BCA Membership Surveys

N

nearlywhite

Active member
https://british-caving.org.uk/bca-membership-surveys/

We?re conducting a short survey of the membership as things slowly return to normal post Covid in order to try and plan for the year ahead and followup on some questions previously asked. In addition to the general member survey (which you can still fill it in as a member of a club!) we have also written to all of our member clubs. If you haven?t recieved this then please email ? we may not have an up to date email to contact your club.

Thanks for any time you can spare.
 
C

crickleymal

New member
Well it was a very short survey.
It asked where I did most of my caving and completely ignored Gloucestershire where I do 99% of my caving.
 
N

nearlywhite

Active member
The aim is to try and make them less of a chore to trawl through and to the point.

As for Gloucestershire that was an oversight sorry  :spank:
 
sinker

sinker

New member
nearlywhite said:
The aim is to try and make them less of a chore to trawl through and to the point.

As for Gloucestershire that was an oversight sorry  :spank:
Click to expand...

Last question is an intersesting one.
Biggest challenge to caving, post-Covid?

Personally I reckon the fears over socialising in pubs, cafes, friends houses etc before and after trips has hit the social side of our hobby; and I must admit that on cold, wet, dark Thursday evenings sometimes the post-caving kebab in your mate's house or pint of mild by the fire in the pub is at least 50% of the reason for forcing myself to turn out and turn up.

Its also hit my climbing, walking and social life in general.

Anyone agree?



 
ChrisJC

ChrisJC

Well-known member
Fortunately I go underground with the same people, so we are behaving exactly as we did pre-covid.

Chris.
 
PeteHall

PeteHall

Moderator
sinker said:
Anyone agree?
Click to expand...

We normally dig too late to get to the pub, so can't comment too much, but had a great evening at the UBSS hut after digging last week, sitting around the fire with curry and a beer.

Last time we made it to the pub (with the exception of one person choosing wear a mask to the bar), it was like Covid never happened.  :)

Likewise when I've been for lunch with colleagues recently,  in both Bristol and Birmingham and also on a training course yesterday,  everyone was shaking hands and socialising just the way we used to.  :)
 
tim.rose2

tim.rose2

Active member
Portland was overlooked too!  Accounts for more than 50 % of my caving and a lot more during covid.  Given both Forest of Dean and Portland were missed off the list I guess the first thing BCA needs to do is learn where the caves are!!  ;)
 
B

BradW

Member
I believe quite a significant number of BCA members are only really interested in mines. This survey doesn't really seem to take that into consideration. That's a shame given that a fair bit of BCA income comes from those who aren't that interested in caves.
 
Duncan Price

Duncan Price

Active member
sinker said:
Last question is an intersesting one.
Biggest challenge to caving, post-Covid?

Personally I reckon the fears over socialising in pubs...

Anyone agree?
Click to expand...

We used to go to the pub after (digging) trips.  Covid stopped that and we've taken to bringing a bottle to drink post caving or extending our activities using the time we would have spent in the pub.  The former is cheaper the latter has been more productive.  No one is that bothered about going back to socialising with other cavers after being underground.  I guess we've become more insular as a consequence.
 
J

Judi Durber

Member
As to what is restricting your caving at the moment, they seem to have missed an important point: 'lack of other cavers to cave with'.

Other than a few people who are happy to cave on their own, I need people to cave with and live too far away from any caving area to leave it to chance, hoping I can join a trip going from a club hut.
 
I

Ian Ball

Well-known member
Judi you and are indeed opposites, part of the obstacle to me returning caving is the fear of meeting other cavers at a tight spot  ;)
 
ChrisJC

ChrisJC

Well-known member
BradW said:
I believe quite a significant number of BCA members are only really interested in mines. This survey doesn't really seem to take that into consideration. That's a shame given that a fair bit of BCA income comes from those who aren't that interested in caves.
Click to expand...

That is a good point. I answered with respect to my caving, which is about 1 trip a year, which could be anywhere. Whereas my mine exploring is at least once a month, and usually in North Wales.

Chris.
 
C

crickleymal

New member
BradW said:
I believe quite a significant number of BCA members are only really interested in mines. This survey doesn't really seem to take that into consideration. That's a shame given that a fair bit of BCA income comes from those who aren't that interested in caves.
Click to expand...
True. I have no interest in caves, I'm only interested in mines.
 
Paul Marvin

Paul Marvin

Member
sinker said:
nearlywhite said:
The aim is to try and make them less of a chore to trawl through and to the point.

As for Gloucestershire that was an oversight sorry  :spank:
Click to expand...

Last question is an intersesting one.
Biggest challenge to caving, post-Covid?

Personally I reckon the fears over socialising in pubs, cafes, friends houses etc before and after trips has hit the social side of our hobby; and I must admit that on cold, wet, dark Thursday evenings sometimes the post-caving kebab in your mate's house or pint of mild by the fire in the pub is at least 50% of the reason for forcing myself to turn out and turn up.

Its also hit my climbing, walking and social life in general.

Anyone agree?
Click to expand...

I agree Phil, I am now a LOT more out of puff walking up hills because of my COVID experiences which dont seem to have gone away yet , in fact I dont think they will . But having said that I don't worry about anything now  (y)
 
Paul Marvin

Paul Marvin

Member
Just filled my form in and although I completed it it was a bit vague in a lot of questions , good point previously laid out, although we do cave we would always choose a good mine trip as we find the history much more interesting.

We personally drifted into caving many years ago from the cave/mine dive community which could have gone on the questions I think and a simple do you prefer mines or caves would have been a brilliant question.

Just my two penneth guys  ;)
 
Paul Marvin

Paul Marvin

Member
Judi Durber said:
As to what is restricting your caving at the moment, they seem to have missed an important point: 'lack of other cavers to cave with'.

Other than a few people who are happy to cave on their own, I need people to cave with and live too far away from any caving area to leave it to chance, hoping I can join a trip going from a club hut.
Click to expand...

My mate lives in Brighton I dont think he could get any further away from caving and mine exploration, must admit although myself and wife mainly go together when we want to visit somewhere new its nice to have a guide to show us around ie adits and entrances , this is where it can get problematic getting people spare to do so  :cautious:
 
H

Huge

Well-known member
I found the 'How much caving were you able to do over the last 18 months?' question a little blunt. I gave a very rough average, maybe that's what was wanted? But the amount of caving I've done over that time has varied considerably. During lockdowns none, in-between lockdowns some and in the last couple of months I'm pretty much back to normal. So my answer doesn't reflect the amount of caving I'm currently doing.
 
N

nearlywhite

Active member
Thanks for the replies, the caving Vs mine exploration you can put down to my unconscious bias as my own exploration is both (you can blame extended periods of time in Derbyshire and North Wales) and have a tendency to use cave rather than underground trips. It's a good point and one we'll try to take on board - I do get others to check these before they get sent out.

With regards to Huge's comment it is very fair, we just wanted a rough average and originally it was about 6 questions. The problem was each question didn't really get to the rough average answer and so we just ended up picking one. Would be really interested if people could suggest improvements to wording as that really does help.

Thanks to everyone so far for giving so much input, it will make for a good report!
 
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