Eldon Pothole Club

01/06/2008 - Roof of Coe at Bagshawe Cavern.
Andy Norman and John Taylor have begun work to replace the roof on the Coe at Bagshawe Cavern. On Saturday 31st May the roof was removed and the old timbers replaced. New timbers were installed and work began on fixing new slates. Work continues with help from Mark Harrison, Bob Dearman and Jules Barrett. Jules Barrett

01/06/2008 - WARNING - Carbon Monoxide at Long Rake Mine, Bradwell Moor.
On the weekend of 24/25 May 2008 two cavers were taken seriously ill with Carbon monoxide poisoning in Long Rake Mine on Bradwell Moor. The source of the Carbon Monoxide is not known and DCA are advising that cavers should not descend Long Rake until further notice. Jules Barrett

01/05/2008 - Bagshawe Cavern Entrance Stope Project complete.
The work that members of the Eldon Pothole Club have been doing at Bagshawe Cavern to address the issues raised by the PICA inspection of October 2007 is now finished. The concrete slabs are in place and Martyn Grayson has installed a mesh grille over the hole in the steps. A series of photgraphs of the work has been send to PICA for distribution to members. Jules Barrett

28/04/2008 - Work at Bagshawe continues apace.
A working evening is being planned for Thursday 1st May 08 in the Bagshawe Cavern entrance stope and we need your help! With the final shuttering complete we plan to mix concrete and cast the third of the five concrete slabs that are needed to finish the job in the stope. To make this happen we need around nine cavers to mix concrete, man the zipwires which will be used to transport the concrete down the steps and pour the concrete into the shuttering. Preparatory work will begin at 5:30 p.m. and we hope to have the zipwires humming by 7:30 p.m. Bring lightweight caving gear and gloves. The Eldon MGM will be held in the White Hart after work has finished. Sam Townsend

26/02/2008 - Collapse of Stemples in Carlswark Cavern
Some stemples have collapsed in Carlswark Cavern. Click [here] for a survey showing the site of the collapse. Some old wooden stemples that were put in to support poised boulders in the roof have fallen out. There has been a small rock fall but that has been cleared and the route into the Lower Streamway/John Smith's Passage is still open. Four wooden stemples have fallen out and the only one that remains is a weedy piece of angle iron that isn't doing anything useful. There are three large poised blocks around 1.5m above the floor of the passage as you exit the pool on the bend in the Big Dig. The route to the Lower Streamway and John Smith's Passage goes right underneath these blocks. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more movement as the whole thing settles and you certainly wouldn't want to disturb any of it by accident!

The DCA Projects Officer is aware; it looks as though some propping will be needed. Jules Barrett.

18/02/2008 - Conservation work in Bradwell Dale and Bagshawe Cavern
On the 9th and 10th of February 2008 Eldon members organised a clean-up of the Bradwell Dale caves and Bagshawe Cavern. A skip was provided by Natural England and over twenty cavers from a variety of Derbyshire clubs were involved in tidying up the outside and inside Bradwell Parish Cave, Walker's Grotto and Bagshawe Cavern. Click [here] for a full report from the weekend. Jules Barrett.

03/01/2008 - Eldon members working to make Nickergrove Mine safer for use by groups
The Nickergrove Through-trip is an excellent little trip which involves a couple of interesting vertical sections combined with a bit of stooping and crawling passage. Cavers enter through the adit entrance and exit a short distance away by climbing out of a shaft entrance. The Peak Instructed Caving Affiliation (PICA) have been keen to make the trip safer for some time and the vertical sections have recently been P-bolted by DCA. Some suspect rock at the top of one of the climbs was causing concern and Eldon members Jules Barrett and Sam Townsend have now gardened it away from the edge. Recent work in Nickergrove is an excellent example of PICA, DCA, Natural England and local cavers working together. Jules Barrett.

20/12/2007 - Improving access through a choke in Hungerhill Swallet
Eldon members have been working to improve access through the choke at the top of the 12m rift climb after the Bag o' Worms in Hungerhill Swallet. The squeeze under poised boulders into the chamber above has been removed and some shoring done. Despite the work there's still a good deal of loose rock here. Jules Barrett.

15/12/2007 - Contact Details
If anyone's contact details (postal address, email address, phone number) have changed please make sure you let the Secretary know so that we can make sure that you get club information/newsletters etc. A club contact/address list will go out with the next newsletter. Stik.

09/12/2007 - Newsletter (October - December 2007)
The October to December 2007 Newsletter is now available and all members should have received it by email or post. Jules Barrett.

09/12/2007 - Newsletter (July - September 2007)
The July to September 2007 Newsletter is now available and all members should have received it by email or post. Jules Barrett.

13/11/2007 - Congratulations Sam and Hazel
Congratulations to Sam and Hazel on the birth of their second boy who they've named Toby. Jules Barrett.

04/11/2007 - Eldon subs for 2008
It's important that everyone pays their subs by 6th December 2007 (the date of the next Eldon monthly meeting) at the latest otherwise you won't be insured from January 2008.
Full Member: £24.00 (Eldon subs) + £16.00 (insurance) = £40.00
Aspirant Member: £12.00 (Eldon subs) + £16.00 (insurance) = £28.00
Non-caving Full Subscriber: £12.00 (Eldon subs) = £12.00
Please bring your cheque book or some cash along to the meeting in December! Stik.

04/11/2007 - Eldon Christmas pub crawl - Buxton
The Eldon Christmas pub crawl will be held on Saturday 22nd December 2007 in Buxton. For details contact the Social Secretary. Jase Rider.

26/10/2007 - Eldon Vercors 2008 Expedition
An Eldon expedition to the Vercors is being planned for next summer to coincide with the Vercors 2008 European Conference of Speleology. The dates are Saturday 16th to Saturday 30th August 2008 and more information is available [here]. Jules Barrett.

22/10/2007 - Bradwell Dale Cave Conservation Monitoring
Dave Webb (DCA Conservation Officer) is looking for someone to co-ordinate cave conservation monitoring in Bradwell Dale. Apart from taking a general interest in the conservation of the Bradwell Dale caves this will involve:

If anyone would like to take this on please let me know and I'll send over Dave's contact details. Jules Barrett.

30/09/2007 - Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation Induction Course
Bryan Woodall has asked me to see if there is any interest in DCRO amongst club members. Anyone interested in getting involved should come to the induction course being held at the Whitehall Centre on Saturday 10th November 2007 (meet at 9:30 a.m.). The day is a good chance to see how DCRO operates, have a play with some of the equipment and meet team members. You have to attend one of these Whitehall days before being accepted onto the team so even if you're only thinking of joining, it's probably worth coming along otherwise you'll have to wait another year to get involved. Bring warm and waterproof clothing for hanging in trees and an SRT kit. Jules Barrett.

26/09/2007 - Eldon 50th Anniversary Celebrations - Giants Hole Trip
Pete Pollard is organising a club Giants Hole trip for Sunday 21st October to celebrate 50 years of the EPC. The intention is to get regular, occasional and armchair cavers out for a good days caving followed by drinking in the Wanted Inn. More information is available [here]. Jase Rider.

19/09/2007 - SRT Notes
Whilst doing some SRT training recently I've put together some illustrated SRT notes which can be made available to future Eldon trainees. They cover the basics of SRT progression (equipment setup, traversing, up, down, changeovers, rebelays, deviations and knot passing) and a draft version can be found at http://www.eldon.org.uk/cavertraining.html. Just click on the file named srt.pdf. You need a password which can be found [here] if you have access to EPC Private on ukcaving.com. If not, just send me an email and I'll send the password over. I'll be using them as the basis for any training for new members so am keen to get views from as many people as possible; a lot of you have been swinging around on rope underground longer than I have! I know everyone's busy but if you get chance to have a look and perhaps suggest changes/additions/tips that would be great. Please send your comments to me before the end of October 07 when I'm going to have some time to finalise them. Jules Barrett.

03/09/2007 - Eldon Library
Now that a more permanent home has been found for the Eldon library Dan Hibberts is looking for volunteers to help sort and record the journals etc. Please get in touch with Dan Hibberts if you are able to help. Jules Barrett.

21/08/2007 - Eldon Tackle Store
First steps have been taken towards building a small Eldon tackle store in the Hope Valley. This will be a place to store digging materials etc. and it is expected that work will be finished soon. Contact The Tackle Master for details. Jules Barrett.

21/08/2007 - Meets list 07/08
Pete Pollard is currently putting together the meets list for 07/08 and is keen to get ideas about caves throughout the UK that people would like to visit as a club trip. We had a good chat in France and drew up a list of 12 or so spread across all four major caving regions but if anyone else has suggestions please contact The Meets Secretary. Similarly, if anyone has a suggestion for the 2008 Eldon expedition please let Pete know. Jules Barrett.

06/08/2007 - New project - Buxton Water Aven, Peak Cavern
After a certain amount of sitting on the fence I've decided to have a proper go at the top of Buxton Water Aven. In fact the aim is to progress a climb begun by Mark Wright up the steep gully/rift at the north west end of the aven. Mark's ropes are still in there and I'll be making use of those in the first instance before (hopefully) pushing on up. The main issue with the climb is that the rope goes over some very loose rock that makes up the bottom of the gully and if this falls it falls right into the sump pool. First job will be to organise somewhere safe to stash dive gear whilst working. Second job will be to try to secure the exit in case something does get knocked down and finally climbing the aven itself. Jim Lister will be trying to find a little time away from Doom's Retreat to assist. See the Current Projects page for more information. Jules Barrett.

21/07/2007 - Photo-scanning day
Following the Eldon 50th celebrations a photo-scanning day was held at Nick Williams' place where all the old photos made available by various members and ex-members were scanned. This means that the originals can now be returned to their owners and we will have copies for the 60th and subsequent celebrations. The day went very well and with three computers and scanners going we were finished by early afternoon. Many thanks to Nick for use of his premises. Jules Barrett.