No. 121
Page 1 It is with extreme regret that we must announce the death of Don Coase which occurred on Friday January 31st 1958 following an operation. To his wife Clare and his small son we offer our deepest sympathy
The passing of Don Coase represents a great loss, not only to his family and friends, but to the club as a whole and the entire caving world. Don joined the B.E.C. in 1946, after an active career with the now disbanded Bridgwater Caving Club, and at once became one of our club’s most active members. In June, 1947, he became the first man to dive the sump in Stoke Lane Slocker, and thus discovered the large system beyond. An enthusiastic club member, he played a major part in the erection of the original Belfry; becoming the first club member to sleep there. He became its first Hut Warden until his work took him to London. In spite of the distance, his interest in caving remained as great as ever. He organized, with John Shorthose, a B.E.C. London Section which became very active and continued the work in Stoke Lane, the survey of which was largely carried out by Don. A draughtsman by profession, his surveying work was always of a very high order. In addition to his work with the London Section, he took every available opportunity to visit caving areas, and many of us will remember ‘Rasputin’, his motorcycle, on which he travelled a remarkable number of miles. About this time, he became interested in the Cave Diving Group and rapidly became one of its most skilled divers. In 1949, he discovered, with Bill Mack, the Water Passage at the far end of Peak Cavern in Derbyshire. He was also well known for his diving work in Wookey Hole, in connection with the Somerset Section of the Cave Diving Group. Other cave discoveries included that of Llethrid Cave, South Wales, in 1949. Although he preferred the practical side of caving, he could always be relied on to help out with the organization of the club and thus in 1951 and 1952, he became Editor of the Belfry Bulletin, jointly with John Shorthose. In 1953, married and back again in Bristol, he became Caving Secretary. It is difficult to think of any branch of caving in which he did not actively participate. A keen photographer, he was author of the chapter on cave photography in 'British Caving', which was sponsored by the Cave Research Group, in which he also took an interest. As Caving Secretary, he helped to construct much new tackle, including the hand climbing line or ‘Knobbly Dog’. He took an active part in the Mendip rescue Organisation being a Warden and was elected a Registrar of the Mendip Cave Registry. In 1953, be began his last and greatest piece of cave exploration in St. Cuthbert’s Swallet and devoted hundreds of hours leading its exploration, surveying, photographing and erecting permanent tackle in the cave. He collaborated in writing the first report of this work, and has been working and writing on this cave ever since. At the time of his death, he was interested in the problems of water flow in the cave system. While in no way minimising the teamwork which has gone on into many of these projects, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the club owes a great deal of its present position to the leadership, work and enthusiasm of Don Coase. He will be greatly missed. _______________________________________________________________________________________
EDITORIAL The news of the death of Don Coase arrived after this B.B. had been, stencilled. We scrapped pages one and two as a result. We are sure that readers will forgive the appearance of the B.B. under the circumstances. A few of the notices and other items may be able to be squeezed in somewhere. There may be a lack of joining of this new page 2 with the original page 3. Again we apologise and will try to straighten out matters in our next issue. “Alfie”