23/6/26

Report from Mike M

Mike and Chris Hurst (MCG) dug, Harley in support, with Estelle and Jon moving stuff back. We filled 38(!) buckets and then, after Chris was out of the way, Mike brought some rocks down from the middle front that had appeared to be part of the roof - big one on left goes well back into mud so will require quite a lot more digging. Mike caught up with others to finish final haul and most of mud was put in bags and added to wall. Hunters' afterwards where James joined us.

16/6/26

Report from Jon

Jon and Harley dug this week, supported by James.  Mike and Estelle hauled.  Harley worked on the right hand side, concentrating on removing a large boulder. His efforts eventually succeeded.  Jon worked on the left hand side where the boulders were smaller. Several were removed. All buckets were filled but a little slower than usual because of the boulders. The next digger needs to be careful of loose ones in the top left corner. Only one set of buckets was filled this week, followed by a slightly early visit to the pub.

9/6/26

Estelle, James, Mike, Ed, Dave, Harley

2hrs 45mins

Estelle, Harley and Ed got there early and Estelle and Harley started filling buckets, whilst Ed was doing some engineering of the rockpile and rocks to level it off in the end chamber to try and work towards getting some sort of drag tray possible in the future. We've a lot of rock in that chamber that has been put aside, so good use of it to level things off. Estelle was working on the area around the new opening last week, firstly clearing off a 'step' to stick buckets on but also digging out the wall below it whilst taking some out from the top also. Harley was digging the bottom right corner. Once the first round of 33 buckets was filled and the rest of the team were away from the end, Estelle took to the loose looking boulders on the left higher up. A large amount of rocks was safely brought down and Ed then went on to plug and feather one and make use of some of the others. More empty buckets appeared so continued digging and we think we reused all 33 buckets, but there may be a chance they didn't all go out first time. There was still a good draught from above, it does look more like the roof of a passage than any aven, but a lot of spoil below it all needs removing before we'll reveal anything! Some photos were taken before we went out. All buckets taken up and a fair number were emptied into the old LH side dig. Stu L met us as we all came out and then we all headed to the Hunters

2/6/26 a void and a draught!

Ed report - 

EF, ES, JB, HB, JR, MM arrived at normal time.  Headed down with 33 buckets. EF & JB were at the dig face. We started by clearing the slump from the previous week which filled most of the buckets. While Buckets were being moved up EF brought down some sizable rocks from the roof discovering a small void. EF joined others emptying buckets before heading back down. Harley and James were found at the dig face clearing the mess. Estelle also joined by the dig face to take a look and help move buckets. The air was noticeably fresh. The void after a bit more clearing is approximately 1.5M long with a smooth scalloped roof. Another note is the mud is no longer colourful and becoming easy to dig clay.

After clearing buckets with Harley and John down the hole all headed out after 66 buckets and headed to the hunters for a much deserved pint.