January 1961
Number 155
Page 1
January 1961 – No 155
Vol XV No.1
_______________________________________________________________________________________ Old Age Dept. This is the beginning of Volume Fifteen of the B.B. It makes you realise how time flies when we pause to consider that, with the end of this volume, we shall have edited the B.B. for a third of its total life! This is a long time, and if any readers begin to notice a touch of senility creeping in, we should be obliged if they will tell us. Caving Reports. No, you’re wrong! This is not yet another apology for the fact that everything is getting years out of date. Bryan Ellis, now that Her Majesty has finished with his services, has agreed to produce these in future, and to straighten out the sad state of affairs into which they have fallen. You’ll soon be able to get them S.M.C.C. Occasional Papers. This reminds us that two very good reports have been recently published by the Shepton Mallet Caving Club – One on their caving in Ireland and the other on the caves of North Wales. Both make excellent additions to the caver’s library. If any of our more far flung readers have difficulty in getting then, write in and I will pass over the letters to the S.M.C.C. January Committee Meeting. No new members were elected in January. The committee dealt with arrangements for the now building, more bunks for the Belfry, badges and ties, the water levy, the purchasing of telegraph poles, drainage of our land and assorted other Business. _______________________________________________________________________________________
THE EAST INDIES .......Continued from the Christmas Edition of the B. B. The transformation from west to east was amazing. In Malta there were cars, motorised tugs etc. Here, there were caravans slowly plodding their way along the banks, and sand Dows sedately sailing up and down. There is a road down the side of the canal from Port Said to Suez, but apart from this, there is only sand, palm trees and still more sand. It was still March and at home they had snow but we, once we were acclimatised, soon shifted into shorts and sandals. By now we were working tropical routine, sailing through the Red Sea. Apart from a steaming party, the whole ship had a make and mend every afternoon - and we needed it. I have never had the misfortune to be in the Red Sea in high summer but this was bad enough. Eventually we arrived at Aden, where the off watch had six hours leave while the ship refuelled. It was my first encounter, on shore, with the exotic East - filth and dirt everywhere, foul smells and dilapidated houses. The bazaars are full of imported goods - mainly Japanese but occasionally one gets a glimpse of the true East. Women in purdah, oxen pulling ploughs in the fields, wooden Dows in the harbour, beautifully tooled leatherwork and perfumes that would turn the head of any man. Leaving Aden, still at full speed, we were soon in the flat calm of the Arabian Sea. Entering the Gulf of Aden, we became used to the sight of turtles, sea snakes and sting rays basking on the surface, with here and there the occasional shark. So we passed the gates of hell, into the Persian Gulf. Arriving at Bahrain, we dropped our hook about three miles off shore - it’s very shallow - only to find that, as usual, the disturbance had dissolved at the news of our approach. "Llew" Pritchard.
Page 2
Number 155
January 1961
CAVING LOG 20th November. Rod's Pot. Roger and Daphne Stenner. Daphne’s first trip for many moons. 27th November. Hollowfield Swallet. Pat Ron and Jim Giles. First B.E.C. trip to this cave for many moons. Hollowfield, for those who don't got around much these days, is on the other side of Priddy, up the second road going due north on the right, and in a field two fields away from, the road, through the first gate on the right. It consists of a short pitch at about 45° leading into a small chamber. Going down from this chamber is a vertical drop of about thirty foot, leading to a chamber of about the same size as the Gents bedroom at the Belfry. On the right hand side of this chamber is a short passage, about fifteen feet long which gets progressively narrower. On the left are two passages which join up after a few yards and go down in three short stages for about forty foot at about 30° to the horizontal. This route also gets very narrow, and is very damp due to the drip from the chamber roof collecting and forming a minute stream. In the Main Chamber we found two bats and several bones which were probably part of some animal’s scaffolding. Quite an interesting trip and a pleasant change from the usual Swildons. Watch out for further B.E.C. activity in this cave!
27th November. Goatchurch. R. Stenner and party of six Lockleaze boys. Also Pat with same party. The drop was laddered and four of the party went down. 3rd December. Roger Stenner. Garth and Trevor swallet spotting after a fine downpour. Very interesting. Much water going down Vee and large lake of unknown depth in the Devil’s Punchbowl. 3rd December. G.B. Nigel, Pat, Jim Borchard, Jim. Giles. A short photographic trip going down the Gorge to the Bridge and up the White Passage. We found that the size of the Gorge made photography very difficult (Did you use the dreaded side lighting? – Ed.) We did get a couple of shots of the torrent. We also proved that bats are either (a) blind or (b) deep sleepers by taking a close up flash photograph. The mystery of the 'Lamp Pox’ is also solved. Don’t fill up with muddy water. 3rd December. G.B. Alan, Ian plus 2, Peter and Lady C. Devil's Elbow impassable. Down via Loop and Ox-Bow and out straight up the Gorge. 4th December. Wookey Hole. Conducted tour. Jim Borchard, Jim Giles, Garth, Bushy, Pat, Tiny, Dick Langdon and Fred Green. How not to spend £1-8-0 on a Sunday afternoon, although some photographs were taken, 8th December. Pen Park Hole. Alan, Mo, John Eatough, Roy Bennett, Keith and brother, George Mossman, Steve Tuck, Roger Stenner plus 2, Garth, Nigel, Pete Scott and Dave Causer. A total of fifteen bods in all. Down at about 8 p.m. and everyone down to the bottom of the ladder bar Roger. Nigel peeled off on the Muddy Traverse but didn't get wet. Alan, Roy and Steve went up a subsidiary passage. Roy spent an interesting time holding up a pile of stones. P.S. Alan needs to be taught how to tie a bowline. P.P.S. Garth needs to be taught how to climb a ladder.
January 1961
Number 155
Page 3
10th December. Swildons. Jim Giles, Jim Borchard, Tiny Tierney and Ron Towns. Introduction to caving for Tiny and Ron. In via the Long Dry and out via the Short Dry. Tiny was stuck three times and didn't go much on the noble art of crawling through little ‘oles in the ground. On the other hand, Ron thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The water rift showed signs of having taken rather a large quantity of water during the week. 11th December. Dallimore’s Cave. Jim, Jim, Ron and Tiny. The 20’ rope advised by Barrington was a good idea, but how does the last man get down when there aren't any decent belay points? In fact, the rope wasn't required. The trip was very enjoyable and quite rewarding. (Ron found a 1948 2/- piece). We went right down to the mud choke at the bottom of the rift without getting too wet. One photo taken and four bats found. 17th December. Goatchurch and Sidcot. Jim Hill, Christine Corrick and Pat. Very enjoyable trip. Christine's first ventures in this field of activity, and despite us getting lost most of the time, she seemed to think it was something to be continued. 17th December. Swildons - Trouble Series. Dave Causer, Bob Pike and Jim Giles. A six hour trip to the end of Trouble Series, including a spell of gardening at Shatter Pot. Some very beautiful formations to be seen for the price of two mud sumps. The first has about 4” clearance and the second about 2". Before going into Trouble we stopped for a brew of tea at the Blue Pencil Cafe - made in an empty tin can - and a few biscuits. At the top of the Forty we met a solo caver - from that export's club - Sandhurst, who we bade farewell in no uncertain manner. Avery good trip 16th December. Longwood. Two nits who wore steaming when they came out - Llew and Jim Giles - did a very wet trip below the main chamber. 25th December. Swan Hotel, Wells. Spike, Pam, Nigel, Frank, Graham, Jim Giles, Alan Thomas and Garth. A very enjoyable trip to the Dining Room. Spike got stuck in the entrance squeeze. The M.R.O. were not called out. 27th December. Swildons. Richard, J. Wolff, Nick, J. Trip down to sump and back via normal tourist attractions, reached Forty on the way back to find our ladder about fifteen feet from the deck, caught on the drainpipe at the top After a hazardous climb it was retrieved and the party got out. 28th December. Ife Hole. Mike Baker, Jim Giles, Richard Roberts. After collecting all available information about this cave from B.E.C. members, Barrington and Britain Underground, a trip was made to see if any further work could be done. The cave itself seemed pretty hopeless, but further south along the quarry face, a further hole was examined. This hole is about nine inches high and two foot wide and seems to be full of small rocks which could be moved fairly easily. It seems possible that another cave could exist here. Permission to dig must be sought from the Waldegrave Estate Office. 29th December. Swildons. Bob Pike and Jim Giles. A laddering trip. 29th December. Priddy Green. As above. Trip to get an idea of the work going on in this hole. 30th December. Swildons - Trouble Series. Jim Giles, Bob Pike, Bob Lauder, Richard Roberts. First of the Trouble sumps found to be impassable. After three hours baling and siphoning, headroom of one inch made. Decided not to take risk and returned to surface. 30th December. Goatchurch and Sidcot. R. Stenner + 3 boys. _______________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Congratulations to Chris and Vivienne Falshaw on the birth of their son, Simon Meriadoc. Born on the Twenty eighth day of November, too! Congratulations also to Bob and Mary Price on the birth of their daughter. Congratulations to Sid Hobbs and Sylvia, who have announced their engagement. We fancy that we might have another engagement to announce in the near future. Rumour hath it that Parsons the jewellers are doing rather well at the moment.
Page 4
Number 155
January 1961
LETTERS To the Editor of the B.B. Cock, I was sitting at the old Cain and Abel, taking a butchers at the Christmas B.B. while I was ‘aving a cuppa rosie and a spit and a drag larst night. As I was finking of going up the apples to me uncle Nod, I claps me mince pies on this piece abaht the L.S.M.S. and its good work. Cor! Wot ‘eroism and bravery those boys must 'ave! If I'd 'ad any boos in the sky of me whistle and flute, I'd 'ave sent it on to you to 'elp 'em run their jam jar dahn to where all them 'cathons and savages live. An old china of mine went dahn there once and come back as fast as ‘is plates’d let 'im. Said they all talked so queer they couldn't be ‘uman. Still, I must pack this lark in and scarper up them apples as the birdlime's getting on. C.V. Lized-Mann. To the Editor, Belfry Bulletin. Dear Sir, It is some time since I last wrote to this magazine and it was not until I read the article in the Christmas B.B. by a Mr. Entrails, or some such name, that I realized how short of articles you must be. If there is any form of education in the jungles of Mill Hill Mr Entrails may have learned that, over the centuries, civilisation has generally spread west. For example - Sumer, then Egypt; Greece; Rome; East England and now the West Country. (Shoot that man who mentioned America). No doubt London once had the largest collection of wattle houses in the country (after Winchester) but after all, the past is past and Mr. Entrails should realise that London is just a big place for weegees to visit, like Pompeii, Herculaneum and Zimbabwe. Perhaps he is confused by the vivid memories he must retain of the hovels of London flaming under the torches of Boudicca's army and the recollection of his flight from his rude bed, clad only in a state of barbarity. They say that Boudicca's tribes revolted against London, an understandable feeling which is still felt by most people in these more placid, times. It seems fairly clear that this rubbish about London missionaries in Somerset is simply a disguise for the true purpose of those Eastern wogs who are still searching for their familiar old homes - the Mendip caves serving as a weekend substitute. If Mr Entrails wishes to discuss the whereabouts of the true centre of the universe in a logical instead of an emotional manner, I would like to ask why he found it necessary to define the wog and civilised parts of Britain. Take a vote at the Belfry Mr Entrails, and you will find it unanimously stated that the centre of the universe lies six inches in front of the Belfry stove. Finally, I note that, according to the article, “the L.S.M.S. was formed by a group of very charitable people of Civilisation”. I find this and the whole article frankly incredible, but if Mr Entrails wishes to prove its truth, he and his fellow wogs will no doubt be only too willing, to feed me on Drambuie and plain chocolate as a demonstration of their charitable intentions! Yours Faithfully, Jill Rollason. P. S. Note to readers; any typing errors which appear in this article are caused by the strong emotions of our (wog) Editor. _______________________________________________________________________________________ We should like to thank all contributors for the amount of articles sent in, which enabled us to produce such a big Christmas number, and still have something in reserve to tide us over the first few B.B.' s of this year. Although your article may not appear in next month's B.B., all contributions are still very welcome, so don't stop writing! ED. _______________________________________________________________________________________ The Belfry Bulletin for January 1961. Editor, S.J. Collins, 33, Richmond Terrace, Clifton, Bristol 8. Secretary. R. J. Bagshaw, 699 Wells Road, Knowle, Bristol 4. Postal Department. C.A. Marriott, 718, Muller Road, Eastville, Bristol.