected with Poulnagollum, thus making six miles the lot

Now this was the plan of action, the President’s plan of campaign
But three of them surveyed together the whole of that horrible drain
While the other three skiving bastards, having taken one look at the stream
Sought the refuge of the canyon where the Craven claimed to have been

When Oliver came down soon after* to do his share of the job
He found it already surveyed by that other festering mob
So he wandered down the streamway, his spares bag trailing behind
‘Til he met three swearing spelaeos, where the Giant Productid you’ll find

But this isn’t the end of our story, it isn’t the finish by far
We covered ourselves with glory, as bright as the morning star
For some went down Poulnagollum, and some went down Elva’s Pot
And we shook hands in the middle, thus making six miles the lot

When we went down a few years later, and came to our six inch squeeze
The South Walians had made it much bigger, so we all slipped through with ease
But we kept an eye on the weather, which the South Walians surely did not**
So we did not have to beat a hasty retreat and shiver in Elva’s Pot

[Alternatives: 1) * "much later" 2) ** ”which in South Wales we surely do not”, a reference to the two Little Neath River Cave rescues of the late 60s early 70s.]

TRIP REPORT - BROWN'S FOLLY MINE

Clapham Junction. Zac Woodford on the right.
The club doesn't just visit caves. The stone mines near Bath used to be a very common haunt for UBSS members. Linda Wilson describes a recent trip to Brown's Folly Mine.

When I first started visiting the underground Bath stone quarries many years ago, we tended to make evening trips, going to the pub first, which was not an aid to route-finding, but even so, many of us learnt the mines very well, particularly Box, with its sprawling maze of passages and multiple entrances, and the smaller, but no less interesting Brown's Folly Mine, as we always used to call it, although it should really be known by the name of Monkton Farleigh Quarry.

Access to the mine has been complicated over the past couple of decades, to put it mildly. Most of the entrances I knew are on land owned by Avon Wildlife Trust, who gated and locked these (probably due to the usual combination of worries over bats and liability issues concerning old mines/quarries), but I was aware of another entrance on land owned by Sir Charles Hobhouse, who has always been caver friendly, and in my day as CSCC chair in the '80s and '90s there used to be an access agreement between him and CSCC. I was reliably informed by my friend Les Williams, who was in discussion with Sir Charles a couple of years ago, that he does not object to cavers accessing the mine from his land, so I arranged a trip with Les to learn the location of the entrance known as Muddy Hole.

Les Williams not far inside Muddy Hole Entrance.
Zac Woodford, Tony Boycott and Jan Walker came along, and we were joined by James Johnson, a Mine Manager from Dorset, who's happy to spend his off-duty hours in mines as well. The entrance isn't difficult to find, and if you'd like a description, or a trip there after lockdown, let me know.

Muddy Hole (which wasn't actually muddy) is a depression in the wood that leads into the mine near Clapham Junction. From here we made a fairly standard circuit of the mine taking in Clapham Passage and the old well, Middle Passage and possibly part of Front Passage (although opinion differed on the latter!).

Miner's graffiti: Any man farting in this Breakfast Hole during meal times shall be fined 10d
There were frequent photo stops while James and I got distracted by historic miners' graffiti and the complicated tally systems they marked on the cut stone faces to keep track of their work. The mine is an absolute treasure trove in this regard, but sadly suffers from frequent attacks of mindless vandalism and the sort of idiots who can only route find by means of copious amounts of spray paint on the walls. Less harmful are the glowsticks that get left behind littering the passages, but I do wish people would take their litter home with them!

Birds are very common in historic graffiti. There are several close together on one wall, mostly with long tails, possibly representing peacocks. Note the name Peacock written on the wall as well. This was a common surname in the area as recorded in the 1891 census.
For reasons none of us could quite work out, we managed to mislay Les for half an hour and naturally he had the survey, but James and I were confident in our own ability to find our way around, despite Dr Boycott's wittering (he's rubbish in mines!) and we ended up depositing Tony and Jan at the entrance while the rest of us did a high-speed trek in search of Les, whilst explaining to Zac that this was a perfectly normal occurance on a stone mines trip, but does illustrate the need to keep party members on a short lead, especially if their name is Les! Naturally he was running around looking for us in the opposite direction!

We were underground 4 hours and I managed to clock up 10,000 steps in the process!

Linda Wilson

NATIONAL FOSSIL DAY BLOG AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MIKE SIMMS!

Ammonite fossil from Kilve beach in Somerset, England. (This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
October 14th, National Fossil Day, just happened to coincide with the birthday of UBSS member Mike Simms, the palaeontologist for National Museum Northern Ireland.

Mike's love affair with fossils, and ammonites in particular, has occupied him very happily for most of his life. To mark both his birthday and an auspicious day for fossils in general, Mike wrote an excellent blog about how his love of fossils started, and he mentions his time at the University of Bristol. Do take the time to check it out! And Happy 60th Birthday, Mike!

OVERSUIT FOR SALE

Blimey, that's clean!

Light weight caving oversuit for sale.

The measurements are: Chest = 110cm, Waist = 100cm, Neck to crotch = 68cm, Leg inside seam = 63cm, Arm = 55cm

Used once, asking £50.

If interested, contact Jan Walker.

CONNECTING STUDENT RESEARCHERS WITH CAVE RESEARCH

Image cropped from publicity poster.
In the last newsletter, we advertised an event put on by the British Cave Research Association (BCRA) and the Council of Higher Education Caving Clubs (CHECC) that aimed to provide some advice for aspiring cave researchers. Merryn Matthews and Zac Woodford attended, and Zac has written up the event.

On Monday the 19^th October, the BCRA held an online Zoom event to try to engage more younger cavers with the BCRA and cave research.

There were many interesting talks starting with one on how to join! We then had an interesting talk on prehistoric climate reconstruction followed by a talk on the effects cavers may be having on bacterial populations in caves, particularly Ogof Ffynnon Ddu in South Wales.

There was then a fascinating talk about art and caving with the speaker showcasing a book they’d crafted to try convey some of the sensory experiences and emotions of caving. Next was an expo of the British Cave Science Centre in Buxton which has been set up to facilitate both research and equipment testing. Last of all was a talk on how to get such projects mentioned above funded through the BCRA.

It was a brilliant evening and although I’m not doing any cave research myself I would be very interested in assisting others in their projects.

Zac Woodford

THE BRITISH CAVING ASSOCIATION (BCA)

The BCA is the national body for British caving. All UBSS members are members of BCA, from which our insurance is derived, and this is one reason why it's important for everyone caving with the society to be a member, either through the club or as a direct individual member of BCA.

The organisation has undergone a rather turbulent time in the past few years but now, under the leadership of a new Executive comprising 'Madphil' Rowsell (Charir), Russell Myers (Secretary) and Howard Jones (Treasurer) the organisation is starting to find its way again, and now is a great time to engage with BCA.

Their IT working group, ably headed by Ari Cooper-Davis, has worked hard to launch a new website as well as delivering the first digital AGM. Take a moment to look at the website. You'll find all the latest news from the organisation there, including the results of the recent ballot on constitutional changes and the latest the state of play with the controversial judicial review concerning the Countryside and Rights of Way Act and caving. In short, BCA have twice been refused leave to bring a judicial review but are now appealing that decision in what might well be a final throw of these particular dice.

SCAM, SCAM, GLORIOUS SCAM!

As we've mentioned before, the President's email has a habit of being spoofed for phishing messages and it's become something of a committee game to see how long the exchange can be made to last.

The current record is probably held by Mia Jacobs, and there are probably quite a few bemused scammers out there. The exchanges are also designed to leave the reputation of the Prezz in tatters, but if she will keep asking for iTunes vouchers, what does she expect? This used to happen a lot when Bob was President, too, but then we always just used to vote to leave him stranded in Istanbul with no money.

If it's any consolation, it's not just the UBSS committee that get these. The Council of Southern Caving Clubs exec also had one, resulting in a late night call to the chair, asking why he needed someone to call him urgently! The moral of the story is always check the actual address an email has come from before acting on it.

The exchanges between the latest puzzled but determined scammer and our esteemed Hon. Treasurer are reproduced below ...
________
Hello Graham,
How are you doing today? Are you available to process a payment? I will like to know the available balance.
Regards,
Elaine
________
Elaine
I am fed up with paying your gambling debts. How much this time? To the usual casino?
Graham
________
Hello Graham,
Thank you for the reply. We are only paying few amounts. I need you to send me the available balance. Not casino.
Regards,
Elaine
_________
Sadly, after paying your drug dealer and your escort agency, we are overdrawn.

You'll have to give me a really good reason to take out another loan, to bail you out yet again.
Graham
__________

Equally sadly, at that stage, the scammer gave up!

TIMMY THE RACCOON READ TO THE END - DID YOU?

We're delighted to inform you all that one of our members has perfected the art of time travel, allowing the very talented Henry Morgan to read to the end even before the newsletter was sent. Congratulations, Henry, you win a UBSS pen! No one ever said you had to play fair to win. The next email to arrive was from Graham, but that doesn't count as he gets a head start due to being the one to press the big red button and send every issue on its way to your in boxes (and he already has loads of pens!), so ,,, drum roll ... the winner of a fabulous UBSS keyring torch for reading to the end first goes to the ever-wonderful Ash Gregg!

And read on for all the Name That Llama entries ...

- Preemptive perhaps? (Henry 'Time Travelling' Morgan) (Eds: Hmm, wonder if that was an entry for the Llama name? Odd name for a llama ...)

- Yeah, OK, a vote for “CARL!!!” (Graham 'I Press the Big Red Button' Mullan)

- Yay caving! Caaaaarl? (Ash Gregg)

- Lambda Llama .. for no better reason than it’s the 11th character and in Greek, it’s a subatomic particle and both those facts seem apt for a university anima, but mainly that it rhymes ... (Chris Howes)

- Llama Del Ray (Imogen Clement)

- I haven’t got a name for the llama, but could I have a copy of the constitution changes please? (Charlie Harding) (Eds: duly sent)

- I did at least skim through to the end…and support the ideas for the constitution for the EGM. Thank you for trying to make sure us “oldies” are still included. Long ago this was in large part what attracted me into joining UBSS. (OCL, Trat and others were then some of those “oldies”). (Eve Gilmore)

- Llama McLlama face... someone had to do it, even if I am their keeper... (Zac Woodford)

- I definitely won’t be first, as I’ve been dealing with fuckwits all afternoon! But I’ve read to the end, enjoyed all the news and think that the llama should be named Dally (Sharon Wheeler)

- Lloyd the Llama? What do you reckon? (Megan Malpas)

- Carl (or maybe Karl) (Stuart Walker)

- Winamp. I know that reference shows my age. (Stan Walentek)

- Lionel. 😊 And I loved the trip descriptions! (Jan Walker)

- Great newsletter as always. (Carol Walford)

And so ... drum roll again ... the results are in, the people have spoken .... Committee Llama shall henceforth be known as Carl Lloyd Lionel Dally Winamp Llamda Llama McLlamaFace Llama Del Ray or Carl, for short, and here's a picture of him wearing a hat ... (and good luck with getting their full name engraved on a tag or a collar, Zac!)

And for those who missed the link before, check out Llamas With Hats for the origin of the name with the most entries!

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!

THE END