On the afternoon of 15th January 2022, the BCRA is hosting their 32rd Cave Science Symposium, a series of online talks postponed from November 2021 due to extreme weathers.

The afternoon of talks on conservation, biofilms, speleothems, water tracing and speleogenis, includes presentations from Jo White on biofilms of British caves and mines, Bethany Fox looking at what can magnetic speleothems can tell us about past floods by reference to a 33 kyr long record from Waitomo, New Zealand and Andy Farrant on the role of inception horizons in the development of karstic conduits in the Chalk and its implications for groundwater management and protection.

The full programme can be found on the BCRA website.

The programme starts at 1pm on Zoom and joining instructions can be found on the website. For last minute announcements, keep an eye on the BCRA Facebook page.

BCRA Council 2022

BCRA Chair John Gunn writes … “As those who attended our AGM will know there are a few changes to Council for 2022. We welcome Professor Simon Bottrell as our President for the next three years and Professor Mike Rogerson who is a new member of Council and a Trustee of the Association.

Simon is a Professor in, and until recently was head of, the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. He served on BCRA Council in the 1990s and has been a member of the Cave and Karst Science Editorial Advisory Board since 2011. Mike is Professor of Earth System Science at Northumbria University and has current research projects in Peak District caves including the Poole’s Cavern British Cave Science Centre.

The two retiring Trustees are Dr David [Deej] Lowe and David Gough both of whom are thanked for their excellent service to BCRA. Deej served two terms as President (2016-18 and 2019-21) and continues as joint-Editor of Cave and Karst Science. David joined Council in 2012 and served as Treasurer (2012-2016) and on the Publications Team. In addition to thanking David, BCRA are also grateful to his partner, Ruth King, for the assistance she has provided since 2017 with compilation of end of year financial reports.”

BCRA Annual Review

The latest Review is now available online. It can also be ordered on paper.

Cave & Karst Science 48(3)

Cave & Karst Science 48(3) has been delayed and is now expected to be printed at the end of January 2022. It will be mailed to all 2021 members who have paid for it (as well as to members newly joining); and your online ID will allow you to download it after the end of 2021. But don’t let that delay you from renewing your membership…

Membership Renewals

To those BCRA Members who have already renewed their membership a big ‘thank you’ and to those who have yet to renew please could you do so as soon as possible as this really helps us in planning for the coming year. If you are reading this but are not yet a BCRA Member we hope that we can persuade you to join us and to contribute to speleology both in Britain and globally.

Corresponden:t David Gibson, BCRA Secretary