Belfry Bulletin Number 276

59

THE BELFRY BULLETIN ____________________________________ Number 276

August 1970

(VOLUME 24 No.8) ____________________________________ CONTENTS Caving The Gouffre of Coume Ferrat

65

Club Business Minutes of the 1969 A.G.M. Hon. Sec’s Report B.B. Editor’s Report Tacklemaster’s Reports Notices

60 69 69 64 59

Miscellaneous Crossword 70 ____________________________________ THE BELFRY BULLETIN: MONTHLY JOURNAL OF THE BRISTOL EXPLORATION CLUB. Hon. Sec. AR. THOMAS. ALLENS HOUSE, PRIDDY WELLS, SOMERSET TELEPHONE NUMBER PRIDDY 269 HON. EDITOR, S.J. COLLINS, HOMELEIGH, BISHOP SUTTON, BRISTOL

Editorial Once more, we approach the time of the year when the Annual General Meeting takes place and the B.B. becomes full of minutes of meetings, reports from the various club officers and all the other paraphernalia of the A.G.M. This makes the B.B. bigger but duller.

However, we make no apology for the amount of space taken up at this time of the year with affairs connected with the running of the club. The B.E.C. takes some pride in the fact that every single member is given the fullest opportunity to take some part in deciding the way in which his club should be run and the only way to ensure that every member is in a position to do this, is to keep each member as fully informed as possible on all that has been done.

The Committee this year has been faced with the task of getting the new Belfry built and fitted out, and this has naturally taken a lot if its time. During the next year, it faces the equally difficult job of finding the best way to run the new Belfry for the benefit of all club members.

We hope that some members will feel that they could lend an active hand to this process by standing for the committee. If this is not possible, then a member can still help to run the club by turning up at the A.G.M. with his ideas, suggestions or criticisms or by letter the committee know what his feelings about any aspect of the way the club is run, are. _______________________________________________

NOTICES Has anyone got any spare GLOSS PAINT? Small amounts are wanted for the doors inside the Belfry. Any reasonable colour will be considered. Have a look through your junk cupboard and see if you can help. Please give pint – sorry, PAINT to John Riley.

SINGLE BED MATTRESSES are also wanted for the Belfry. If you have one that’s going spare, bring it up to the Belfry. If no suitable transport, let PETE FRANKLIN know about it, and he will arrange for it to be taken up to Mendip.

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and DINNER of the B.E.C. will be held on Saturday, October 3rd this year.

Make a note to keep this day free. All details will be found in next month’s B.B. Don’t forget the date.

If you have any points to raise from last year’s minutes or from any of the Club Officer’s reports, KEEP THIS AND THE NEXT B.B. for reference.

60

Minutes of the 1969 A.G.M.

Editor’s Note: The minutes of Annual general Meetings are fairly lengthy affairs. In past years, some fair amount of valuable time has been taken up with the chairman of the meeting reading the minutes and even then, the average members will be lucky if he can remember just what they said. For the last two years, the minutes have been ‘taken as read’ by one member volunteering to read them and finding out if there was anything in them which members would like to be reminded of. Now that we print as many of the officer’s reports as we can get hold of before the A.G.M., so that all members cab see them and be able to raise questions if necessary; it seems sensible to do the same for the actual minutes, so that the chairman of this year’s meeting can, if he so wishes, assume that all members have read the minutes.

The 1969 Annual General meeting of the Bristol Exploration Club was held at The Old Duke on Saturday, 4th October and opened at 10.30am with the Secretary calling for the election of a chairman. It was proposed by Alfie and seconded by Sybil that ‘Sett’ be elected chairman. This was carried without dissent.

The Chairman then called for ballot papers and for member’s resolutions. He then asked for names for the three tellers. Joan Bennett, Tony Meadon and Maureen were suggested by the meeting. Joan said that she would rather not act as teller as she wished to attend the whole meeting. Garth volunteered in her place and this was accepted by the Chairman.

The Chairman said that all the club officer’s reports had appeared in the B.B. with the exception of the Hut Wardens report. He suggested that the Hut Warden give his report and that this be followed by questions if necessary. ‘Kangy’ asked the Chairman whether this was the first report to be dealt with.

Normally reports are given starting with the Hon. Sec., the Hon. Treasurer, and the Caving and Climbing Secretaries before the Hut Warden’s report. The Chairman said this was true, but there was nothing to prevent him starting with the Hut Warden.

The Hut Warden, Phil Townsend, said that he had no actual report prepared but that he was prepared to answer questions from the floor of the meeting. Alfie said that tales about the way the Belfry had lately been run had caused him mush concern. As an ex Hut Warden, he was appalled by the fact that there appeared to be no proper records being kept, and instanced the fact that Sybil owed the Belfry six schillings but there was no record of her having stayed there. Sybil agreed that she could have easily kept quiet about her stay and wondered how many people had, in fact, and just done this. She gave the sum owing to the Hon. Treasurer.

Peter Franklin said that he had taken it upon himself to make up a Belfry book as there were no books at the Belfry into which to enter debts. This book had been in action for the two weeks preceding the fire and as far as he knew, it was the only source of recording. John Ifold said that one always had a system of taking names at the Belfry and it was essential to have such a system. The Chairman said that this was true. Alfie said that it was symptomatic that no figures of bed-nights had been published for the last two years. How could one know whether the Belfry was full or not if there were no records? Later on in this meeting, we would have to decide what to do about getting ourselves a new Belfry, but we were going to have to work in the dark if we couldn’t even say how much the present building was being used or how much the receipts from it ought to be in a year. Pete Franklin agreed and that he had stayed up for a whole week and nobody appeared interested whether he paid or not. Alan Thomas said that in the absence of a Hut Warden, the senior member present should be responsible for the Belfry and that Pete should therefore have acted as his own Hut Warden for his stay. The Chairman said that when he was Hut Warden, he was present for about fifty weeks in each the year and he made very definite arrangements for the other two. Dave Irwin said that this discussion was a bad reflection on the Belfry regulars, who should have been sufficiently responsible to have kept the records going. He said that we could do well without members who stay at the Belfry and then attempt to get out without paying their dues. The chairman said he thought many members would not volunteer their dues, but they will pay quite easily if someone makes the effort to collect the money. Alan said that, in fairness to the Hut Warden, he had the job wished upon him and had stated at the time that he would not be able to get to Mendip regularly.

Sybil asked whether the Committee had realised what was happening. The Committee Chairman, Dave Irwin, said that it had been agreed to drop the regular monthly reports of club officers at committee meetings, and it was not until May or June that the state of affairs was realised in committee. He said that members must communicate with the committee if they thought that anything was going wrong. Alan said that the

61 Committee had tried various solutions. A Belfry regular was co-opted, but he then moved away from Mendip. The Chairman asked if anyone thought that we were short of a significant sum of money as a result of there being no record. The Hut Warden said that there was no need for a record. This raised a general shout of protest to which the Hut Warden replied that if members were not prepared to do the job themselves, they should shut up. Dave Irwin said that a committee member should be prepared to whatever is necessary. The Chairman replied that he did not go as far as this but would rule that if any committee member takes on a job, then he must do it properly. Dave Irwin said that if a member was not prepared to do whatever the job the Committee asked him to do; he should not stand for the Committee. The Chairman said he could not agree with this as it was generally recognised that many people stand for the Committee with a particular job in mind. For example, we all know that Bob is no longer prepared to be Hon. Sec. If members elect him, knowing this, it would be high unreasonable for the Committee to expect him to do the job. Alan Thomas agreed with this and said that not all committee members were qualified to do any job on the Committee. Mike Luckwill said that we have had some excellent Hut Wardens in the past but we cannot expect that any Hut Warden will necessary act as they did.

A general discussion followed on methods of Hut Wardening, but eventually Kangy proposed that we should continue the system that we have used in the past. This was generally agreed to by the meeting without a formal vote. Bob Bagshaw suggested that the meeting adopt a Hut Warden’s Report with a rider that the Committee shall ensure an effective Hut Warden bearing in mind the comments of this meeting.

This was seconded by Pete Franklin who said that he thought that we had lost much money in lost hut fees which we needed badly. He said that any Hut Warden must have an effective paperwork system. The proposal to adopt the report with the rider was then put to the meeting. About three quarters of those present were in favour.

The Chairman then proceeded to the B.B. Editor’s Report as the only other club officer’s report which had not been previously published. Dave Irwin then gave his report (attached). Bob Bagshaw asked why the report had not been published. Dave said that the B.B. Editor is not officially an officer of the club. The adoption of the report was proposed by Bryan and seconded by Kangy. It was accepted unanimously. Alfie then proposed a vote of thanks to the retiring Editor, this was seconded by Dave Turner and carried unanimously with cheers.

Dave Searle then read his report at Hon. Librarian (attached). The report was adopted nem. com. after having been proposed by John Ransom and seconded by Alfie. Dave Irwin then read the report on behalf of the Caving Publications, since Gordon was not present. Dave Turner asked what the typewriter was for which the club had bought for caving publications and where was it? Dave said that Gordon had it and that it was used for typing the caving reports.

The Chairman then asked if all other reports could be taken as read. This was agreed. He then called for questions arising from these reports, which had all appeared in the B.B. Results of this were as follows: Hon. Sec’s Report. Adoption without questions proposed by Alfie and seconded by Phil Townsend.

Carried nem.com.

Caving Secretary’s Report. Kangy asked whether the Caving Secretary anticipated the Ian Dear Memorial Fund being used during the coming year. Dave said that no one would know the answer to this until next March. Adoption proposed by Dave Smith and seconded by Mike Luckwill. Carried nem.com.

Hut Engineer’s Report. John said that his report was wrongly dated in the B.B. It was written on the 18.8.69 not 18.9.69 as stated. Joan Bennett said that the club should thank John for all the work he has put in. This was seconded by Dave Irwin and carried unanimously. John said that, after the fire, he had concentrated on making the tackle store watertight and that this had now been done. The old shower had been removed and three bunks installed. Water had been connected and electricity would soon be in again.

The report was adopted nem. com. After being proposed by Dave Irwin and seconded by Alan Kennett.

Tacklemaster’s Report. Dave Irwin proposed that the report be adopted. This was seconded by Garth and carried nem.com.

The Chairman asked why there was no report from the Climbing Secretary. Dave said that at present there was no Climbing Secretary.

62 Hon. Treasurer’s Report. Dave Irwin asked why the National Development Bonds and the Ian Dear Memorial Fund were in the accounts. Bob replied that it was the easiest way in which the accounts could be presented. This was the first time that the Ian Dear Memorial Fund had been used and there was no real need to have them separate. Dave asked whether we were going to re-invest the I.D.M.F. but Bob replied that the time was not appropriate to change this investment. Bob pointed out that he gave total the club monies, but that the Ian Dear Memorial Fund should not be regarded as money but an asset. On a question about income tax, Bob agreed that the whole question wanted looking into, to which Joan Bennett replied ‘Hear, Hear!’

Dave Irwin said that he had spoken to Tim Reynolds who was prepared to advise Bob. The Chairman asked whether the new Belfry fund was an asset. Bob replied that the total monies do not include assets but do include the new Belfry fund. Joan Bennett said that there were two points that were misleading. Caving Publications appeared to have made a loss of £38, but the publications report said that they were doing very well. Dave Irwin explained that the discrepancy between these two points was due to the accounts closing on 31.7.69. Since then, Bob has received more money and the loss to date is actually £8 which includes all publications including the B.B. and its postage.

The Chairman commented that the B.B. could well make a loss which could be offset against subscriptions, and the fact that it is now virtually self supporting is extremely good. Alan Thomas said that he thought it was an excellent achievement and supposed that this would be reflected in next year’s accounts.

Joan Bennett then raised the problem of the Belfry account. This shows a profit of £3.19.0 on the Belfry, but £36 has been transferred so the Belfry has made a loss of over £30. There is no breakdown of the figures, so members do not know how this loss was built up. Joan said that it would be difficult to work out the finance of a new Belfry if we do not know how we are running the present one. Sett, replying to this, said that in his time as Hut Warden, the details were always accounted for, but not separated out in the financial account.

Dave Irwin said that the Belfry, in fact, had made a considerable loss during the year and the accounts should reflect this in an obvious manner. Bob said this was difficulty to know how much detail to show in the accounts. Since they were closed he had received £60 in Belfry income and bills for about £30 expenditure, the bills, the loss is therefore not a great as it would appear. The main items of expenditure were Coke (£24); Solicitor’s costs (£8.10.0); Fire Insurance (£11); and Gas (£10). There was also about £10 for repairs. John had been in the middle of redecorating when the fire broke out. Mike Luckwill proposed that the report be adopted buts asks the Hon. Treasurer to do his best to present the accounts in a manner more suited to the higher financial status of the club. This was seconded by Phil Townsend and carried nem.com.

The Chairman the read out the results of the ballot for the 1969 – 1970 Committee. Voting was, R.J. Bagshaw (56); Dave Irwin (56); Norman Petty (55); Alan Thomas (53); Alfie (52); John Riley (43); Jok Orr (40); Mike Luckwill (37) and Pete Franklin (23). He declared the above to the new committee. The remainder of the voting was Mike Palmer (19); Gordon Tilly (19); ‘Fred’ Atwell (19) and Phil Townsend (15).

The Chairman then took member’s resolutions. The first, proposed by Dave Irwin was that ‘The St. Cuthbert’s leader system be opened to every club having adequate insurance cover’. Dave explained that while this resolution would open the leader system to include the whole country, rather than the six Mendip clubs as at present, leaders would still have to go through the usual procedure before being admitted as leaders. Tony Johnson asked how adequate insurance was to be decided. The Chairman said that he imagined that the leader’s meeting and the general committee would investigate any prospective leaders.

Mike Palmer said that he felt insurance should be adequately defined. On the other hand, all guests of the club were covered by the club’s insurance. After some discussion, the Chairman said that the Committee must decide on what is adequate. Alfie agreed with this, but suggested that the Committee should obtain professional advice. This was generally agreed. Tony Johnson wondered whether all cavers really counted as guests of the club for insurance purposes. Dave Irwin then resolved that the Committee look into the problems of insurance and the extension fro the Cuthbert’s system next year. This was seconded by Jill, and carried. The original proposal was not voted on as it had not been seconded.

The second proposal was from the retiring committee. ‘That the new constitution be adopted with the exception of article 85 which should be replaced by a new article 85 as drafted by Digger Harris. Alfie proposed an amendment that ‘his or hers’ should be removed since the preamble of the constitution already covers this point. This amendment was seconded and passed nem.com. The vote on the amended proposal was carried with one dissenter.

63 Another Committee resolution proposed that the words ‘that the accounts must be audited before presentation’ be added to Article 78. Dave Smith asked how much this would cost. Joan Bennett said she thought about £20. The Chairman asked if we were willing to risk having to pay this sum annually. Pete Franklin said that in his rugby club, two members were elected every year to audit the accounts. If a similar system were adopted in the B.E.C., the audit would not cost anything. Tony Johnson then proposed that the resolution read ‘that the accounts must be audited by two members of the club not being members of the Committee.’ This was seconded b y Pete Franklin and carried with one against.

Roy Bennett and Kangy proposed that Article 58 be amended to include the B.B. Editor. Mike Luckwill said that the Committee could always co-opt the Editor if desired and thus the resolution was unnecessary.

Roy said that the B.B. Editor must be on the Committee by right and Kangy said that the B.B. Editor was third in importance amongst the officers of the club and thus should be on the Committee. Dave Smith said that at any rate, the Editor should be at all Committee meetings. Tony Johnson said that if the Editor was not a member of the Committee, then he should be co-opted as a non-voting member. Roger Stenner said the subject was best left loose and Alfie agreed on the basis that the club should not build up a set of rules round the Editor of the B.B. Mike Luckwill reminded the meeting that any member of the club can attend a Committee meeting, and this would apply to an Editor who was not on the club committee. Alan Thomas said that the Committee already had powers to deal with situations like this as it thought best and specific proposal was therefore not necessary. There was some further discussion in which Kangy made the point that the position of the B.B. Editor was anomalous; Alfie said that this was deliberately so and a good thing; Tim Hodgson said that the Editor should always be impartial. Finally, Tony Johnson proposed that ‘the Editor of the B.B., if not a full member of the Committee, be automatically co-opted as a non-voting member’. This was seconded by Roger Stenner and carried 26 to 13. A ruling from the chair was given that there was now no point in voting for the original proposal.

There being no other points, the Chairman then asked for a vote on the acceptance of the constitution.

Phil Townsend said that the new constitution was unnecessary and the club should not allow it to go through.

The Chairman ruled the point out of order, since the proposal to be voted on was already whether to accept or reject the constitution. Mike Luckwill said that he sympathised with Phil’s feelings, but assured that a constitution of this type really was necessary at this stage of the club’s progress. Garth asked if he could go on record as stating that the new constitution is too large a subject to be debated upon now. Alan said that every member had had an opportunity to read it. The Chairman said that this was so. He had allowed some debate to go on because he realised that this was an important subject, but he would have been within his rights to have asked for straight vote without debate, subject of course, to proper amendments. Roy Bennett said that we could always amend the new constitution if necessary and proposed that a vote of thanks to Alfie for the work he had put in drafting the document. This was seconded by Sybil and carried unanimously. A vote on the acceptance of the constitution was then carried 32-2.

The next resolution was by Mike Luckwill, seconded by Andy Macgregor, ‘That this club deplores the proliferation of national and Regional bodies concerned with caving.’ It was carried 40-4.

The Chairman then declared a break for lunch.

The afternoon session was devoted to the problem of replacing the Belfry. Members present at the meeting had been circulated with a broadsheet prepared by Alfie (as Long Term Planning officer) called ‘After the Fire?’ (attached). The Chairman invited Alfie to give a fuller description of the great situation.

He said that it seemed that our grant was not going to materialise. The Chairman said that this was a good background, but that we had better forget the grant or any possibility of it.

Two proposals were before the meeting, prepared by the 1969 Committee, reinforced by other members of the club. Those were….

“Provided that the Committee is satisfied that the club has received a sufficient sum from the insurance and from further donations to a minimum of £600; it proceeds forthwith with the erection of the building as agreed at the 1967 Annual General Meeting.”

Alternatively, a special Committee shall be set up with the following terms of reference:

64 ‘To examine the situation resulting from the fire and to produce a proposal for the future accommodation of the B.E.C. bearing in mind the best interests of the club in both the short and long term. This Committee is instructed to publish its findings in writing to all club members by a date no later than the ……of….1970 and to arrange their proposal to lie within the financial limits as determined at the time by the 1970 committee.’

A long discussion followed and subsequently by Tony Johnson proposed that the above be taken as two separate proposals. This was seconded by Pete Franklin and carried nem.com.

The first of these proposals was then discussed, voted upon and carried nem.com.

The second proposal, with the date of the first of April inserted, was voted upon and carried 28-2.

The meeting then went on to discuss money, and a proposal by Tim Hodgson seconded by Alan Kennett to use the Ian Dear Memorial Fund as a temporary measure was carried 19-18. In view of the heated arguments for and against, and the closeness of the vote, the chairman called for a re-count. This time the voting was 20-20. The Chairman then used his casting vote in favour of using the fund provided that interest was paid on borrowing it and that all other provisions of the fund were paid.

The meeting closed by Mike Luckwill reporting to the Chairman that he had been though the minutes of last year’s meeting and that there was nothing to be brought up. The Chairman declared that meeting closed after the minutes had been adopted, at 3pm.

S.J. Collins Minutes Secretary _______________________________________________________________________________________

AUGUST COMMITTEE

At the July meeting of the Committee, some of the later stages of the Belfry fitting out were still on the agenda. A few items are still needed as gifts from members.

The treasurer reported that matters were now sufficiently in hand for the financing of the Belfry, that he was stopping his monthly report to the Committee.

The arrangements for the dinner were put in hand, and a scheme for the car park was suggested. Methods of producing the new constitution were being looked into and other matters dealt with included the provision of space at the Belfry for M.R.O. gear and the progress of the B.E.C., exhibition at the Bristol Museum. _______________________________________________________________________________________ MEETING

TACKLE MASTERS REPORT

During the past year, we have lost or mislaid four ladders. Two of these are twenty feet standard type ladders; one is a ten feet standard ladder and the fourth is one of the ultra weight ladders.

The total tackle at present is as follows: 16 standard twenty foot ladders.

1 standard ten foot ladder.

4 lightweight fifty foot ladders.

1600 feet of lifelines.

6 lightweight twenty foot ladders.

11 ultra weight twenty foot ladders.

7 karabiners.

20 tethers of assorted lengths.

65

The Gouffre of Coume Ferrat ….by R.S. (‘Kangy’) King (Our man in France)

Many fine descriptions of cave exploration abroad have to remain unread until a suitable translation appears. Since this is the time of the year when B.E.C. members get their annual chance to visit foreign caves, it seems appropriate to publish this translation by one of our members. It is a summary of an historical account by Georges Jauzion, taken from the XIV and XV volumes of the Societie Meridional de Speleologie et de Prehistoire. __________________________ Between the valley of the Ley and the Garonne are the limestone massifs of Gars-Carir; Palournere; Montreich, Lestelas and Castesegui.

The last two are in the community of Balagueres near St. Giroins, which contains the Coume Ferrat – the fourth or fifth deepest pitch in the world.

In 1957, two Balague men told the Societe Meriodional de Speleologie et de Prehistorie of the existence of a hole, and on the 26th August of that year, a team went to investigate. Dropped stones, which whirred as they reached terminal velocity, revealed an impressive pitch which was confirmed by a cord of 180 metres (590 feet) not touching the bottom.

The first attempt was made on the 29th June, 1958 when G. Hengl descended to a ledge at 128 metres (420 feet). Though physically fit and naturally strong, the ascent – made practically without the aid of a rope which had become wrapped round the ladder – shattered him. It was a completely free pitch, and he reported that the shaft continued.

This nerve racking experience led them to decide that a better winch, using wire to reduce friction, should be made for the sake of safety. It was not until the spring of 1965 that the new ladders and the winch became available and the second attempt was made. This occurred on the 4th of July, 1965.

The entrance passage is rectangular in section, about 30 metres (98 feet) long and sloping so that the end is about 15 metres (49 feet) below the entrance level. Just before the big pitch is a little chamber with roughly parallel walls. After this is a narrow passage dropping down into the hole, while above this passage is a higher ledge which now has cemented are four rawlbolts for securing the winch. A rotting tree trunk CAN STILL BE SEEN. This was used to hold the pulley and telephone wire for the initial attempts.

R. Vennet went down first and got to the 128 metres (420ft) ledge in twenty minutes. He was followed

by Georges Jauzion, who describes his experience as follows….’I was in an immense cylinder of some hundred feet diameter with walls covered in old stal eroded by falling water. From time to time, a stalagmite loomed out of the dark. For a hundred and eighty feet, the ladder hangs near the rock but below that, it hangs well clear and there is a tremendous feeling of exposure. Looking up, I could see the top far away lit by light from the winch ledge. Looking down it was more impressive with Venet’s light reflected on the wet walls like a little star. The ladders disappeared in the darkness below my feet. With the tension of the cable which supported my weight, I could have believed I was floating in space.’

He arrived at last on the ledge, touching the walls for the last thirty feet. The lower ledge was made entirely of stalagmite which had been later eroded by the action of the waterfall. A fall of six feet in thickness forms the edge of the second shaft. Twenty feet lower is a ledge with ample room. This staging point is, in effect, a horizontal stalagmite floor of about thirty feet diameter with its central part eroded by the falling water – leaving a collar attached to the shaft. Half of this collar is too narrow to traverse, the rest forms the ledge.

The trip finished by sounding the lower part of the pitch and establishing that is was greater than a hundred and fifty feet and also planning the placements of the ladders. The new winch almost eliminated the fatigue of climbing 420 feet to the surface, which was accomplished in about quarter of an hour.

The third attempt was made on the 18th of July. In order to conserve effort and materials it was decided to use the first ladder for the second pitch as well. This was done by lowering the ladder on the end of the winch wire. When the ladder had been fixed, a three hundred foot rope was attached to the winch wire and

66 then pulled up to the ledge by the winch. Jauzion then attached himself to the lower end of this rope and started to descend the second pitch. A telephone proved essential to co-ordinate all these movements.

At about a hundred and ten feet below the edge, Jauzion stopped to look at the view. While straining to see the bottom, he noticed that one of the ‘C’ links on a ladder had come adrift below him. Common sense compelled him to give the signal to ascend. Once back on the ledge, it was found that the ladder was hooked up on a rough section of wall and could not be pulled up. The solution was to hang the top end of the ladder on the winch wire and let it swing free into the centre of the shaft. This confirmed that the whole of the shaft could be a free pitch.

67

Having confirmed that the Coume Ferrat was something like the fourth deepest vertical in the world, tactics were changed somewhat. An extra four hundred and fifty feet of wire was provisioned and three men descended to the ledge on the 26th September. Bolts were inserted to hold the ladder and to safeguard Jauzion. For the first hundred feet until, the slack was taken up in the four hundred and fifty feet of wire, a

68 rope was used. This was tied to the rung of a ladder to await the return. A ledge was reached at six hundred and sixty eight feet and the bottom at seven hundred and sixteen feet. A long passage led northward and a further downwards to finish in a level floor of small boulders and a vertical wall, above which could be seen a possible widening. Near the ladder was seen a steep slope under a huge rock. This proved too difficult to climb solo.

Fifth and sixth descents were made which sorted out most of the known cave and paved the way for the big expedition of 1966.

The spectacular feature of this expedition was the success of a large and efficient motorised winch which enable cavers to descend the complete shaft in about twenty minutes. In spite of the big effort made, no important continuations were found apart from a shaft of sixty feet with a small stream at the bottom.

69

B. B. Report

This has been an extremely difficult year for the B.B. It started on a note of tragedy with the loss of Mike Luckwill, who was to have been the new Editor. Mike had great plans for the B.B. but these, alas, have been lost with him.

Luckily, Dave Irwin had retained most of the contacts necessary for an Editor, and it was possible to route all the stuff which Dave still received straight to me. However, the next snag to hit the B.B. was a lack of printing time, due to the demands made on John Riley by his work in fitting out the Belfry. This was finally sorted out by Barry Wilton volunteered to do this job, but, almost as soon as we had overcome this difficulty, a chronic shortage of material prevented the B.B. from catching up.

As if this was not enough, Dave Irwin, on whom the B.B. could always rely for caving material, left for the States and it has only been recently possible to bring out the B.B. at somewhere vaguely close to its publication date.

Under these circumstances, there has been little opportunity to do anything in the way of improving the B.B. – it has been hard enough just to keep it going. As far as any sort of policy has been formulated, it is one of having a number of regular features to form the ‘backbone’, with articles on caving, climbing etc. making up the rest of the bulk. The lack of a definite date for each B.B. has meant that some of these regular features such as ‘Just a Sec’; ‘Monthly Notes’ and the newer ‘At the Belfry’ have not appeared regularly, but it is hoped that next year they will do so, and be joined by a regular climbing feature and the rest. Once we have got back to a regular monthly B.B., these features can be calculated at each committee meeting, ensuring a regular B.B. in the future.

Nevertheless, the B.B. does not only want to be written by a few people turning out these monthly features. The rest is, as always, up to you. One or two club members, and at the risk of offending others we must single out ‘Kangy’ as the star performer over many years, turns out a regular stream of good and useful material. Other club members of many years standing in the club regrettably have yet to write their first word for the B.B. As I see it, the coming club year, and the calendar 1971, will see the 25th volume of the B.B. of the B.B. This should be a year in which the shape of the B.B. can become firmly established. In January 1972, the B.B. will have reached its Silver Jubilee and, if by then we have a regular B,B, with a healthy number of contributors n- both to its regular features and to its main and shorter articles, letters, etc. – then the club might well consider celebrating the event by looking into the economics of a better printing process. This should, perhaps, be looked into during the coming club year in case the B.B. manages to deserve it by 1972!

S.J. Collins, Hon. Editor.

Hon Sec’s Report

The replacement of the Belfry must loom largely in any report this year. Once the mandate was given by the 1969 A.G.M. to go ahead with the new building, and the committee was satisfied that sufficient funds would be forthcoming; it was not long before work commenced. The club now has a headquarters of which it can be justly proud – built entirely from its own resources.

Our relations with other clubs have been good throughout the year. The Wessex offered us accommodation whilst we had no Belfry (as indeed we had done for them many years ago when they lost their Beechbarrow H.Q.) and so did the Shepton. In return, we have informed them that their members may stay at the new Belfry at member’s rates. The barn which we owned on the other side of the depression has been sold to the S.M.C.C. who plan to turn it into their headquarters. We wish them every success.

Regarding ownership of property in the immediate vicinity of the Belfry, there is one item which is sub judice but which I hope to be able to report at the A.G.M. The strength of the committee was tragically reduced by the death of Mike Luckwill. Arrangements had been made for him to take over the editorship of the B.B. During the year, we also found that Jok Orr had to resign owing to his moving away from the district and Dave Irwin also went to the States. Dick Wickens was co-opted as Caving Secretary and Graham Attwell as Climbing Secretary.

70 I have answered many enquiries for membership during the year, a large proportion of them than usual for climbers. There has been a tendency for the caver applications to come from mature cavers and not novices.

On the closure of the ‘Waggon and Horses’, the Thursday meeting place has been successfully transferred to the ‘Seven Stars’ in Thomas Lane.

As I began with the Belfry, may I conclude by thanking everyone who has contributed effort or money in the past year to make it possible for the B.E.C. to have what it has always had – the finest club headquarters on Mendip.

Alan Thomas, Hon. Secretary, B.E.C. _______________________________________________________________________________________ MONTHLY CROSSWORD – Number 3.

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ACROSS:

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1. Proceed to an ancient city for this cave formation (4) 3 and 8. Cows have a profitable hole (4,4) 5. The last half that goes on your back (3) 6. City Mendip Swallet (4) 10. Hopefully not delicate underground (4) 12. Old Mendip void (4) 14. Stoke and Swildons this are old, Cuthbert’s new (3) 15. Found in cave digs too late (4) 16. Traditional landing material (4) DOWN:

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SOLUTION TO NUMBER 2

P A S S O U D O U B L I L M G B E N S N P L A D D E O I N T A P E

A W E E T S G U N R D A S Y

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G O E E S T E I G O O N

Stencils completed 21st August 1970

1. Describes wet suits; goon suits, etc. (4) 2. This up this from Farrington to Chewton (4) 3. Associated with T (1,1,1,1) 4 and 13. Write ‘Fir’ in Cuthbert’s (4,4) 7. Hall in Hilliers (3) 9. Cave route without mountain route (3) 10. Working sounds like a colloquial write-off (4) 11. 1 across is a form of this (4) 12. Wood, Chamber and Hole (4