In this newsletter …
Latest periodicals now online:
CREG Journal 107 is now available online and can be viewed and downloaded by members. This has also now been mailed to members.
Cave & Karst Science 46(3) is now available online and should be mailed shortly.
Diary Dates for 2020:
28th – 29th March 2020 – Expedition Cave Science weekend seminar at TSG club headquarters in Castleton, Derbyshire. Jointly organised by GPF and BCRA. This weekend event will include field work in Peak Cavern.
Spring 2020 (date to be announced) – CREG field meeting.
8th to 10th May 2020 – BCRA Cave Archaeology Group weekend event.
13th June 2020 – BCRA cave science workshop/field trip at Priddy, near Wells, Somerset. This event is part of the BCA AGM weekend.
14th June 2020 – BCA AGM at 10:30. See the BCA web site for AGM info.
20th June 2020 – BCRA field trip to Arnside and Silverdale AONB, on the border between Lancashire and Cumbria, adjoining Morecambe Bay. Meet Leader: Phil Murphy. Further details will be available on the BCRA news forum in spring 2020. This field trip will visit the caves around Silverdale’s picturesque cove in the morning looking for possible clues to aid our understanding of cave development and climate history in the area. This will involve a short (1km) walk to get to the study area and a helmet and light will be needed for a look underground. During the afternoon there will be a visit to the impressive dolines of Deepdale, near Yealand Redmayne. Here there is approximately 4km of walking on footpaths through forested rolling limestone country with some steep slopes.
September 2020 – Hidden Earth, National Caving Conference. Date and venue to be announced.
14th November 2020 – BCRA Cave & Karst Science symposium, Hull University. Lecture secretary: to be announced. This event is part of the BCRA AGM weekend. The BCRA AGM will take place on Saturday 14th November at 12:00.
15th Nov 2020 – post-symposium field trip.
For further details of the above events, please keep an eye on the BCRA news forum in 2020.
BCRA individual membership fees reduced for 2020
As you are probably aware, BCRA restricts its membership to members of the British Caving Association (BCA). BCA has announced that, for 2020, their direct individual membership (DIM) fee will be reduced by £5 to match the fee paid by club members (CIMs). BCA also says: “Additionally we have removed the category of joint membership, which used to attract a small discount. However, thanks to the reduction in DIM prices, the cost of two DIM memberships is still less than the former joint membership rate.”
Although joint membership has been abolished we have retained, for your convenience, the ability for you to apply online for two members living at the same address, and to make a single payment. Another small change is that if you live outside the UK you can now join at the non-caving rate. This is due to the reduced relevance of some of the membership benefits.
The above changes mean that we at BCRA can now take the (overdue) opportunity to raise our own fees by £3, so the overall reduction that we will be passing on to our individual members is £2. This means that the fees for individuals are now:
£42: for UK caving members. This includes a paper copy of Cave & Karst Science (C&KS).
£31: for non-caving and overseas members (Includes C&KS on paper).
£10: Discount if you do not wish to receive C&KS on paper.
£8 : for UK-based full-time undergraduate students (Includes C&KS).
Postage of C&KS is now free world-wide.
If you have already joined BCA for 2020 (either directly or via your club), you can now add BCRA membership by going to the online membership form and paying just the BCRA fee elements of £25 (paper) or £15 (paperless). If you are a student member of BCA you can add BCRA membership at no additional charge.
Because a paperless non-caving membership of BCRA is now only £21, world-wide, we are hoping that we will be able to attract some more members from outside the UK.
Membership renewal:
Please go here to renew online for 2020.
A reminder letter will be in the post to you soon.
We would like to make a plea for members to renew and pay online, rather than by cheque. If you must pay by cheque, please go online first and complete the form. Your acknowledgement email will then give you a reference number to write on the back of your cheque.
Please do not just send us the completed renewal letter and cheque, except as a last resort, as it leads to more work and higher costs, and the opportunity for mistakes. In fact, it is likely that cheque payments to BCA/BCRA will be phased out during 2020, as well as the paper renewal letter; but more on that next year.
IP-based access to our online content
At the moment, BCRA’s online content is available for download to members via the user-id and password printed on your membership card.
We are now experimenting with an alternative system, known as IP-based access.
IP access is where your computer is recognised by its Internet IP address, thus bypassing the need for a log-in. This is useful mainly to academic institutions and libraries, but it could also be handy for caving clubs, if you have wifi access in your club library.
The salient point is that IP access requires you to have what is called a “static” IP address. However, most domestic broadband contracts use a “dynamic” address, which will not work. Some domestic suppliers will charge a small additional fee for providing a static address but others will simply not issue a static address to domestic customers at all. If you are interested in finding out more about this facility, please email the BCRA Secretary.
Correspondent: David Gibson, BCRA Secretary
