CREWE CLIMBING AND POTHOLUNG CLUB xewsiermm oct. 1983. No.2. Thia is the first Newsletter typed on the "Club typewriter’ thanks to Geof Millington, whe procured the machine in exohange for some obsolete ropes, Thanks Geof. I am hoping to bring out the next Newsletter before Christmas i.e. The December meeting, so items for printing should reach me by mid~ November. C. JONES. Denise Pinnington and Steve Price were recently married and are now in Felixstewe. Steve is serving in the R.A.F. Denise was an active aexber for several yeers,she took up caving whilst a pupil at Molden Lane High, Both Denise and Steve kept up thier membership until 1983, when other comnitnents caused then to retire. Ken Griffiths and Heather Beech, both long serwing club members, are to be married this month, one weck before they set off on ‘Operation Crocodile’ an expedition taking a mumber of handfeapped children on safari to Kenya. Rob Heath who has been working and’ living in London for the last three years has just gained hish,d. “Doctor Heath I presume." He hopes to find enpleynent back in his hone territory and thus rejuvinate his interest in caving.--- Better get all those "obsolete" ladders polished. J.R, JORBSON, S708 _DOt Something should be decided about the ‘Xmas Do' fairly soon so that @ booking can be made. Please give this matter some thought, NATIONAL CaViNG CONFs: This years national caviag conference was held for the first time at Liverpool university. Three lecture theatres were in use,offering a veried programme, the lectures which 1 attended on the vaturday included := Crewe °.P.c. Gouffre Berger ixpedition ‘83 = John Gillet John gave an interesting talk on the recent club expedition, concluding with a short selection of slides. uregoriana - Yeorge Hostford Report on a recent caving expedition to Northern Spain. Speedwell cavern - Clive Westlake Clive gave everyone an interesting tour of speedwell with an excellant series of slides . Lunch time was devoted to the o.R.I. race and the exhibition , the S.R.T. rece was rained off and left everyone with time to view the various stalls which included caving supplies and inglesport battling for competition . there were aheo gpving stab, stends shoxine, projects undertaken during the past year. TYesviso ‘835 - noward vones. A report on this yeare expedition to wueva in northern spain , which was explore to a depth of - 1169m, yink -y-uledd / Den yr vgof Link - Pete FRancis work 23 ogen going on for ® number of years with a view to the linking of the major sinks and the main Dan yr ogof system. Mexico '82 .— Pt. 1. Terry “hittaker and Howard Limbert introduced every one to the topograpthy and caves of the tas Margaritas area, thie was followed by @ preview of Sid Perou's film of the Mexico '82 expedidion, which is to be screened on I'v sone time in the new year and ie well worth watch- ing. This provided an excellent end to an enjoyable days conference. Alan Seragg. SOURSES AP LOOSHEALL 1985 /& I have details of 3 courses available at Loosehall Peak National Park Centre entitled: * Minerals Rocks and Fossils* Oct, 1983 Price £46. * caves of the Pook’ Now. 1983. Price £\6. * Mines of the Peak District War, 1984. Price 2:8. Anyone who requires nore details should contact m=. ¢. JONES, ERBYSHIRG CAVE RESCUE MEETING (4 summery cf Cliff Jones’ report on the meeting.) ITEM 1, Minutes of previous A.G.M, accepted, ITEM 2, Chairman"s report ---- 222 222 22% 22% 4.0.5. None, The meeting closed at 5.55 P.M. TLR. JOHNSON, P,S, We made a brief encounter into a Marston’s pub before tho meeting. (Which probably accounts for Cliff*s report.) On the way home, I have 3 witnessess to swear that Cliff tried to exchange a pint of real ale (Ruddles County.) for a pint of ice-oold, pasteurised, paralised, sterilised LACE. ** It?s all lies 8} - Editor. A RECINDER Don't forget the AGM. on JAN.(9) We will be looking for willing volunteers to Pill the various posts within the club and it would help if nominations could be made before the meeting,(although this is not essential), As you all know Alan Walker will not be standing as chairman, and Ralph has at long last decided to hang up his pen and his new typewriter, and will not be standing for re-election as secretary, Give this matter some thought - it's your club, sothe person you nominate shoulda be; a) Willing to do the job (ask them before you nominate them) b) Capable of doing the job, The various posts are listed below, I have tried to summarise their responsibilities, GHATRMAN. (vacant), Run the meetings. Help the Sec. with the organization and running of the olub and club functions, help to fill any administrative gaps. SECRETARY( J.R.Johnson) Circulate information, book meets, maintain contact with external agencies and deal with menbership, TREASURER. (J.Shenton) Keep the club in the black. TACKLE OFFICERS (T.Ganble,P.Holderoft, J.R.Johnson) Issue and maintain tackle in a safe condition, Maintain adequate stocks, TRAINING OFFICER. (A.Soragg)Deal with requests from outside agencies for instruction, lectures eto, persuade people to qualify as instructors and assistants and run internal training and practice for new meabers, There has been some suggestion re, Club Library, so perhaps a librarian shoul@ be on the conmitee. Coaments would be welcome an these areas of responsibility. PHB SLU WoTKULOK Sista TiMs 20K CHANGE ? Ine present system of club instructors hes been operating for a considerable number of years and as been very succesful, # considerable sum of the yearly club income been attributed to the work of the instructors, This syster as seen very little chance since its creation, the one major development being the appointment of @ training officer to co-ordinate the work of the instructors. Recent critism of the present systemhes centered eround the reform of the requirements for the instructor and essistant instructor qualification to include modern developments within the caving field ie. 3.R.T. The following notes are intended as @ basis for futher discussion and are a personnel view point only. Let us commence at the beginning:— Ok th, nea - I. All applicants for instructor/assistant instructor must in the opinion of the club be competent to taxe charge of caving parties insisting prodgminantly of beginners. 2. All epplicents should be able to fulfill the requirements for the instructor /assistant certificate. See appendix (1) and (2). 3. Applicants must complete an application form giving detnils of experience. 4. Allappplications are submitted to the committee of instructors for consideration. SE Jreli QEFiviR it is difficult to describe the role of the training officer because in the past there as been no set job discription , Thie needs te be changed for next year , an ideal opportunity to do this is the annual general meeting. The job as I see it := I, Hncouragement of suitably experienced members to become instructors. 2, The organization of novice caving parties. Which includes the work of the instructors, 3. The collection of fees for instructed parties. 4. The training of novice club members. In the past this area has recieved little attention and now with a large number of new beginners a determined effort is required. The major fault in the past hes been that there heave been no set duties for the training officer and it has been left to their own discretion. this needs to be rectifed at the next annual general meeting so that future training officers know exactly what is invalved in the job. Gritism of the present system. + Depends upon co-operation. Persons appointed aust be willing to take parties out. Some members have the view that the training officer should take all parties out, but it is up to all instructors to teke parties out end it must not be left to a few to do ell the work. Persons who are appointed es instructors must be prepared to take parties out and not use thier appoint- ment as 8 stetus symbol. 2. In the past due to low numbers of instructors and non- evailability of instructors it hrs been common practice for non-instructore to take out novice parties. In the future approved club instructors only must taxe the perties out. If this practice continues it makes nonsence of the appointment procedure, 3. Most members seem to be un-willing to fill in an application form. Application forms ere useful ; they provide all the information required for the assesement of candidates. But due to the reluctance of members to fill in forms , asystem where members are asked to become instructors by © committee of instructors is required, 4, In conjuntion with (3) all future appointments of instructors should be made by @ committee of the training officer and a small number of the present instructors. There is a aeed for a appointment procedure , recent incidences such as those stated in 0.0.R.0. reports I37 andl38 (D.C,A. newsletter 52) were novice parties not using lifelines required rescue , shows the need for competent , experienced instructors only. 5. There is a need for a standard fee to be set for the instruction of novice parties, Whet 1 have tried to do is to outline briefly the present club system and its major drawbacks. The list is by no means complete and any cther suggestions would be welcome, There is a need for discussion, the question which requires anewering is :- "Why do we offer an instructor service :- To make extra income , To provide new members for the club. Do we need to carry on with this service." ? Alan Scrage Instructor Certificate stractors are persons, who in the opinion of tir Clu, azo conpstent to taxe charge of caving parsies ccnsizting prodominantly of begimers, All applicants for instructor qualification shad be able to fulfill the folloxing requirenents (a log or sumexy of experience to be subsitted to she Conaittce):— a) Served as en assistant instructor on three occasions, b) Have acted as a Loade: Club Trips, (Organiser) on at les: ¢) Havé explored at leest 20 cave systems whick Potholes with more than h pitches. 2, Pitches of at least 100ft, 3. Caves vith at least 2 wet pitches. 4. Major strecaways, 5. Gromls and’ squeeses, 6. Ducks o> sumps. 7. Rift passages (inolnding nigh level tver 8, Boulder chekes. 9. Mines or nined passages. 4) Have taken part in ten trips of at leest 4 hours darsticn, two trips of at least 10 heurs & to deaonstrate that he oan swim dressed in cavin. ane. wetsuit), sant with rescue techniques and callcut h) Have a thorough kmovledze of equipment (club and personal) and techniques, 1) Have a lmowledge of cave formation and formations. 5) Be familiar with 'fanual of Gaving 7 Zeve caved in at APPEND. 2 Assistant Instructors are persons whe, in the opir of the Club, are competent to assist Instructors wita perties of beginners. All applicants for Assistaxt Instructor wialification shoald be able to fulfil the following requirenents. (A log or summary of experience to be submitted to the Con.dttee) ‘ion. a) Have taken part in at least 5 tripe of at least 4 hours du ») Have caved in at least 2 major caving arens. c) Have explored at least 10 cave systems wiich should include:- (i) Potholes with 2 or more pitches. ches of at least 60 feet. (iii) Wet pitehes (iv) Crawls and Squeezes. (vw) Rift passages. (Including high level traverses) 4) ave a thoroug: knowledge of caving technicues. 7 Have an elementary knowledge of first aid in particular with the tyre of first aid likely to be encow d undersreund. WHAT'S BERN HAPPENING. Contrary to popular belief C.C.P.c. has not gone into retirement since the “Berger Since our return the trips recorded in the log have included; P,8 Rowter Mine, Nettle Pot, Swildon"s Hole (twice), Lamb*s Lair (twics) moots ALD Swallet, Lancaster Hole (twice), Rowten Hole, Water Iedole, and Gautries Hole. There may be other trips unrecorded, If you hava'nt been getting your share : the only person to blane is yourself, you only have to pick up your member’ list and make a few phone calls. ADDITIONS 0 FUTURE MEETS PEAK CAVERN 30th. OCT. LANCASTER ETC. 11th. MAR. PLANNING A SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION TO AXE HOLE. ithe egies to J.Gillett.) The first question you must ask yourself when planning an expedition of this kind is WiY ? W ell WHY NOT ? Seriously though, Axe Hole, being the deepest cave (or possibly the second deepest) on Stanley Moor holds some kind of facination for most dedicated cavers, and our expedition was planning to be the first team ever (I think) to do the whole cave using S.R.T. completely! “Gaspt"I hear you say "Impossible" Well you may be right (Who am I to doubt) but our plans are simple (They have to be, most team members couldn?t understand them otherwise)With a teas of about 60 cavers we will use siege tactics and hopefully get 3 or & to the bottom. After asking yourself WHY? your second question must be WHO? - easy ~ anybody Anybody that is who can afford the expense, I tock meticulous care over the financial aspect of the expedition, and programmed all relevant information into my son*s abacus, and came up with what I consider to be a reasonable cost unit per person somenhere between 3 yellow beads and 2 red ones, While discussing finance I should nention sponsors, I contacted several, but none of them seem enthusiastic, it may well be that they consider the task before us too difficult or doomed to failure, NEAR SIGHTED DIM WITTED FOOLS!!! My only success was the Post Office, who kindly donated £4.65p.(actualy I emptied ny savings account, but I intend to recoup this when they use some of our photographs on thier next issue of special stamps.) Well now you've answered WHY? and WHO? -next - WHEN? I've been in touch with several experts on this one and thier opinion has been unanimous - during the ‘Dry Season! Thinking this answer a little ambiguous, I checked further and discovered the ‘Dry Season’ falls between 3PM. and 5.30PM. when I'm assured it's impossible to get a drink anywhere in Buxton. After WHY? WHO? WHEN? comes HOW? As I've mentioned before, we hoped to be the first team to do the cave using 5.8.7. only, but we will be taking along a few ladders incase of ‘mishaps, The problem of underground o ea severe headache. We planned to have 2 telephone from Casp 1 to the surface, y we contented tho cxpexts - POST OFFICE TELBCOM, Renenbering how well we had d ome on sponsorship from their cousins the Post Office we expeeted big things, only to be told we would have to pay a £50 aonnection foe and 5p a call thereafter. RIDICULOUS!!! It was at thie stage that I came up with an idea thet could be worthwhile persuing in the future- HOMING PLDGEONS ! We spent several hours trying to iron out the wrinkles in this ddea, but we were finally beaten on tno counts. *#The pidgeon invariably flew home te Biddulph, which meant a 20 mile round trip to find out the messege, *2 The piageons struggled o little on take-off wearing an Oldham battery and caplamp, I still think the idea is a sound one, and once these problems ure mastered, someone will make a killing. nications caused us a and to save us m WHY? WHO? WHEN? HOW? The next question must be obvious --WHERE? Does. any body know where Axe Hole is 277? 8 A QUICK TIP FROM TER’ If you want to improve the comtect, battery life, light intensity, eto om your Petsl/Duracell lamp, bend the contacts over, as shown, with pliers. It also avoids shorting out. — DURACELL Gatreay Co. ROPES. 4 reminder : All our ropes are (should be ) marked to show their length. Colour code: White Yellow = Red Green Blue Length in fest: 50 60 100 120 150 DAMAGE TO LADDERS. The phantom ladder wrecker has struck again, after a rest of about 5 years! His technique is simple, lie throws a ladder down a short pitch so that it lands on it*s end, If it’s a pin and resin job, the resin cracks and the rung slips, if it's a crimped end, this lands on the wire and chops it quite neatly, The latest attack was on a brand-new Youth Service ladder, Keep your eyes open you night be using the ladder next, I KNOW YOUR'E NOT GUILTY!!! Please don't throw ladders down pitches. EQUIPMENT RE-CALL A fault has been discovered on the *JONSS PATENT LIGHTING SYSTHI' Due to faulty wiring the electric 'willy warner once switched on, won't switch off, (If you are using Duracell batteries, as I was, it takes 21 hours to run down.) If any sets are returned, a full refund will be made. P.S. Does anybody know how to get rid of a permanent grin. oeseeenee NEWSFLASH t#teeoeee. There is a faulty batch of ladders in circulation, manufactured by *CAVING LADDERS' of Bristol,retailed through Caving Supplies. The manufacturers name with a letter "Tt 4s stamped on the end rungs, In 2 mmber of cases the *C! links have snapped without warning! Please circulate this information amongst your friends. It has been suggested that a Miscellaneous Sales, and Miscellaneous Wants collumn might feature in the Newsletter in the future.This might be a good idea, and if anyone would like to use this service, they should contact the editor. Sone possible examples appear below, “Sundry Caving Gear, good condition, offers. Apply, Ralph(I*n retiring after this) *one "Jones patent lighting system’ Only 21 hours use. Apply, Cliff(smiler) Jones. *One sunhat complete with sunglasses. Apply, Mrs.(Who sold you that) Reynolds. *C90 cassette, containing valuable historic radio broadcasts. Apply, Cliff(T.Wogan) Jones. “Blow-up rubber dolly bird, slightly used, reel hair wig. Apply P.0. Box 42 MISCELLANEOUS WANTS *Set of Dominces, Apply Ralph(This is better) Johnson. “Rubber blow-up dolly bird. Apply Tony(I only want it for the wig) Reynolds. THEY Say ARIEL 18 Good FoR GETTING, RiD OF UNWANTED BioLocica STAINS AOKENDMENTS TO MEMBERS LIST Anthony Botham, oui Sates Redacted CORRECTIONS: Tony Gamble. Mink Bdge. To end on a lighter note, I know a caver who is so enthusiastic, he even named his dog BELA(Y). 10,