4 minute read
Caving Phil Hendy
Mendip caving miscellanea
THEREhas been a long tradition that cavers look after their own and when an accident occurs underground we are foremost to the rescue. After all, we have the knowledge of caves and experience of caving techniques essential to a satisfactory outcome. That is not to say, of course, that other emergency services are called upon when necessary, but local cavers will always be at the sharp end.
Cave rescue on Mendip was first rationalised in 1936, with the formation of the Mendip Rescue Organisation. This consisted of a small group of experienced cavers, who expected to be able to call on others for assistance as necessary. Over the years, training and experience of rescues grew.
Although there was a limited number of officers, known as wardens, there was no written constitution, but it worked well. In the 1990s the system for electing wardens was changed and MRO became the Mendip Cave Rescue (MCR).
This body was affiliated to the British Cave Rescue Council and to Mountain Rescue England and Wales, which holds drug licences and the Casualty Care Certificates which rescuers need to obtain. It also insures cavers during rescues.
There are, fortunately, few serious cave rescues, which paradoxically jeopardises the controlled drugs licence. Safety has improved tremendously over the years, thanks to improved clothing, lighting, and other equipment and a better understanding of caves, particularly flood and bad air risks. An amendment to an Act of Parliament would be necessary in order to be able
With PHILIP HENDY
to continue.
To overcome this, MCR has agreed a constitution, a code of conduct, and has registered as a charity. There are now two forms of membership; Core, basically the trained wardens, and Associate, cavers willing to be called on as needed.
These are expected to undergo some training, though not to the same level as core members. Ultimately, however, we can expect cave rescue to be as professional and efficient as it has been in the past.
Caving may be seen as a predominantly male sport, but women have been welcomed since the earliest days. There are photographs in existence of Victorian and Edwardian ladies dressed in the fashion of the day, deep underground in wild as opposed to show caves.
Even the young Princess Victoria braved a journey lying flat in a wooden boat through a low flooded passage to experience the wonders of Peak Cavern in Derbyshire.
Modern cave women dress the same as the men and have proved just as hardy. Initially some clubs allowed them to cave, but not join as members, but that has all changed and now they are accepted on their merits, not their gender.
True, some have entered the sport
Mossy Powell and Graham Balcombe in Wookey Hole
Alison Moody in an Axbridge mine
through husbands or boyfriends, but an increasing number take to caving independently. Some have been responsible for their own discoveries, others find their niche in specialist areas.
Mary Hazelton, the niece of the cave explorer Brig. E.A. Glennie, was for many years the fauna recorder for the Cave Research Group, while Winifred Hooper did sterling work assisting her husband John to research bats in the Devon caves.
Women have also been active in cave diving, after Mossy Powell joined Graham Balcombe to push beyond the third chamber in Wookey Hole in 1935. In 2011, Claire Cohen and Kevin Hilton dived a tight sump in Pierre’s Pot, Burrington, to discover a beautifully decorated passage.
Christine Grosart is the only woman to have dived to the end of Wookey Hole and, when time and circumstances allow, discovers and explores flooded caves in Croatia.
Some women have certainly given men a run for their money, not just underground. Sybil Bowden-Lyle, an experienced member of the Bristol Exploration Club, gained a lot of street cred with the pupils at Wells Blue School, when as a teacher there she rode a powerful motorbike at speed around the grounds, taking in various banks and other obstacles.
Cavers’ children sometimes take up the sport and a prime example is Alison Moody, daughter of the Hoopers. As a baby, she accompanied her parents underground in a carry-cot on their bathunting expeditions, and started caving in her own right as a young teenager in the 1970s.
She has been responsible for discoveries in Swildon’s Hole. Indeed, when researching for the definitive book on the cave “Swildon’s Hole –100 Years of Discovery”, she visited every part of the cave to be able to write an accurate description. Having explored most of Mendip’s underground, she has now turned her attention to digging, and was active in the discovery of the country’s largest chamber, The Frozen Deep in Cheddar’s Reservoir Hole.
Currently, she is digging in Bagpit, one of a line of closed basins running along the edge of the southern flank of Mendip. These depressions are thought to have been formed during the last ice age. The cave is currently 172 metres long and 25 metres deep, with some large chambers, notable Wedge Chamber and Priddy Good.
In addition, Pleistocene bones of horse and the giant aurochs have been found, as well as cryogenic calcite formations, which occur when freezing conditions shatter older speleothems. This has resulted in much excitement and work amongst the scientific community.
Now that lockdown has (nearly) ended, caving is almost back to normal, and we can expect further discoveries by our men and women (but hopefully no rescues) in due course.
Win Hooper in a Devon cave
