Cavers relaxing outside the Belfry, the BEC's old hut near Priddy, Somerset. Sixty years later, the club is still going strong but the current Belfry is a far cry from this one I knew.
We had primitive caving gear. We rode fast motorcycles, sometimes with three on one bike, roaring back to the Belfry after consuming vast amounts of beer and singing raunchy caving songs in the local pub, the Hunter's Lodge. The hut and cooking facilities were usually filthy. We must have been a pain in the ass to the locals.
But I can't recall one accident or anyone getting sick - apart
from hangovers. We had some great times and made friendships that have lasted
over half a century.
"Queen Victoria" in the magnificent "Throne Room" of Stoke Lane swallet
This was in 1948, only shortly after pioneer BEC cavers had first got through a sump to discover this incredible, untouched chamber. I'm now told the sump is only 2' long, although I recall it as being much longer and several feet under the surface - it certainly seemed that way, being situated in a stream full of sewage. We didn't have any face masks, snorkels or any protective gear. The highly unpleasant trip through this cramped underwater passage in the pitch dark was like going through the bend in a rocky toilet bowl. I nearly chickened out. But the wonders on the other side were worth it.
Cave photos in those
days were taken using flash-powder, a semi-explosive mix heaped on a small metal
tray held at arm's length and ignited by a flintwheel. It could produce a gigantic
flash but also lots of white smoke - good for neither the cave nor the health
of the photographer.
"HOW NOT TO CARRY A ROPE LADDER" (or "The Neck Belay")
January 1948, at Mere Gill Pot, Ingleton, Yorkshire
Yours truly leading a completely unsuccessful Nottingham University Mountaineering Club caving trip in appalling weather. We never actually went into a cave but just carried the damn ladder around all day while cold and miserable.
The rope ladders of those days were very heavy, particularly when wet, so I had the brilliant idea of distributing the weight by having everyone stick their necks between the rungs. If someone had slipped on the mountain or into a pothole there might have been a headline "SIX CAVERS FOUND HUNG" but we led charmed lives back then.
We had no specialized outdoor gear - it just wasn't available so soon after WWII. Goretex, nylon raingear, even plastic garbage bags were all in the future, so we mostly wore heavy wool army-surplus clothing and looked like refugees. The idea of "fashion" being used in the same sentence as "mountaineering" or "caving" was unthinkable.
Click here
for some more old photos - a page mainly of Mendip cavers of half a century ago!
