A question we often hear asked; and of course, the answer is the same as to the question of why people climb mountains – because they (the caves) are there! If you are not a caver then going to view the film ‘The Ario Dream’ at the forthcoming Kendal Mountain Festival from the 16th to 19th November would be a great way to see why people do go caving ...
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The weather wasn't first class, but the atmosphere and talks were. For those of you yet to visit it, Hidden Earth is an annual conference on caving. Whilst this might sound boring, it isn't in the least. The talks range from expedition reports, to regional round-ups and videos alongside a caver-run bar, stomp and a caving and SRT obstacle course. In short, it means you can cave around the world from your seat in the auditorium and gain a good idea of where you would like to visit. Fantastic! You also get to meet up with cavers from all over the UK. Hidden Earth is always ably organised by Les and Wendy Williams along with a whole host of helpers from Mendip and other caving clubs across the UK. The conference venue alternates between being in the North and the South. This year it was the turn of the South and Hidden Earth was in Churchill.

We camped on the sports field of the school. It is always interesting to wake up on Saturday morning in a sea of tents in Mendip and then head through a throng of people to listen to a talk on a distant corner of the world such as Mexico, Mulu, the Philippines, Meghalaya or Australia. It's great. I love it.  

The campsite at Churchill Academy

SWCC was particularly well-represented there this year. There were plenty of us attending to listen to talks and meet up with friends (nice to see Barbara and Alan at their first HE). But there were also many members with a more deep involvement who helped with the organisation, gave talks, or entered the competitions.

The trade and exhibition hall.

Antonia and Claire on the SWCC club stand

 Jo White gave a talk on the Yorkshire Dales Cave Monitoring Project to an attentive audience.

Jo giving her talk to a packed room

We also had plenty of competition entrants. Arwen had 2 entries in the cartoon competition and received a merit for one of those.

Arwen with her winning cartoon - she was awarded a merit.

Jess Burkey won the cartoon competition with her poster on the joys of being a cave model.

Jess' winning entry in the cartoon competition

Jo's entries in to the photo competition; including her winning ice formation one

And then there was the video salon which was co-ordinated by Andy and Antonia Freem. This year's winning entry was Keith Edwards' Opening AV presentation, which you can watch here:
Not forgetting Jo White's excellent performance in the SRT events in the SpeleoOlympics. Where she was the fastest lady on the SRT obstacle course and also earned the prize for the best woman in the SRT competitions. Well done everyone!

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With tough competition from many excellent photos it was pleasing to see Mark Burkey, Jo White and Duncan Hornby win awards across various categories in the Hidden Earth 2017 photo competitions, here they are!

Category: winner of colour shot and delegate vote print, © Mark Burkey, 2017

Category: winner of monochrome print, © Mark Burkey, 2017

Category: winner of best newcomer print, © Jo White, 2017

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Hidden Earth is the name for the British Cave Research Association’s (BCRA’s) annual caving conference and Dudley Caving Club had some modest success in competitions at the conference last weekend.
Mark Burkey won several photo categories. Well he would, wouldn't he!
Jess Burkey won the caving cartoon competition.
Keith Edwards's Hidden Earth opening video won in the video salon. Oh and he also got a prize for the best artwork produced digitally.
And finally Mark Burkey was presented with the prestigious Giles Baker Award which is given to a person connected with any aspect of cave photography in recognition of his or her excellence and contributions to the field. Incidentally Mark is the second Dudley member to receive this award. Brendan Marris was awarded it in 2011.

Hidden Earth 2017 Opening Video


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A lone walker (f 25) reported herself lost and benighted whilst descending from the summit of Ingleborough. CRO team members and a search and rescue dog were deployed to search the eastern flanks of the hill. During eventual telephone contact with the missing person, additional information was gleaned that enabled CRO to estimate her location to be on part of Simon Fell. She was found safe and well ...
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CRO were called to assist with a walker (f 73) who had fallen and injured her ankle on the Pennine Bridleway near to Garsdale Station. The team were stood down, whilst on route, when North West Ambulance Service paramedics confirmed they were able to e ...
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With Nick, Jake, Matt and Jonathon. Nick and Jake went along to the dig, reeling in the wire as they went, I climbed down the pot, along Toil and Trouble, left-side of T Junction to carry-out another voice test. ...
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One of the few advantages of a 10 day shift pattern is the occasional long weekend so when Bob Hall posted on Facebook looking for company for a Thursday caving trip I was able to respond fairly quickly.The fact that it was a planned trip into Tunnel C ...
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With Roz. Drilled just the two holes, 550mm x 12mm, into a slab of rock that's obstructing access to the potential connection into the 'Lower Series'. It didn't take very long, so went down into the Tuck Shop to swing the sledge at a couple of rocks, ...
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With Jake. Although we had talked about it on the weekend, less of a turn-out than anticipated, so didn't achieve as much as hoped for. Started capping some of the boulders piled in the Tuck Shop, while Jake busied himself digging ...
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With Jake, Nick and Jonathan. Initially, I went along to the dig-face, reeling in the wire as I progressed, to check the results of Tuesday's endeavour. The slab of rock was shattered, much of it now down in the Tuck Shop. ...
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A Three Peaks walker (f,42),suffering back pain, could not continue beyond the Blea Moor signal box, so her companions used its phone to call for an ambulance. The ambulance crew parked by the viaduct and while they were walking the three quarters of a mile to the casualty, their control called CRO. The CRO vehicle picked up the casualty, her companions and the paramedics, returning them all to the road ...
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21st September 2017: Back in the day, there may have been more of us, but many of the team fell by the wayside, just me and Tav made the journey. Along the route, up through Chamber 20 to the dig, ...
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Following a search of mixed grassland and limestone pavement by farmers and local volunteers from Natural England, an in-calf, pedigree heifer was reported missing from a small herd near Colt Park, Ribblehead. A further search of woodland and mixed terrain by farmers and CRO members yielded no result, so the search area was widened with CRO-s first use of a drone-mounted video camera ...
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Solo. On arrival at the dig-face, after some consideration, a slight change to my original thoughts. I decided to remove a large chunk of rock that currently forms the 'floor', we should then be at the same level as the potential connection ...
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I got up on the 17th Sept expecting it to be raining due to the fact it had been forecast to rain so it was a pleasant surprise when it was just overcast, but even so i put on my waterproof hi-vis jacket and trousers and loaded my motorbike ready for the 3 hr ride to South Wales Caving Club. ...
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Of wood and stone. The use of wood and stone in the construction of prehistoric megalithic monuments has been interpreted by some as, wood representing the living, life, whereas, stone is suggested to be, the dead, death. Wooden circles are replaced ...
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I got up on the 17th Sept expecting it to be raining due to the fact it had been forecast to rain so it was a pleasant surprise when it was just overcast, but even so i put on my waterproof hi-vis jacket and trousers and loaded my motorbike ready for the 3 hr ride to South Wales Caving Club. ...
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