UBSS Monthly Newsletter - September 2020

UBSS NEWSLETTER

The start of the 2020 Ireland Expedition, on the car ferry from Liverpool to Belfast.

Plague Times are still upon us, but caving has definitely resumed, and the society has yet again run a successful trip to Ireland, starting in the north and then progressing to Co Clare where nearly a mile of passage was surveyed in Coolagh River Cave. It's even rumoured that Ash allowed the team the occasional day off, but that has yet to be confirmed. You'll be hearing more about that in this issue and future ones. Inflatable unicorns are now A Thing.

We've also been cleared to re-access the Stables under new Covid guidance agreed with the university. As yet, we're still waiting to hear from the union about getting back into the tackle store, but it does look like things are moving in the right direction. Everyone is busily planning and preparing for a digital Welcome Fair (what used to be known as the Freshers Fair in old money, or Faffy, in even older money, as many members will still remember!) and further events in the hope of attracting new members in challenging times.

Please do read to the end, as we also need to explain why we've scheduled a digital EGM by Zoom and why you need to turn up, drink in hand, to pass a new constitution. Don't panic, it's nothing terrible! See later for more details.

Tuesday socials have continued, with a mix of quiz and chat and we even managed to Zoom with the Ireland crew on one occasion. If you'd like to join in, keep an eye on the club's Facebook page, 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. There is also talk of the pub meet returning to the actual pub!

Poo and dolphin sex as topics of conversation seem to have been replaced by inflatable animals, of the kind you can sit on in a swimming pool, rather than the ones you can buy from adult catalogues and Ann Summers in Cardiff. That last comment isn't intended as a slur on our Welsh friends and members, we hasten to add, it's simply a reference to the fact that many years ago, Martin Warren and Linda Wilson ascertained that inflatable rubber sheep could be bought from there and they had a plan to acquire one, insert it through Dan Harries' letter box and inflate it from the outside. The plan, like many, fell apart in faff, but they still think it was a good idea!

Back issues of this newsletter can be found here.

Linda and Mia

WELCOME EVENTS

Naturally, some adjustments have been made to the execution of freshers' events to abide by the current Covid regulations. The usual Stables get-together will take place on Zoom this year (Tuesday 13^th October), during which Elaine and Mia are planning to hold a couple of talks.

We are also planning to hold a socially distanced chat/games afternoon on Saturday 17^th October on the Downs from 4pm, during which we’ll bunch members with freshers in groups of six. We’d love to get as many UBSS members as possible for this to have a nice distribution of cavers to hype the freshers and answer questions etc. Participation would be a great help, whether it’s sitting in the Zoom call or joining in the social on the Downs.

Mia Jacobs

UBSSTAGRAM HAS ARRIVED!

Our UBSS social media presence has grown again!

We are excited to announce that UBSS now has an Instagram account! Follow us @ubsstagram and please do share our account and spread the word. Any suggestions are welcome; we’d like to build a portfolio of sorts to showcase highlights to potential freshers.

Please send as many photos as possible to me!

Mia Jacobs

EVENT - CONNECTING WITH CAVE RESEARCH - ADVICE FOR STUDENT RESEARCHERS

On Monday 19th October 2020 from 19:00 - 21:30, the British cave Research Association (BCRA) and the Council of Higher Education caving Clubs (CHECC) are holding an event aimed at students who would like to get involved in cave research.

This will be an online webinar on zoom. More details and the sign up form are available here.

This will be an excellent event, so do register asap and start checking out the fascinating opportunities that lie in caves! Remember, a cave is for life, not just for Christmas!!

NOTICE OF AN EGM - CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS NEEDED

Under the terms of the constitution, notice is hereby given that there will be an EGM held by Zoom, on Tuesday 10th November 2020 at 8pm. This will be followed by a virtual social event, details to follow in the next newsletter. For the reasons behind the need for constitutional amendments, please read on, and Linda will do her best to explain, on behalf of the committee ...

Sorry, folks, this isn't going to be terribly short, but please bear with me!

It's no secret that as far as societies go, UBSS is pretty special. We were the first caving society in the country to admit women on equal terms as men, something that was done right from the start and, unusually for most societies, we have always drawn our membership from students, staff, alumni and a (very limited) number of outside friends of the society. My first dealings with the constitution came in 1982 when Oliver Lloyd wanted to make some minor amendments to the membership classification to define the classes of staff membership more closely. As final year law students. Martin Warren and I were drafted in to help, and a new constitution was agreed and ratified by the Students' Union. Since then, believe it or not, the constitution has remained unchanged, in part because we never felt terribly comfortable doing anything to flag up to the union quite how different we are to other student societies, and also because the running of the society has rarely been contentious.

Times change, though, and the union are now as conscious as the university of the benefits that come with the active support of alumni members. This support can come in a variety of ways, for some it's financial, others bring greater experience than can be gained in the average time at university as a student, for some (like sports' clubs) it's coaching, for many it's a mixture of all these and more. Student societies are also open to a small number of non-student members as the union has for a long time recognised the value of engaging with its neighbours and the local community in general. But this additional non-student engagement brings with it the need to ensure that the societies remain student-focussed and student-led. So far so good, as the UBSS constitution has always vested the running of the society in the hands of a student majority on committee, with the power of the AGM and the wider membership effectively limited to the election of officers and committee. However, many years ago, the union passed bye-laws that required two-thirds of any society to be made up of full members of the union i.e. students. And therein lies the potential issue as UBSS exceeded that limit many, many years ago.

For at least 25 years, this has been hand-waved away in a variety of ways, as myself and others have always made a point of knowing and remaining on good terms with sabbatical officers and the permanent staff, and through our membership of the former Alumni Association Committee, Dick Willis and I had several discussions with the staff about the benefits that come from non-student membership. However, as several generations of student secretary will testify, there are now numerous ways in which our constitution doesn't fit union bye-laws and guidelines and an update has been overdue for many years.

This year, when the two-thirds rule came up again when one of our long-suffering secretaries, Merryn, was dealing with the annual need to re-affiliate to the union, I spoke to the acting Chief Executive, Ben Pilling, in the hope of finding a solution to this that doesn't require jazz hands to be waved every year. Ben asked Merryn and I to provide a briefing document for both him and Christy O'Sullivan, who has responsibility for societies, explaining how UBSS works as they were keen to find a solution that would work for us, as well as providing a possible future model for others.

To cut a now extremely long story short, the solution they have proposed is that UBSS can continue to have as many non-student members as it wants (and our hope is that these valuable supporters will continue to grow each year with the retention of our student members) provided that at least two thirds of the voting members of the society are full members of the union. The union are also happy with us continuing to have non-student members of committee as long as they are voting members of the society as the union recognise the importance of the society's heritage as well as its museum and library collections. So we can retain our Hon Prezz and Hon Treasurer, Hon Vice Prezzies, Hon Museum Curator, Hon Librarian etc. But in the spirit of catching up with the rest of the society world, our senior Hon Sec will become known as the Student President.

The draft constitution that will go before the AGM contains lots of tidying up to deal with 40 years of administrative and name changes (on the part of the union), and we've taken the opportunity to do what Arthur ApSimon always wanted and added publication as one of our aims and objectives, as he always felt this was a strange omission for a society that published its findings right from the start. We've also added in the preservation and communication of our own history and heritage.

This is the current constitution and this is the draft new constitution that the union has approved, along with the briefing document that went to the union. We very much hope that you'll all be willing to pass these changes at the AGM. We do need 18 people to turn up for that and of those 18, two thirds need to be in favour of the proposed changes. If anyone would like to see a Word version of the file with 'tracked changes' showing, please email me and I will send you one, but we weren't able to produce a pdf of this. The draft has been approved by the union as we felt there was no point in putting this to an EGM, only to find that there were still things the union wanted us to change. For obvious reasons, suggested changes 'from the floor' during the meeting will only make the committee's job harder and will risk potential complications with the union, so if you spot anything that you would like the committee to consider in advance, please let us know so that we can discuss this.

As there have been few, if any, changes to the way the society has actually functioned over the first 101 years, we very much hope that you will all be in favour of these changes and that you will all continue to support the society in its next 100 years! Every member is hugely valuable and valued.

Linda Wilson, Hon Vice Prezz on behalf of the Committee.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Myotis bechsteini bat in flight.

Dr Andy Flack, principal Investigator on our 2019 ‘Travels Beneath the Earth: 100 Years of UBSS’ research project, has recently secured a prestigious Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellowship (Early Career) grant to work on an eighteen month project that investigates the history behind the science of animals that live in dark environments.

Andy will be looking at animals whose principal environments are night, deep sea, the poles, and the underground. He will trace scientific understandings of these animals and their sensory worlds across the past two centuries, tracking the ways in which naturalists and their wider audiences thought about life without light. He will historicise what it means to ‘see’, what it means to have ‘super senses’ and the ways in which human activities over the course of modernity have impacted – and perhaps ‘disabled’ dark-dwellers as human beings have crafted a world that best suits their own bodies and behaviours.

Dr Andy Flack, Lecturer in Modern and Environmental History.

The project kicks off in May 2021 (strategically to try to ensure that library and archive access has returned to somewhere closer to ‘normal’ by then), and will involve the work of a postdoctoral research assistant from the end of 2021. The project will also engage with four outside organisations – Bristol Eye Hospital, Bristol Zoological Society, an independent educator, and an artist-practitioner.

Andy would like to put on record his thanks to UBSS for their collaboration with him since 2019. Securing funds to run the UBSS centenary project was a vital step towards convincing a major funder to award him this grant.

Andy can be contacted at [email protected]

These are Andy's recent publications:

Frogs and Feeling Communities: A study in history of emotions and environmental history, with Andrea Gaynor and Susan Broomhall,.

The Wild Within: Histories of a Landmark British Zoo.

IRELAND EXPEDITION 2020

The ever-iconic Cliffs of Moher.
Despite the challenges of Plague Times, UBSS was still able to mount a very successful Ireland trip, with a total of ten members, six of whom were first year cavers! The trip was led by Ash Gregg. Members who participated were Elaine Oliver, Haydon Saunders, Henry Morgan, Merryn Matthews, Imogen Clement, Sam Bowers, Megan Malpas, Mia Jacobs and Zac Woodford. The expedition was very grateful for the generous support from the Tratman Fund of the University of Bristol. Trat would have been very proud of their work! Mia gives a brief run down of the trip, and a photo gallery of their time above ground. You'll be hearing about more underground exploits below and in future newsletters.

We made our way into Belfast to start our trip, stopping by Elaine’s family home to say hello to the dog, cats, chickens and parents on the way to a scout hut that Ash had booked for the weekend. Elaine and Zac’s birthdays gave plenty of reasons for celebration, although we also enjoyed more relaxed evenings watching high-brow films like Frozen II and Twilight.

Ash, Zac and Haydon playing a party hat balloon popping game; Elaine's birthday, scout hut in Northern ireland.
In Clare, we stayed in a cottage in Ballyvaughan. We collectively surveyed a total of 1.3km of Coolagh River Cave, focusing on the north and west entrances/series, the main drain, main streamway and beddings to Balcombe’s Pot, and the flooded bedding.

Galway Bay. Henry, Mia, Elaine and Haydon.
The drizzly nature of Ireland together with the fact that Coolagh is a river cave created plenty of opportunity to explore the surrounding area during too-wet-to-cave days. This entailed many hikes, including to the Cliffs of Moher, swims in Galway bay (highlights include when Haydon and I swam from pier to pier after a beastly 7k run), beach days and chilling out in the cottage.

Ash and Mia being sharks. Fanore Beach.
As well as having a lovely time reading and listening to music, we naturally had a few party nights with our inflatable friends and a coffee table which was perfect for squeezing.

Zac really liked his birthday present. Meet Committee Llama!
A constant pour of coffee would flow into espresso martinis and various other cocktails as the hours passed, accompanied always by British tapas (every flavour of a crisps variety pack at once). We also enjoyed thoughtfully planned dinners, from risotto to roast (thanks Imogen) with plenty of Guinness and Irish lager.

Merryn and Megan blessed by doggos before they head into Coolagh for some surveying.
We fitted in a healthy number of bastarding trips, too - namely, Marble Arch, Whitefathers, and the slightly arduous Poulnagollum – Poulelva through trip (this one had a bit of everything; stompy streams, bedding planes, tall rifts, getting lost, turning around…).

Mia and Henry at Fanore.
Needless to say, the trip was a great success in each and every way. Many thanks to Ash for organising a brilliant trip!

Mia Jacobs

MARBLE ARCH - STUCK IN A SHOW CAVE

Elaine in Marble Arch.
Most clubs have a long and (dis)honourable tradition of getting stuck in showcaves and UBSS is no exception, so what better way to start the Irish Expedition 2020? The good news is that they've not been banned and Elaine was able to get her key deposit back the following day. Sadly, she wasn't quite so lucky when it came to finding her lost bra, but that's another story! Mia and Zac will explain their Marble Arch exploits ....

During the first weekend of the Ireland expo, we took a pit-stop in Co Cavan, Northern Ireland. Early Saturday morning, we all kitted up and hiked up the glen to scout out the “professionals” entrance of Marble Arch Cave rather than the tourists.

Divided into Team Speed and Team Snail, we entered through a small crack between boulders that led down to a huge boulder chamber which required some immediate survey study to work out where to go next.

Soon, Zac and Ash saved the day, finding separate paths to the show cave gate, where we imminently became part of the display, being ogled at and photographed by tourists as we walked and gave way along the concrete path. We enjoyed the dramatically lit stal, flowstone and gour pools on the way until, reaching the end, we squeezed through the wire barrier to mysteriously wade off up the streamway. It wasn’t long before we then entered a narrow muddy side passage which ascended and wound round to a tight boulder choke which, after a steep climb, opened into a large formation-laden chamber. After some crawling around, we found the way on down a choke to the pool below which we thoroughly explored - Mia even made a froggy friend at the dead end of a crawl!

The way onwards led to a titanic stream tunnel which had lots of sand and gravel to play with (brilliant for making crabs and whales). Following the curve of the chamber, we rotated between hiking and crawling, often stopping to marvel at amazing formations such as the longest straws imaginable, and, of course, traversing around copious amounts of conservation tape. The plan had been for the two teams to meet in the main chamber for a photo, but after a slightly agonising and unsuccessful wait inside a bothy bag, Team Speedy concluded that Team Snail had been eaten by the cave and drew a message for them in the sand before heading out.

Marble Arch with Haydon and Zac.
The cause of confusion was that Team Snail was collectively convinced that it was a through trip (it wasn’t). This, however, gave the opportunity to see even more of the cave, starting at the Wet Wiggle, where Ash sludged his way through a very muddy gap in ground, moulding the cave to fit his body and conveniently leaving less squish for those who followed. We marvelled at a chunk of sedimentary rock that had a black line inside, formed from a period of deforestation many years ago. Still convinced that it was a through trip, we persevered along a crawl that grew more and more awkward, eventually deciding to turn around in order to make our callout time.

Our exit route was speedy until we found the show cave gate that we had entered locked. This meant that we got to take a rather glorious swim under wide, arching rock to find the other gate. This one was also locked, so we got to enjoy the duck swim again, much to our delight/dismay. The adventure ended with a surreptitious sneak past a tour group to an above-ground gate which we couldn’t work out how to open. Then, we sneakily waited for the tour guide to let us out, and we slithered away into the night.

Zac Woodford and Mia Jacobs

MEMORIES OF COOLAGH

It's a wild ride on a scientific trip! Ash, Elaine and Megan take the quick route to the end of the cave. The assistance an inflatable unicorn can give on a surveying trip must never be underestimated.
Out of nine people on the Irish trip, only Zac managed to remember to take a copy of the latest guidebook, The Caves of Mid-West Clare with him, although rumours that he's the only one who can read are hotly disputed! In this article, Zac re-lives some of the many surveying trips down Coolagh River Cave this year. Rumours that Ash Gregg has a relentlessly positive attitude to surveying are believed to be grounded strongly in fact.

I’ve decided to do something a little different for this “trip report”. Instead of writing about one particular trip done the Coolagh River Cave I’m going to do a sort of route description from south to terminal passage, talking about all the most memorable moments from all the trips collected along the way.

Starting with the entrance at Poldonough South, we didn’t use the main sink entrance instead we went in through a small crack amidst some bushes by a ruined drystone wall. The first time we entered as one big group, there was some initial confusion finding the crack we had to slide through. After that it’s a wet crawl through a sharp cobbled bedding plane which is made more difficult when hauling a survey Peli-case or tackle sack.

The passage then turns right into a tight streamway which quickly drops into Double Passage, the hour-glass shaped traverse which meanders in a roughly straight line, passing many small oxbows and a Darren drum containing rescue supplies. After a seemingly long while, Double Passage expands to become a taller passage in the midst of which is rumble log, a large collapsed boulder roughly log-shaped that creates a loud bang as you walk over it, and coming out on the final trip I took particular joy in this by repeatedly making it go bang while the others caught up.

Double Passage drops into Column Chamber down a small free climb with a handline. The floor of column chamber, named for its large column, is coated in mud which was always a pain on the way out as your boots become very muddy making Double Passage even more precarious.

Column Chamber is a “hub” of sorts with many passages stemming from it to the various parts of the streamway and bedding planes. The passage I always took was behind the column, over a muddy puddle and through a body crawl that lead into a crawly bedding plane which opened, on the right, into Gour Passage. This is a nice stroll down to the main drain which is accessed by a short (ish) pitch which is split near the bottom by a large shelf, at which point I used the ladder to drop into the main drain.

Just to prove that some surveying really did get done, here's the Prezz setting a good example.
Going upstream immediately gets to Balcombe’s Pot; I went there twice. Once to party on an inflatable unicorn [Editors’ Note: Normal? Of course that’s normal!] with Elaine, Merryn, Ash, Megan, and everyone’s friend, Guinness. A second time on the final trip Merryn, Imogen and I passed through with some combined tactics needed up the waterfall at the back of the pot when we finished the connection between Balcombe’s Pot and the second bedding plane.

Downstream the main drain passes through several pots and many parts that bear a strong resemblance to log flumes (which I would have gone down as such if not for the Peli-case crabbed to my belt). It then passes the entrance to the oxbow or continues through a bedding plane. Naturally, I only ever went through the bedding plane which only required stooping. The main drain continues past the other end of the Oxbow which is also the connection through to Poldonough North. I went down North once with Mia but it was not pleasant.

Not long after the oxbow, a group of boulders in the stream are passed and then after that there’s a large trianglular boulder and it was from there that I helped survey most. On the first day, a large group consisting (possibly, I can’t remember!) of Elaine, Haydon, Imogen, Megan and I managed to push a large length of straight passage in the morning with Elaine and I returning in the afternoon to survey a tall but short oxbow and then push all the way to the gravel pool (which I had to dig with water up to my chin). Returning another day, Elaine, Merryn and I returned to pass the gravel pool and survey to the point where it closes down and beyond to the boulder chamber before the terminal passage. From there, this was pushed by Haydon, Elaine and Henry to the edge of the sump at the end of the terminal passage. It was here that Mia and I caught up. The closedown can be passed by a tight crack on the right which enters a crack/rift thing which requires deft traversing. This can be bypassed by a crawl above and to the left. There is also a chamber above the closedown that Elaine, Megan and I surveyed at a later date which has several unexplored avens as well as passing over the close down.

Oh dear, the Prezz over-agitated a surveying aid. A familiar sight at that end of the cave.
Beyond, the passage veers off to the left and enters a large boulder chamber which must be carefully traversed back down to stream level. At that point you have reached the terminal passage, a long, tall rift which runs from Mud Branch on the left to the final bedding plane. Elaine and I had a cursory glance into Mud Passage and decided nope, we will not be surveying that. In the other direction, the terminal passage continues for a while then stops with the stream entering a bedding plane on the lower left. We found many frogs in this area with Haydon and Elaine even saving a couple at one point, pulling them from the cave in one piece. [Editors’ Note: they will then promptly have made their way back into the cave. Frogs are always remarkably ungrateful for rescues.] Crawling into the bedding plane it curves round to the left and then begins to drop out until the sump is reached. Just before the sump is a small beach and an aven which apparently comes close to the surface.

Returning was always back up the main drain, Gour Passage and Double Passage then out of the small crack, although I did exit at one point through the south sink which requires a series of further crawls through much water ending in a very low duck before surfacing in the stream. When I did it, Elaine and Megan went round and had a splash in some of the surface pots in the stream while they waited for me to emerge soaking, but clean.

It is an incredible cave unlike any I have been in before, I would say it is characterized by its many entrances but still roughly linear structure (although Ash does insist there may be a connection from the west series to north. There is still much to survey and even many leads to explore. I would definitely recommend joining an Ireland trip at some point if it takes your interest.

Zac Woodford

TRIP REPORTS - SOUTH WALES

The view from the Stump. The SWCC cottages arejbehind the ash trees.
During the good weather in September, Linda and Graham took the opportunity for a few days away, which included some caving, as Linda will describe ...

In late July, whien we were still in France for a month, I was chatting one evening on Slack to our friend Peter Burgess, one of our co-editors on Darkness Below. Peter is a member of the Wealden Cave and Mine Society, who occupy the gorgeous cottage known as The Stump (the former Penwyllt Inn), opposite the South Wales Caving Club cottages, and directly on top of OFD. What could be more convenient?

With the hut opening to members on a pre-booked basis, Peter was able to book the use of The Stump for a few days towards the end of September and he invited us to join him. We parked our campervan next to the cottage and hooked up to their electricity supply. Graham and I slept in the van, along with our two lurchers, Lady and Trigger, who absolutely loved their walks in the area along the old tramroad and around the quarries.

#VanLife, with Trigger (left) and Lady (right) reclining after a hard night's sleep and preparing for an even harder day of more sleeping. It's a dog's life!
Peter is an absolute mine of information, and during our four days there, I learnt so much about the fascinating history of the area and its industrial past. Peter is also hugely knowledgeable about the geology and history of the caves, and has started a research project on the rapidly abandoned show cave development in OFD 1. I was no more than vaguely aware that this had taken place and was interested to learn more.

Over the four days we were there, I caved twice (OFD Top and OFD1) and Graham also did a trip into OFD 1 with Peter. We also popped over to Dan yr Ogof for a chat and a catch up with our friend Ashford Price, who owns the cave. On our way back to the Stump, we passed Dickon Morris, who had just come out of a trip into the cave with some of his friends. They'd done the Even Longer Crawl, which Dickon was very enthusiastic about. Actually, that's a teeny tiny fib. What he really said was that it was fucking awful and he's never going there again.

The Trident, OFD Top.
On my first day caving with Peter, we decided on a standard womble around Top. In covid times, access to OFD needs to be booked through the South Wales Caving Club in advance, as we explained in the July newsletter. You need to book by email, and will get the code for the door that lets you access a key box. You need to fill in a form with your party details and put the time you sign the key out on a board, and the time you sign it back in again. It's hugely important to read the rules and covid guidance thoroughly, as getting it wrong could result in the loss of the club's annual permit.

Access details have been hosted on the UBSS website, to make life easy for everyone. Just follow the links there for full rules/guidance.

The Judge, OFD Top.
So, with Peter having read and followed the rules to the letter, he and I set off to walk up the hill to Top. Halfway there, he started to pat his pockets, muttering, "Where did I put the key?" A search of every pocket he possessed (a surprising number!) and his small bag failed to turn up the missing item, so he had to endure the Walk of Shame down the hill, in full sight of Graham who was lounging around in the campervan with the dogs, to retrieve the key where he'd left it on the window ledge inside the porch of the cottage while I strolled up to the entrance and sat their WhatsApping Graham, who promptly broadcast the whole thing on social media. That's what friends are for!

Once underground, I was almost immediately surprised by how well I remembered everything, despite not having been in the cave for more years that I could remember, and at the time, I genuinely couldn't remember when I was last there, but a subsequent check in my caving log surprised me, but more of that later! The rocks are a bit more Goatchurch-like in their polished surfaces, making the Brickyard even more of a pain to cross, but apart from that and some nice new conservation tape held up on steel risers, the cave remains as beautiful and fascinating as ever.

Inevitable attempt at an arty stal phot taken on Linda's mobile phone, as were the rest of the photos on the trip.
Peter proved to be as great a companion underground as he is on the surface, pointing out a lot of geological detail I didn't know. Our aim was simply a standard womble around top, via the top of Gnome Passage, past Middle Arete, stopping off to photograph the Trident and Judge, then a lovely stomp along the Salubrious streamway and to the top of Maypole Inlet, where we both agreed that the original route we'd been shown many years ago via the nasty traverse with the wedged boulder was horrible and that the easy route a little way further up the inlet is much nicer. I remember first being shown this by Mark Owen and deciding it was far preferable to the alternative, which I'd always hated.

Selenite Tunnel, OFD Top.
Our route also took us via Selenite Tunnel, Cross Rift and the Shattered Pillar, then when we got back to the entrance series, we did a detour into the area around the top route to the Columns. The area doesn't have a name on the survey, but we've now dubbed it Flies Undone. Two reasons for this: when doing articles for Darkness Below, we're often stuck for photos, and one of our few OFD shots is of Peter in that area, but unfortunately, he's standing sideways, and his belt resembles something else entirely, which made me squeak: "We can't bloody well use that, it looks like an enormous dong!"

Graham promptly had to apply Photoshop to the problem, and the dong disappeared.The other reason for the Flies Undone name is the vast amount of dead flies on the wall, which seem to have been studied at some point, as there are thin wires laid out in a grid, presumably for counting purposes. This is a really nice area, but to my surprise, it's one I'd never visited before, presumably because the long pitch into the Column Hall never held any appeal, and we'd always gone there the other way. If you don't know this series, I heartily recommend it.

Peter Burgess in the newly-named Flies Undone, OFD Top.
For me, the nicest thing about the trip was discovering that I still knew really well, and all my favourite hand and footholds were still exactly where I'd left them! Looking back in my log before writing this, I discovered to my amazement that my last trip in Top was on 1th August 1996, with Graham, Tony Boycott, Julian Walford, Carol Walford and Helen Wills (now Rossington). I recorded: " Salubrious - Selenite - Midnight Passage." Long log entries were not usually my style! Looking back before that, we seemed to be in OFD two or three times a month over many years.

I wondered yesterday what brought that phase of my caving career in Wales to an end, as I still carried on caving closer to home and in Ireland and Wales. Eventually I remembered that coincided with a really bad frozen shoulder and six months of physio, which meant that more taxing trips were off the agenda for a long time, and hard on the heels of that came a neck problem that affected the nerves in my right arm, resulted in incredibly severe pain for several years, punctuated by two nerve blocks over a ten year period until I retired and the problem became manageable.

OFD 1 Entrance.
The following day, Peter and I obtained the key again, this time without mishap, and went down the hill to OFD 1, where we intended to look at the existing remnants of the old showcave development. Peter is still researching this, but it appears that the landowner embarked on plans to develop the cave very shortly after its discovery in the early 1950s, but by the end of the decade, plans had been abandoned, but the reason for this change of heart isn't recorded anywhere.

It's easy to miss some of the remaining elements, but it's hard to miss the concrete path that leads to the fixed ladder climb referred to as the Toast Rack (interestingly, it seems from the first survey that the name has 'moved' and might originally have applied to a stal formation, rather than the ladder. Cyril Powell's intention was clear: he wanted to get tourists as far as the streamway. There's a section of path missing from the top of the fixed ladder, and it doesn't look like he did any work in that area, but beyond there, the path starts again and he constructed a section of walkway above the stream.

Attempt to create a false gour poor by cementing in a rim of upright rocks on the left.
Graham and I have done a lot of work on showcaves and it was great to be able to put that knowledge to use and help Peter find even more remnants of the development that he'd first noted. On my trip with Peter, we concentrated on getting as many photographs as possible, and on Graham's trip with him the following day, they recorded the positions on an extract from the survey.

Remains of the original concrete path in the abandoned showcave in OFD 1.
Peter and I then had a really enjoyable trip up the streamway to the boulder choke. The water was low and neither of us fell in anywhere, although Peter did moan a lot when I made him pose for photos under the climb at the start of the way to Waterfall Series, which was living up to its name at the time. I was surprise to see that the chain on Lowe's Chain is no more, so that now it needs to be renamed Lowe's Manky Rope and Even Mankier Ladder. If you're ever doing that route, remember that the easiest way up involves starting from a ledge on the opposite wall and leaning across.

The aforementioned Lowe's "Chain", OFD 1.
My log records that my last trip into OFD 1 was on 9th June 1996 with Graham, Julian and Carol where I said: "Streamway and into Railton Wild Series." Another of my famously discursive entries.

Pluto's Bath, OFD1.
I enjoyed my return to old haunts immensely, and I won't be leaving it another 24 years before going back!

Linda Wilson

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Look what fell out of an old book! Not mine, I've never fangirled Mr Willis quite hard enough to keep a cuttings file on him (sorry, Dick!). This came to me courtesy of a friend called Jim Pennington.

Jim found this tidying up some cuttings from someone else's book. A bit is missing at the bottom because it was kept for something else on the other side. he thought that UBSS members, and Dick, of course, might be like to see this article from The Sunday Times on 17 September 1989, in which Dick describes his decent into caving, or, as he put it at the UBSS Centenary Symposium, how caving cut short his promising academic career!.

Linda Wilson

MUSEUM NEWS

The Stables is now open as Covid protocols and guidance have been agreed with the University. Our museum mascot, Whatley Mammoth explains ...

Use of the Stables (hint, if you ever talk to Estates, they have the building listed as The Coach House at the rear of 21 Woodland Road) is currently restricted to two people in each of the downstairs rooms and one person in each of the upstairs rooms at a time. This is the maximum occupancy that Estates can sanction at the moment under covid conditions. Social distancing guidelines must be observed. Estates have provided hand sanitiser, which is on a chair by the door, and must be used on entering and leaving the building. Masks must be worn whilst inside the building (there are disposables ones by the door if anyone forgets their own) and nitrile gloves must be used if any books or museum specimens are handled (there is a supply of gloves by the door, too).

All surfaces touched have to be wiped down before the building is closed and locked. The University Museums Group have identified Flash Extra Large Wipes as being the best for use in a museum as they don't leave behind any harmful residue (again, these are on the chair by the door). Please note that these are ONLY to be used for wiping surfaces such as tables, chairs, cabinets etc. They are NOT for cleaning books and museum objects. Any books and objects that are handled MUST be quarantined for 72 hours after use. There will be quarantine tables upstairs and downstairs.

Nathan and Linda had a very helpful meeting with Jo Elsworth the Director of the Theatre Collection, who's also Director of Cultural Collections, which enabled them to work out the necessary protocols for visiting researchers. We already have one PhD student from Cardiff who is keen to examine the Aveline's Hole material. To help manage visits, the museum stack room upstairs has been designated STAFF ONLY.

More detailed guidance on the of the rooms will be sent to all keyholders and the committee, but hopefully this is enough to show that we are back in business in the Stables, albeit in a more limited capacity!

The other thing that needs to be done is the redecoration work that was put on hold when everything was locked down. The downstairs rooms need painting and the staircase needs woodstaining. Nathan as student museum curator will be organising small working parties, probably no more than two or three people at a time, as unless those people are part of a household, normal social distancing must be observed. Volunteers welcome! Please contact Nathan if you are available to help. And if you don't volunteer, prepare to be voluntold, in normal UBSS fashion.

Massive Mammoth Hugs to All!

Whatley Mammoth, on behalf of Linda and Nathan

FAREWELL TO JAMES RUSSELL

Drawing by James Russell of what the famous Read's Cavern horse hobbles might have looked when in use.

I'm sorry to have to report the death of former UBSS museum curator, James Russell, who looked after the collection for a while in the 1970s. I don't have a photo of James, but I hope this drawing can stand as a tribute to his work with our collection.

James was also a member of the Bristol and Avon Archaeological Society, and will be much missed for his encyclopaedic knowledge of archaeology. BAAS hope to hold a Memorial Day for James at some point.I'll circulate details when more is known.

Linda Wilson

BRITISH CAVING ASSOCIATION AGM - 11 October 2020

The BCA is holding a digital AGM on Sunday 11 October 2020. You are all members of BCA through your membership of UBSS.

You can find full details about how to participate on the BCA website.

A number of constitutional amendments were submitted to the AGM, the proposers being Tim Allen, Rostam Namaghi and the Council of Southern Caving Clubs, however BCA acting Chair (mad)Phil Rowsell, has already formed a working group with the express intent of overhauling both the constitution and the Manual of Operations, neither of which are deemed fit for purpose. As a result, madphil has issued a heartfelt please to all proposers to withdraw their proposals, and this letter is reproduced here:

"Dear AGM Proposer,

I am writing to you as Acting Chair of BCA regarding you proposals which you have submitted for the BCA AGM in October. We currently have 18 proposals! This is a considerable number to attempt to progress through an AGM, leading to a potentially very lengthy AGM. Running the numbers even if we only spent 5 minutes on each with speech and questions this amounts to 90 minutes (1 1/2 hours minimum), and realistically it will be far longer. With the formation of the Constitution and Manual of Operations Review Working Group (CMoOR), to review both these documents and produced revised documents for approval by council and the 2021 AGM, I am asking you to consider whether you would consider pulling those (or some of those) relating to these two documents.

Obviously this is your decision. I will ensure you that they will be considered carefully and that the CMoOR WP will consult you about your proposal during this review to fully understand and ensure you we have fully considered your proposal/s. If you decide that you are prepared to pull any proposals please send both Russell (BCA Sec) and myself an email, indicating which email you are prepared to pull for inclusion into the CMoOR working group. Furthermore there are several that are similar in nature, that by possible pre-discussion prior to the AGM, agreement could be reach to combine these proposals again reducing the number.

Thank you for your consideration. Phil Rowsell"

As a result of this, the Council of Southern Caving Clubs (CSCC) unanimously voted at their recent AGM to withdraw their proposals in response to madphil's plea, and place their trust in him and the new working group. It is believed that Rostam may have withdrawn some of his proposals however Tim Allen is unwilling to withdraw his, so any that are not withdrawn will go to an online ballot of the members that will be open to BCA members from 12th to 18th October.

As the CSCC rep on BCA Council, I would like to urge all UBSS members to consider voting against any proposals that are not withdrawn, to allow madphil and the new working group to do the job placed in their hands by BCA council to devise, after full consideration and consultation, a constitution and Manual Operations that are fit for purpose. Passing amendments piecemeal at this time will not be in any way helpful to that purpose or the smooth running of an eAGM. Phil is working very hard to lead an organisation that has been badly broken by personal attacks and vicious in-fighting and in my view, he deserves the support of everyone who would like to see BCA fulfil its potential as an effective and trustworthy national body for British caving.

Please ensure the BCA secretary has your up to date email address so you can participate in the vote.

Linda Wilson

COMMITTEE LLAMA READ TO THE END - SO CAN YOU!

Meet Committee Llama, a birthday present for Zac on the Irish expedition, proving that friends who care about you buy you inflatable animals!

So, with Committee Llama's help, we present the results of last month's Who Read to the End First? competition ...

The winner was the very determined Megan Malpas, who netted a UBSS pen and keyring torch for her quick fire email!

- GOTCHA (Megan Malpas) who followed this up with: "Wait there’s actually a prize???? Today just gets better and better!"

- Yay caving! (Jacob Podesta)

- Honestly! (Hans Friederich)

- Another excellent issue (even if I did write a lot of it myself)! (Zac Woodford)

- That was a brilliant newsletter. I giggled all the way through! Great photos, too. GB was fascinating, definitely, but a pretty hard trip considering I’d been pretty much sitting on my arse for the prior six months! (Jan Walker)

- Yay, great to see people caving again – Lionel’s Hole is underrated! And an awesome Irish GIS… (Andy Farrant)

- I won’t be first, but I did indeed RttE. (And great that the Tratman Award has meant so much to so many ...) (Chris Howes)

- Spiffing issue! And FT is very taken with his new-found fame and wants to know whether he now needs an agent … (Sharon Wheeler)

- I did it! And soon after release too! Who thought a quiet day on the acute medical unit was a thing??? Excellent as ever. My next target is to get to a virtual pub, sounds like I'm missing out on lots of fun! (Cat Henry)

- Just to prove I did it! I always read to the end, this time I pressed the link! (Tony Boycott aka AB (Dr))

- I read to the end! (Stefan Creaser)

Come on. folks, let's have lots of love for your harassed (or rather, harassing) editors and all our wonderful contributors! Even AB (Dr) managed to read to the end last time. And don't forget, as Megan discovered, there are PRIZES!

And while you're here, fingers poised to let us hear from you, Committee Llama needs a name of their own. so please include a suggested name with your Read to the End email, and we'll run a poll for the suggestions, with another prize for the winning entry! So come on folks, this is your (probably first and only) chance to name an inflatable llama!!

Yes, I did, I read to the end! And I think Committee Llama should be named ....

THE END