C.C.P.C.
Newsletter
Jan. 2000.

Thanks to Lionel this has been arranged for Saturday 26" Feb. 7.30 p.m. at “The Rifleman” Kidsgrove.
Cost-£9.00 per person. Please let Lionel know ASAP if you are coming. Carnivores get Soup, then
either Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, Leg of Lamb, Loin of Pork or Roast Chicken, followed by
either Apple Pie, Gateaux or Ice Cream. There is a “veggie” menu consisting of either Lasagne, Curry,
Mushroom Stroganoff or Mushroom and Nut fettucini. The meal is rounded off with coffee and
presumably as much ale as you can drink (but that’s not included in the price!)

Have you made any New Year Resolutions? How many have you
broken? Why not add a new one; to start the New Year with a really
good caving trip. Have a look at what John has to offer and you're sure
to find something to your liking. Time is running out for all of us and
speaking as one whose time is running out faster than most the only
advice I can give is “Don’t waste it.” Life is not a rehearsal, we only
get one crack at it and I’m sure that leading a sedentary life doesn’t
lead to a longer one. (although it probably seems a lot longer!) One
thing I can guaranty, none of you will be around for the next
millennium so make sure you enjoy what you’ve got left of this one
Best wishes for 2000 and beyond, P.Ton. (Equipment Adviser.)

{ Ralph bas some second hand “home-made” FX2 lamps for sale, Guaranteed 5 % hour burning
| time. Money back guaranteed! £5.00 to members. Lamp belts for sale £1.00

WHITEHALL
| At the end of October the annual DCRO teambuilding event took place, this year it
was rather more thinly populated due to the preceding days search for a murder victim
Those of us who did manage to get there were subjected to the usual rescue related
events of obstacle courses, anagrams, tent pitching blindfold, etc. There were
enough people there for three teams to compete, although one team did have a
complete novice who had never been caving before, and a surgery victim with
stitches still in (Needless to say they came last..... and it was my teaml). . , _
This year all events were outdoors, but we did have access for refreshments inside, Luckily ~ <p
for us the weather held fine for the day, and by the end of it we had all had a good laugh,
and got to know each other a bit better. Another event is planned for next year, which
hopefully will be just as ‘good, but better attended. There are other events occurring
before then, so don’t be shy, please fee! free to turn up. Please remember that just like our
club, without an active base of members DCRO will not function properly, so persuade your
caving friends to be there!
BPE.

The normal Monday meeting in February has been replaced by a
. “First Aid” evening run by Nichola Pickering (DCRO and High
Peak First Aid Training.) EIGHT p.m. start. Do your best to attend.

In an attempt to spice up our social life Paul H. has organised a
“Bank Holiday Extravaganza” 26-28 May at Stackstead
Farm Ingleton. Camping £2.50 pppn. Caravanning £4.00 pppn.
Bunkhouse £7.00 pppn. B+B is available at £16.00. Our
previous event at Goat Gap was well attended and very
successful. Bring the family and join in. Paul is trying to
organise a meal on the Saturday night. Give Paul a ring if you |
are thinking of going. |

‘Two Visit Roviedge Mine,

For several years now I have been fascinated by a half remembered story of two Staffordshire copper
mines stil] said to contain a rich lode of ore. The mines in question being the New York and Royledge
mines, situated not far from the Mermaid pub on Merryton Low.

The story as I recalled it, was that the lode was located between the two mines and a violent dispute
arose over who the ore belonged to. The dispute went to court and as neither party would compromise,
the judge ordered both mines sealed, in a sort of ‘judgement of Solomon”. Whilst this is a most
romantic tale, it is not exactly true. As I later discovered, the truth is much more mundane as is often
the case in such legends and folk law.

Partly as a result of all this, a party of Crewe members (Lionel, Ross Brian & myself) went for a
rather snowy walk around the area last winter to try to locate the mine entrances. Whilst on the walk,
Paul Holdcroft and family joined us, He said he knew where one entrance was, as the Crewe had had a
dig there some 15 years ago.

Paul led us to the dig site, which was just to the right of a hawthorn bush. There, just to the left of said
bush was a recently constructed gated and locked shaft! We peered down to see water running through
the sough, which the shaft had neatly intersected. Paul was rather taken aback by this but said he
would enquire of the farmer whom the successful diggers were. He visited the farmer the following
day (he still remembered Paul) and he gave him Len Kirkham of PDMHS number.

‘During Paul’s phone call to Len it transpired that PHDMS had dug into the sough
some 5 years ago. They were most impressed to see the initials CCPC on a boulder in
the sough. It had been left by Tony Gamble (1 believe), following a very tight, loose
and wet thrutch from the sough tail to the point of collapse. P

Len also said that due to conditions applied by the farmer there was no access to the
mine apart for PDMHS members doing research and further exploration. However in view of Crewe’s
previous work and good relations with the farmer, he would see what could be arranged.

There the situation rested until early November ‘99 when Paul had a call from Len to say that 2 people
from the Crewe could join them on a trip the following Sunday 7*. Unfortunately Paul had to work on
Saturday night so Brian and I went instead.

‘We met with Len on the Mermaid car park, together with his mate Wes and Lindsay Porter, one of the
guys who wrote the Ecton book Three others arrived and we drove the short distance to the farm,
where we changed and walked to the entrance.

The sough is driven through shale and is fairly pleasant walking/stooping in water up to knee deep.
‘After a short distance an incline, blocked at surface is passed on the right. This was the way men,
materials and ore came in and out of the mine when it was working. Some distance further on a rather
dodgy looking ladder is encountered, which climbs a stope to a point some 30ft above.

Shortly after this ladder, a flooded stope at the end of a short cross cut on the left is encountered. A
considerable amount of water boils up out of the floor of the sough and cross cut, this water was the
real source of the mines demise,

Around this area (just before or just after-I can’t remember) is a further dodgy old wooden builders
ladder to another stope over head. We were all invited to go up and have a look. My opinion of the
ladder was confirmed, when one of the rungs disintegrated beneath my foot. It was here that Ralph
started to get his revenge for all my jibes about the lamps he loans out and their “limit of day light
guarantee”. Was he sat at home cutting the battery cable on a wax effigy of me? Anyway from this
point on it was like caving in a bloody disco, my lamp flashing on and off like a strobe

T flashed my way to the end (no missus) where a hideous muddy run in from an ore shoot all but
blocks the level. It was being dug through by the PDMHS team with some absolutely superb timber
work used to support a lethal looking wall/roof. I wish my efforts were that good.

At this point we retraced our steps to the first ladder and went up one by one. At the top of it was an
awkward slippery vertical eyehole to a second ladder. Of course my lamp went out totally at this point!
‘A hair raising few seconds later I’m on the second ladder and my lamp comes back on.

Once up the top ladder we spilt in to two groups, Brian and myself going with Len to explore two
further horizons of workings. Len led us into some flat workings (flat-out more like). Once out of sight
he shouted back “watch what you're doing it’s a bit loose in there”. Needless to say I'm
immediately plunged into = ‘darkness again. I get to the end, where Brian realises he has two
lamps, one a back-up fixed ~ to his helmet. We duly swap hats and I’m back in the land of
the seeing -

The rest of the tour consisted of loose chambers connected by flat work, or smallish levels. With the
lighting sorted it was fairly uneventful apart from a lump of roof detaching itself and hitting me on the
head whilst we just sat in a chamber having a chat.

There was some quite good mineralisation in the upper levels, including lots of gypsum needles and
good calcite crystals. On a ledge in one of the levels were the delicate remains of two straw blasting
fuses, apparently it's unique for them to have survived

‘After a most interesting trip of some 3 1/2 hrs we were back out down the sough, all carrying the
remarkably sound parts of a timber wheel barrow for the Matlock museum. It had been preserved by
the copper rich water but although intact when found it was smashed in an ore shoot collapse shortly
afler its discovery

‘When it was working the sough was used not only to drain Royledge but as a pump way for the
adjacent New York mine, which had a Cornish beam engine on a shaft further up the hill. This
arrangement saved New York the extra money it would cost to pump water right to the top of the shaft

a

They of course paid Royledge for this privilege. All this worked well enough until Royledge hit the
fabled rich lode of copper, actually in the flooded stope we had previously seen. Now New York
wanted paying for their pumps keeping down the water table so the lode could be exploited. Royledge
could not afford this and rather than hand over their lode to their neighbours, they went bankrupt and
the mine was sealed in around 1850. I believe New York closed shortly after as it had no more viable
reserves

‘The famous un-tapped lode may shortly see the light of day (well caplamp) again however. Len and
co intend to pump out the flooded stope, in an effort to bypass the run in at the end of the sough. It
should be quite an occasion!

It cannot be stressed too highly that there is absolutely NO ACCESS to this mine, other than that
granted to PDMHS and this can by no means considered permanent as it is only valid until exploration
is complete. No direct approach should be made to the farmer, as this may well result in his son
resealing the mine

Many thanks to Mr. Buxton for allowing us to join PDMHS on this trip and to Len Kirkham & friends
for a most enjoyable outing.
Nigel C.

Ata loss for something to do on a Wednesday evening? Give Nigel or Ross
a ring and join them in Pooles Cavern, They are now apparently “thro’ the
Boulder Choke, into passage beyond and still going strong,” You never
know, you could be there on the big breakthrough!

Got an idea or opinion? Feel strongly about something? Your favourite meet not
been included? Got some kit to sell-or want to buy some? Why not put pen to paper
and let the editor know about it

Controller Becomes Centre-fold model! (almost)

It was well into Thursday evening when Nichola (First Aid) Pickering rang me and, with her usual
persuasive charm persuaded me to help her on a photographic assignment for “a men’s magasine”. I
immediately assumed that news of my incredible physique had spread far and wide and the world was
about to see what I normally keep well hidden, particularly from members of the opposite sex who
would doubtless go into apoplectic shock at a mere glimpse of my naked torso!

For those of you who can recall the “Charles Atlas” ads. I spent an hour or so in the
sand pit at the local playing field practising my “sand kicking” technique and another
hour in the bath which I had filled with a strong solution of Gold Blend and Twynings
Assam in an attempt to top-up my tan which had faded somewhat since my trip |,
to the Karakorum in August. As an afterthought I rang Matt, they would ne
probably need some “before and after” shots. Matt, CCPC’s “secret weapon”, is brought out
of suspended animation whenever a squeeze has to be passed deemed too tight for those De
with normal anatomy. His body makes Naomi Campbell look positively obese!

We arrived at Giants next day, it was freezing cold and “blowing a hooley”. I didn’t fancy getting my
kit off above ground let alone beneath it! However my dreams of “page 3 stardom” were short lived. It
‘wasn't me they wanted on the photographs, it was some muscular looking reporter called Steve! Matt

breathed a sigh of reliefl Apparently Matt was there as a sherpa for the photographer and I was there to
help Nichola do some rigging and generally stop people falling down holes

| 4

We spent the next six hours caving, if you can call reaching the top of Garlands

caving! A couple of rolls of 35mm were exposed. (it seemed like a couple of dozen! 2
P’ve never been so bored in my fife and I think Matt and Nichola will agree
However, on the positive side, we do expect a donation to DCRO

To AF. Thanks for the e-mail. You deserve a medal for manning the winch all day, never mind the
‘fluffy underwear. Any way hope the donation will help.

I cannot remember whether it was you or Simon who said they put together the Newsletter so I have
sent a copy of this e-mail to Simon as well,

"To the NWCC.

On behalf of those members of the Crewe CPC who attended Ogof Lyn Park could I extend a
sincere thank you. The effort involved in getting us all down the shaft was much appreciated and
those hardy chaps who withstood the elements on the surface deserve a knighthood for their acts of
bravery.

Underground we were treated to an excellent day out. The leaders gave an informed explanation of
the system and the background to the history of discovery.
All in all a very enjoyable day out,

Uf any of you fancy a trip out in our native Derbyshire please give us a
call. Thanks again, John Martin."

"Hi John, Good to see you on Sunday. Hope everyone had fun and that
you saw a fair piece of the system.

Thanks for your donation which has been ring-fenced for thermal
underwear for the winch driver.. Regards, Adrian,"

For Sale; Tee shirts, CCPC £6.00, DCRO £7.00.

Warmbac Oversuits (Brand New) £56.00 limited sizes.

CCPC Sweat shirts and Rugby shirts £7.00. Medium only. These
are now a collectors item and at this price will not be repeated!
Second-hand lamp belts in good condition £1.00

Jan 15. Axe Hole ete, Stanley Moor (A gentle
warm-up)

Jan 30. Peak Cavern- Moose Trap.

Feb. 12. Mouldridge Mine

Feb 20, Deaths Head/Big Meanie.

Feb 26. Annual "Do" The Rifleman,

March 12. Lay By/ Mertins.

March 26 Rift (LKE?)

And don't forget- there's usually lots
list. Simply come to a meeting or ring

Top Tips, Buying "Epigas"? Try Wickes at Fenton. It's about 50% cheaper than camping shops!

Replacing your lamp and don't trust Ralph's bargain offer? Bernies are selling lead acid-gel
cells at £25.00 . You will need a top, standard Oldhams don't fit. They cost £3.50 from Bernies but if
you're quick Ross has a few. The rest of the stuffie. headpiece, cable etc you can get from Ralph
(fie to members)

& These are now due! At the time of going to press these
GUBS are £16.50 for full members, (plus £2.00 entry for new
members) and £8.25 for Associate members.
Temporary membership costs £2.00 and last for a

BOYOD maximum of two weeks.

Lumb Hole GR 1725 7313 Grade II
Alt, 192m Length 140m Depth 30m
Large entrance on east side of Cressbrook Dale gorge.

Warning sections of cave beyond junction with roof chamber passage flood to roof in wet weather
Speed of flooding not known but suspected to be very rapid

Dug extensively by CCPC 1987 to 1995, main extensions 1993-95
Large entrance to left of stream resurgence. Soon reduces to flat out crawl just beyond small low
blasted chamber. Flat out / low crawl for 10 M to junction. Left is short passage to roof chamber, a
large low bedding with straws. Straight on is flat out descending craw! to squeeze, just beyond hanging
boulder in roof — care. In winter, this section and beyond is normally submerged

Just beyond squeeze, short flat crawl enters larger passage at junction, where it is
possible to sit up. Ahead, up through boulders is silty crawl over more boulders to low
junction with silted up passages to left and right

Back at last junction right leads down three steeply descending hands and knees
crawls, with connection with boulder crawl entering on left. At bottom, passage
levels out and bares left to flat craw! through boulders to emerge in phreatic tube
Walk/stooping for 10m to sump. Dived by TSG Nov.1995 to constriction 15m from

base, at -2m, Sump could be seen to continue beyond constriction The sump level at time was some
30m below river level.

And if that’s not enough John Cordingley plans to dive it "once the tide goes out", He will need
some sherpas-watch this space!

Satur 3 11999: Al J ' with D.C RO!

As Ralph was wandering about in the Lake District, Bill Whitehouse’s request for D.C.R.O.
team members to help in a search passed to me to sort out. Strangely, this wasn’t a “Can you turn a
team out now?” situation, but instead was more like: “Can you get some volunteers for next Saturday
? Obviously this wasn’t an urgent request to get someone out of a hole.

Bill explained that the police had asked for D.C.R.O. help in a major search which was already
underway in the Castleton and Hope Valley area of Derbyshire. Apparently a murder
was believed to have been committed, but despite considerable other evidence at the
scene, no body had been located. There §@P_w2s even speculation that the victim was no
longer in one piece, but had been L° dismembered and then removed from the scene
using a wheelbarrow | The person believed to be responsible was mentally
using a wheelbarrow ! The person believed to be responsible was mentally disturbed (before the event)

and was saying nothing to the police about

Local Mountain Rescue teams were
the river, surrounding buildings and
while special police teams were raking
refuse on the local authority tips which
to search and eliminate a number of open
behind Pindale Quarry, which could have

Bill was calling in personnel from
to provide six members. All search teams
College for a briefing and for tasks to be

where the remains were.

continuing to help the police to search
farmland, and the Derwent reservoirs,
through huge quantities of domestic
serve the area. D.C R.O. was needed
shafts and workings in the area
been used to dispose of body parts.
several teams, and wanted C.C.P.C.
assembled at 9.30 am. at Hope Valley
allocated for the day. I attended with

Paul Nixon and Nigel Cooper, while Ralph brought Rob Farmer and Steve Evans,
Altogether there were about sixteen D.C.R.O. members present, and following the briefing we were
divided into two teams. Rob and Steve were put into the team with the task of working their way up
through the Pindale Quarry area and onto Dirtlow Rake, investigating any Openings found on the way,
or already located by other teams. It seems they never really got the chance to check out anything
particularly interesting, although it was obviously important to eliminate every hole where ‘bits’ could
have been concealed.

The second team, accompanied by a police officer, was sent to New Venture Mine
(NGR15408104), close to the road above Pindale Quarry. There, in two walled compounds, we found
a number of open shafts and vein workings, some properly covered with grills, but others open, which
we had to search. The distance from the murder site (well over a mile, uphill, using a wheel-barrow
!)) made us think that we were wasting our time, but at least we could play at caving. Paul Nixon was
the C.CP.C. ‘ferret’, working with Jack (from I think), and after setting up scaffold poles and
steel ground stakes as belays, they checked and eliminated each hole in turn. The holes turned out to be
between ten and forty metres deep, with plenty of loose material on the sides, but contained nothing of
interest to the police. It was clear that the grilled shafts were undisturbed, so they were left alone.

As we moved back to the road there was some excitement when one of the dog teams arrived
and told us that they had found a very interesting smelling shaft (to the dog that is) in a nearby field,
We rigged the shaft for Paul to descend, at which point nearly everyone else, including the policeman,
went back to Hope village for lunch ! Paul wasn’t impressed. The hole turned out to contain a layer of
farm waste and polythene sacks about ten metres down, but as Paul kept sinking into it every time he
tried to stand up, he didn’t stay longer than was needed to check for human remains in the sacks (We
were later told that the search dogs are trained to find buried human remains by using a buried pig, as
the scent is essentially the same.)

After lunch we were sent to check Bird Mine (NGR15781 1). The shaft collar stands about three
metres proud of the field surface, and the shaft itself is covered by a row of well-rotted timber railway
sleepers, resting on a railway line which crosses the long axis of the shaft-top. This is a truly awesome
shaft, although some D.C.R.O. members present clambered around the top with apparently no worries
at all (no imagination) and no safety rope either. Paul was kitted up ready to descend, but sensibly
relinquished his place to a ‘Rope Access’ worker (from TSG. ?) who seemed desperate to go down. I
can think of better places to find out how far you drop when you have a loop of slack rope above your
“Stop’ as you slide over the edge, particularly with no Cows-tails clipped to anything !!

As he disappeared into the depths, a car screeched to a halt next to the police van on the lay-by,
and a woman shouted that a walker was having a heart-attack in a field further up the road. Bill and the

policeman raced off to assist, followed
shifted the focus of attention for a while,
paramedic unit, and eventually the police
Meanwhile Ralph, with part of our “shaft
a nearby field, but eventually concluded
Paul had checked earlier.

by a second police vehicle, This obviously
involving the attendance of the MR. doctor, a
helicopter, but sadly the walker didn’t survive.
team’, had been looking for an elusive hole in
‘that it was probably the farm waste shaft that
Bird Mine was cleared (the rope was five metres short, but did have a knot in the end, so the
bottom could at least be seen even if it couldn’t be touched !), and we moved up to Hazard Mine and
the upper part of Dirtlow Rake. There was nothing that needed descending, and we ended up carrying
out a surface search until we met the other D.C.R.O. team working their way uphill towards us.

Daylight was fading as we packed up and assembled at the Mountain Rescue team base at the
cement works for a de-brief, just as the heavens opened ! Although we had found no remains we had
carried out all our tasks successfully, and we were thanked by the police for eliminating so many
locations. An unconfirmed rumour circulated some days later, that the victim's head had been found
on Hayfield refuse tip, then, at the beginning of December, a brief news item on television reported
that the victim’s body had been found buried in the farmhouse garden. It makes you wonder how well
that location was searched at the start of the investigation

Colin Knox 10-12-1999

Hanley has some ex-WD entrenching tools for a tenner and collapsible shovels for

5 Top Tips from P.T. Digging yourself out of a snow drift? Quartermaster Stores in
£12.00. Gore-Tex bivvy bags also in stock £50.00

1
[Bree to good home- ammo boxes, various sizes, see Ralph

Are you getting your share? (of information) If you are "on the net" let
Steve Knox know your address and you will be inundated with up to the
minute activities concerning the club. If you want to be deleted from the
mailing list do likewise. Please let Steve know of any other changes.

"What to do if (the worst happens)" talk of about one hour.

Don't forget: The February meeting starts early to fit in Nichola Pickerings 3

| Contact Lionel about the do at "The Rifleman” |

Contact Paul H. about "May Bank Holiday"

Reminder. There are usually many more trips than
those on the official meets list. Simply pick up the

ahanal

Why not have a look at the NEW CCPC web site?

www.ccpc.org suk

"Ultimo."

8