Last year, a long-standing Mendip Caving Group and Bracknell & District Caving Club member Biff Frith passed away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Biff was an enthusiastic and talented Mendip cave digger, and a number of Mendip entrances bear testament to his skill in engineering passageways through areas of slightly dubious stability. During an evening celebrating Biffs life, a number of caving related books from his collection were auctioned off, and the proceeds of £311 have very generously been donated to Mendip Cave Rescue, for which we are very grateful.
Mendip Cave Rescue are once again providing 24 hour first aid cover for the Priddy Folk Festival, where suitably qualified first aiders will be on hand to treat festival goers at any time of the day (or night). The festival runs from Friday 7th July through to Sunday 9th July and is held at various locations around the village of Priddy. The MCR first aid tent will be located on the village green, so please drop by and say hello!
MCR 80th Anniversary Mugs
This year the MCR was 80 years old, and to celebrate we had a party in Priddy Village Hall. We also had some mugs made, featuring a design from Mark 'Gonzo' Lumley and printed in either a red or blue colour. The mugs are currently available from any MCR warden, and are priced at £4 each.
MCR 80th Anniversary and J-Rat Digging Awards 2016
MCR 80th Anniversary and J-Rat Digging Award 2016
This year the MCR will be 80 years old, and to celebrate we are having a party, to be held in Priddy Village Hall on Saturday the 19th November. The annual J-Rat Digging Award will be held on the same evening. All cavers will be very welcome to come along and help us celebrate! Entry will be free, but there will be a small charge for the food and a bar run by cavers selling local beer and cider.
A rough plan for the evening is:
- 1900 bar open and food available (to help us with planning this, it would be helpful if you would indicate whether you are likely to want food in advance, and if you require a vegetarian option)
- 2000 short introduction the MCR and a celebration of 80 years of cavers rescuing cavers. The local MP James Heappey has been invited along to say a few (non-political) words
- 2030 the J-Rat awards, compeered by Pete Glanvill, culminating in the award to the winning team at 2130
- 2200 through to midnight a cavers stomp with DJ Basher
Everyone is very welcome to come along and join in the fun. There will be some posters displayed in local caving huts, but if you want to help spread the word then please download a copy of the poster. If you have any questions please get in touch with the organisers by sending an email to
Join wreck and cave explorers Richard Walker and Christine Grosart, for an evening of discovery and adventure, to be held at Evercreech Village Hall at 19:30 on 26th February 2016.
Mars the Magnificent, the legendary warship of the Swedish King Erik XIV, has lain at the bottom of the Baltic sea for 450 years. In 2011, a team of technical scuba divers, after 20 years of searching, found the warship on the sonar of their search vessel. They made a first dive on the wreck to discover cannons, treasure and an almost intact warship, not seen by human eyes since 1564.
The National Geographic became involved to support the project
Richard Walker was invited to dive the shipwreck in 2015 and he tells the story of the famous ship and what it is like to dive her at 75 metres depth.
Christine Grosart is a caver, cave diver and explorer. She holds the end of the line in more than four caves in Europe - quite literally discovering cave passages where no human has ever been. In 2009 she visited the far reaches of Wookey Hole cave to earn the female cave diving depth record in a British cave. Christine's caving roots are in the Mendip Hills and she will be giving a talk with stunning images, about caves, cave diving and a cave conservation project in South Wales.
At the end of the evening there will be a raffle prize draw with proceeds going to the Mendip Cave Rescue and Somerset Air Ambulance. More information about the evening can be found at the following Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/889902494450941/
