20/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Price
2.5hrs
Mike arrived earlier and put a rope down to do a bit of clearing on the fence side above the digs and then we all went down and did some digging. Duncan turned up and went into the top dig and looked at the cave as he grew up locally and there was never cave this side of Mendip! He seemed reasonably impressed and came and joined us digging at the bottom after. Going at 2 separate holes at the bottom at the moment, Stu and i digging at one from two sides and Mike, James and Duncan on the other which is going down well. 

13/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Liz Wire, Dave King
2hrs
Mike collected a couple of ladders from the Belfry and brought them over so we could look to access the top dig. This worked with just the one longer ladder and Mike then cleared the shelf of all loose rubble to make it accessible safely. Leonie and Dave went in with Mike to have a look as they hadn't seen it before and also had a dig up there. Stu's leg was too sore so he continued with path building while Estelle, James and Liz took it in turns to dig the bottom dig bringing out quite a bit. Now need a skip in the dig as we're far enough in. 

11/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay.
4hrs
Estelle went down to the bottom to try and work on digging a connection to the old dig. It soon became apparent that the dig wasn't going the right way and was going straight on/more left. James came down and joined Estelle as it got deeper. Stu remained on surface doing path. Joan Goddard visited with her professor from uni Professor Desmond who was 92 years old and chatted to Kevin for a while. He was quite interested and amazing for a bloke his age. Kevin also came down and had a look at the digging. Now at a point where we consider it safe enough to dig when dry on evenings going forwards and it's quite easy digging and draughting well. Need a ladder to get to top dig - will need to grab from Belfry. 

29/9/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Has been quite dry for the last week and the access to the entrance is much better. Plan was for Estelle and Mike to take a look at the bottom as not seen it since Kevin put a makeshift ladder in and for us to build a stone path from the top platform down towards the entrance to make it safer when wet and easier (and tidier). Estelle went down the ladder (3 ladders held together with scaffolding and cable ties and ropes!), which felt perfectly stable surprisingly! Looking at the bottom, tucked under the entrance shelf where there was previously lots of frost shattering, this is much better as it has slipped off down to the fault and is beautifully red and flat now. Above it at dig level on both sides are a couple of rocks that would be nice to knock down to bottom as they don't look safe. Looking around before it got dark, about 5m to the left the dig on the right wall (as you look towards hedge), it looks like a couple of hours digging would give us access back into the dig we were working on as you can sort of see through to there and it is easy mud and rocks digging to clear it. Mike arrived and went down also. Estelle and Mike both had a bit of a go at making a start with no tools (as they are stuck in the dig!). Looking around the rest, there's a couple of rocks and muddy areas that might subside which we need to take care of, but generally it is looking like it has mostly stabilised itself with the recent rains. Going downwards is unlikely to be an easy option going forwards without major engineering works, so is looking to be abandoned for now. Stu arrived and then we all spent the rest of the evening doing the path, which is mostly complete, just needs more rock added, but we need some tools to dig out some more of the suitable flat rocks.