Darkness Below has received a report on the recent Southern CHECC 2016, held in the Mendips on the 4th-6th of March.
Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of this event. A special thank you to Hellie for providing the food, to the training and workshop coordinator Stu Alldred, and to the BEC and SMCC for letting us use their huts for a second year.
We had over 100 people in attendance, with a large proportion taking part in the various training events offered. Mendip Cave Rescue ran a fantastic rescue workshop on the Saturday, boasting the highest attendance of the weekend – quite something after a heavy night of partying on the Friday.
Matt St Clair very kindly took the SRT training sessions on the Wessex Tower across Saturday and Sunday, with a very enthusiastic response from those who attended.
Mike Waterworth and Peter Glanvill offered to take people to Upper Flood Swallet and St Cuthbert’s respectively, two highly enjoyable trips with everyone taking part being completely new to the systems. This was especially appreciated by Paul Clement Walker, a BEC member who had somehow never been into St Cuthbert’s.
After a fantastic dinner courtesy of Hellie, Connor Roe gave a presentation from the Cave Diving Group detailing what cave diving is all about and how people can get involved across the country. This was followed by another great party (thank you Paul!), with a few competitions handing out the remaining CHECC prizes.
On the Sunday we were joined by Andrew Atkinson for some survey training, along with Duncan Simey for some photography training. The turnout was again fantastic – we had more people attend training events at SCHECC than CHECC!
Thanks again to everyone involved, we look forward to doing it all again next year!
Correspondent: Laura Benn
