Derbyshire Caving Association
Information Circular 2008/4, September / October 2008
NEXT DCA MEETING
The hall will be open from about 9.30am with tea, coffee & biscuits available. The Old Smithy Café next to the Pub does an excellent breakfast from about 9am. (All meetings start at 10am at Monyash Village Hall)
The following meeting will be the AGM 2009 - 10am. Saturday, 21st. February 2009.
CONSERVATION & ACCESS
If you have any queries or problems about Conservation or Access in the region, please contact the Conservation Officer, Dave Webb, 0115-840-1109, or Asst. Conservation Officer, Wayne Sheldon, 01226-710368, both at conservation-off@theDCA.org.uk; or the Access Officer, Iain Barker, 0114-264-7561, 07710-689704, access-off@theDCA.org.uk.
LATHKILL GARDEN PATH ACCESS PROCEDURE
This site is kept locked and subject to access for scientific purposes only, in accordance with the conditions of DCA’s licence from Chatsworth. However, this can include one-off photographic and similar trips that are not purely recreational in nature, as well as the more usual extended research or exploration projects. Cavers with a valid interest in visiting the site are asked to use the following procedure:
1. Apply to the DCA Access Officer for access details.
2. Return a completed form together with proof of current liability insurance.
3. Obtain a key as directed and follow the designated surface route to the entrance.
4. Return the key as directed.
DCA officers are readily approachable for advice on any aspects of visits to the Garden Path. Some projects may be eligible for support from the DCA Cave Discovery Fund.
BAGSHAWE CAVERN ACCESS PROCEDURE
1. Make sure that you are familiar with the contents of the 'Bagshawe Cavern Conservation Plan' and 'Use by Area' documents, which can be found at http://www.eldon.org.uk/bagshawe_cavern.html.
2. Contact the Custodian, Amanda Revell, giving reasonable notice to obtain the code for the pushbutton lock on the Coe door at her email address: amandarevell@hotmail.com. Let Amanda have proof of current BCA liability insurance. Probably easiest to email Amanda scanned copies. Amanda will keep these on file.
4. Fill in details of your trip in the Cavern logbook and (unless other arrangements are made for payment) put your payment (£2.00 per head) in an envelope inside the letterbox safe which is inside the Coe. Write your name & club, the date, number in party and amount paid on the envelope.
5. When trip is finished don't forget to sign out.
• Ensure that the door to the Coe is kept shut and pull the door locked behind you. Amanda is concerned that local youths (or pets) could follow cavers into the Cavern.
• Please remember that Bagshawe Cavern is in a residential area and we need to try to keep noise down outside the Cavern.
• There are no toilets at Bagshawe Cavern but there are public toilets in the centre of Bradwell.
ACCESS TO Dream Hole, Fox Holes, Fox Holes Field Caves
Anyone wanting to visit Fox Holes, Dream Hole etc. in the area south west of Wirksworth and north of Sprink Wood, please make a courtesy call first to the farmer, Peter Ward, on 01629 825842.
USEFUL INFORMATION IF YOU ARE CAVING IN SOUTH WALES
Phoenix Caving Gear, run by Terry and Sian, purchased the Dragon Caving Gear patters and manufacturing equipment from Dudley and Mhairi. They will be manufacturing the same quality caving gear as before and they are based at 81 Ynyswen, Penycae, Swansea, SA9 1YX - just down the road from SWCC. Further information from their website http://www.phoenixcaving.co.uk.
Spit failure - Oxlow, East chamber
At the foot of the 3rd pitch, which lands on a watershed between the 4th (ramp) pitch and East Chamber itself, there are a trio of 3 spits forming the basis for the rig into East Chamber - one back-up and traverse followed by two Y-hang spits. On a recent trip the last man of a group of 4 cavers was surprised to see the hanger pop out of the middle spit, although the first 3 down had encountered no problems. Fortunately he didn’t fall and was able to and rearrange the Y-hang between spits 1 and 3. It appears that the threads on spit 2 have stripped to the extent that they could fail - although, unfortunately, they still seem to allow the hanger bolt to tighten, and failure is then unpredictable as it may depend on the exact direction of the load.
DCA intends to replace all the spits with Eco-anchors as soon as possible but, for the time being, be aware of a potential problem.
TWO BCA Statements
At the BCA Council Meeting on the 4th. October it was agreed to issue statements to clarify BCA’s position on certain matters. Please feel free to distribute as widely as you can.
CHILD PROTECTION
In order to clarify our position on the participation of children and young persons in caving the British Caving Association Council Meeting on 4th October adopted the following statement:
"The BCA is committed to removing barriers to participation for children and young persons who wish to start caving."
I am today writing to The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the NSPCC making clear BCA's position in this respect and BCA is now launching a thorough review of the current Child Protection documents.
Damian Weare, BCA Secretary
9th October 2008
Access Agreements
It is a stated aim of the British Caving Association to "support members [...] in obtaining, ensuring and maintaining access arrangements at a national, regional and club level". We would like to remind members that landowners have the right to grant or withhold access to caves and that this right remains regardless of whether the cave entrance lies on "CROW Access Land" or not.
As a result considerable work is often put in to creating Access Agreements. This is done to ensure continued access for members and also remove the burden on landowners and tenants from floods of cavers knocking at their doors. Unfortunately BCA is aware that a number of vital and sometimes delicate Agreements are currently being compromised by some cavers and clubs ignoring them. If we are not careful this could well result in the collapse of these agreements and all BCA members will lose out as a result.
Therefore, Club and Individual Members are requested to check the current access situation for all caves they intend to visit. As guidebooks are sometimes out of date, it is recommended that information is always checked with Regional Council websites or the up-to-date version of the BCA Handbook (available free from the BCA website). Updates to access arrangements are also to be found on the BCA Forum and BCA and Regional Council Newsletters. If any doubt remains, Regional Access Officers should be contacted.
Postal Scam
Can you circulate this around especially as Christmas is fast approaching - it has been confirmed by Royal Mail. The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:
A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call. If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 0207 239 6655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at http://www.icstis.org.uk.
FOR YOUR NEWSLETTER / NOTICEBOARD
19th October 2008