bograt said:
Aah, happy days :
back in those days the CDG Derbyshire section adopted the TSG Chapel as their diving base, I recall the store being strewn with bottles and the kitchen table was rarely seen without regulators and demand valves in bits being serviced, I even joined as a non-diving member for a while.
They also had their own bottle compressor set up in the garage, but I don't think it was ever used in earnest---.
That'd be "Nellie" - the white elephant. It was immense and filled the area where the existing tackle wash is located. It had been bought as a cheap "deal" from some ex WD place. If I remember rightly the huge motor ran on diesel and it had a massive radiator at each end to keep the engine cool. It did once actually fill a tank - but only to a measly 1,800 psi. Other than that it was an extremely bulky waste of money. The modern replacement is a whole different kettle of fish of course.
TJ is right; those were very special days. Everything came together due to a fortunate set of unusual circumstances. The Chapel was a great place to spend a weekend in those days, even though it was somewhat less comfortable than the superb hostel it's transmogrified into now.
Jerry Murland had injected a lot of enthusiasm into the CDG Derbyshire Section and then gone on (in collaboration with John Beck) to crack the diving access impasse at Peak Cavern. There was a generation of CDG members who had never had the opportunity to dive in Peak but equipment and techniques had moved on in the meantime. (It was towards the end of this gap in access to Peak that the Kingsdale Master Cave had been connected to Keld Head for example - everyone was really buzzing and the potential achievements of cave divers suddenly seemed limitless.)
Immediately, the Peak system became the centre of attention for a number of us. The rate of progress was staggeringly fast (which is partly what the OP is referring to.) Both Ink Sump and Far Sump were passed and a great deal of exploratory work was achieved in Speedwell Cavern, where very few cavers were able to go. Oliver Lloyd's simple editorial in the April 1980 CDG Newsletter summed it up beautifully. He wrote:
"Peak Cavern is like a bottle of fizz, that has been kept stoppered for ten years. Now that the cork has been taken out, the results are sparkling."
Thanks for posting that information Badlad; go on then; I'll psych myself up to have another try at posting a picture.