26/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Chris George

2hrs

Dave went in first to dig tonight, still dry and after people gradually moving the slurry out, it is getting less and less. Dig is still wetter to the left and more boulders and really solid spoil to the right, maintaining a good sized chamber similar to the one with the pool/slurry in (feeling like these sort of chambers ought to be named at some point...). Whilst Dave was digging, Jon and Estelle looked at possible engineering ideas to put in a drag across the 1st chamber so the no 2 from the digger can be the other side of the dam and load up from there. Rocks were used to level off the 2 metal grids which have been put in a position that would facilitate a drag tray, but to stabilise, it would be better to put some bags of spoil on top of the rocks below the grids, may need conveyor belt, which Estelle has some of in garage, but will see how things go. Jon took over from Dave digging and did around 20ish buckets before we headed to Waldegrave. 2 buckets were taken out of commission with broken handles tonight.

We need to get more buckets and another spade (ES to get from CRS) and Dave is going to Cheddar Ales to pick up more digging bags before next week.

19/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Mike Wise, Chris George

2hrs

Duncan and Mike W at the front digging made the evening a proper workout for everyone, the buckets were relentless and we broke our record at 101 buckets, which for 8 people was good going. Dig still easy, roof seems to have stabilised now after bringing a little more down. Need some more brewery bags as we've none left, also may need to consider more skips soon as we have 22 left in circulation and a few of them are close to losing their handles or splitting too far. Headed off to Waldegrave after.

12/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Jon Riley, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler

2hrs 15mins

Estelle went in first to dig and filled around 50 buckets. The digging was easy, softer on the left and hard mud on the right. Left hand roof as it got more exposed started to have loose rocks and a couple fell down, so pulled down a load more with the crowbar. Swapped over and James then brought down more roof, which slowed the digging. Only 72 buckets filled (some of the last ones were slurry from the pool area and 8 loose rocks. Too late for a dartless Waldegrave so went to Hunters.

5/7/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Duncan Butler, Fran Campbell

2hrs

Jon went in first to dig and did around 35-40 buckets, plus a few rocks also were sent out on their own, Mike then took over for the second session and made the total up to 72 buckets + 8 loads of rock so 80 total loads hauled out. Dig is looking like it's sort of heading right now and roof lowering a bit. Easy digging still.

28/6/22

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Dave Walker, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler, Mike Wise, Chris George

2 hrs

James went in first to dig and filled about 40 buckets, Dave went in after and filled a load more. Assistance was given on filling by Mike W and Estelle from around the pool area to help clear that a bit. With 9 people in the system leaving 3 outside, it meant that it was easy handling and we reached a record 100 skips to the surface. Still easy digging.