Main CHECC Forum 2017 - Training Announcement

Bratchley

New member
Calling all student cavers!

It's time to think about what training you want to do at CHECC this year...

If you've not yet thought about it then get thinking - we have a great bunch of amazing volunteers ready to teach you all there is to know about everything!

This years? training is taking a slightly different track to past years, as some suggestions have been listened to and some new ideas thrown into the mix to try and provide the training that people really want, and what student cavers need for the future.

Training sessions being run this year are the following:

1. CAVE RESCUE WORKSHOP
This is kindly being run by the CRO at their depot in Clapham and will cover basic cave rescue theory and techniques, possibly with some cave-related first aid. It will start at 10am on the Saturday and there are 20 spaces, with the afternoon being more in depth for those who wish to stay all day.

2. SRT WORKSHOP
This is being co-ordinated by Rostam Namaghi, with an experienced team kindly volunteering to help you learn SRT, from basic techniques all the way to advanced ninja skills, with some rigging thrown in as well depending on what people want to learn. This will start at 10am each day and will be held at the indoor wall at Inglesport, in Ingleton. We have a limit of 15 attendees per day.

3. PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
The award winning Stuart Gardiner has once again generously volunteered his time to run one of his brilliant Photography Workshops, where you'll learn the theory behind cave photography on the surface before heading underground to perfect that theory and turn it into reality. There will be 10 spaces for the practical underground session, but the theory session beforehand is only limited by room size. This will start at 10am at the Dalesbridge Centre on Saturday (exact location TBC). Bring along any camera kit you have, you'll be amazed what you can do with it!

4. SURVEY WORKSHOP
The survey legend that is Andrew Atkinson will be kindly running a workshop again this year, taking you from basic survey techniques, where you'll learn how to gain measurements of cave passage using common instrumentation, before returning to visualise it on a computer so that you can see your survey for all its glory! Due to limited instruments you are encouraged to beg/borrow/steal survey kit from your clubs, if you have it. There will be spaces for approximately 10 participants, though you can pair or triple up to increase available slots. This will also start at 10am on the Saturday at the Dalesbridge centre.

5. LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP
Are you looking to lead others within your club, or gain more confidence as a leader? Mike Butcher will be running a session covering the essentials of trip leadership, to help attendees think about the things that make those initial fresher trips so enjoyable and comfortable so people will keep coming caving! This will have space for around 20 attendees and will be held at the Dalesbridge Centre, starting at 3pm on Saturday.

6. BOLTING/TECHNICAL WORKSHOP
Do you want to know how to place bolts? Are you an experienced caver interested in getting involved with expedition caving? If so, this is for you! Glen Sankey and Rob Middleton will be running a technical workshop covering skills useful on expeditions or during exploratory trips within the UK, such as recording cave locations, safely placing basic anchors and the things to look for when exploring vertical systems. It is hoped there will be an opportunity for each attendee to have a go at placing bolts, venue currently TBC, but it will start at 3pm on Saturday. There is currently space for up to 15 attendees.

7. TRAINING SKILLS
This will be held alongside the SRT training at Inglesport on Saturday morning (starting 10am), where there will be space for 5 experienced SRT cavers to assist in training some of those attending the Basic SRT training whilst being supervised. This is aimed at those who wish to start passing their pre-existing SRT skills onto other cavers within their club.

8. KIT INSPECTION WORKSHOP
Do you know when club or personal kit has reached its expiration date? Do you know what to check for after kit has been used, or know the tell tale signs that it is wearing out? Mark Wright has generously volunteered to show you! This session is primarily aimed at club Kit Secretaries, where rope access legend Mark will be discussing all aspects of looking after kit. It is hoped that all Kit Secretaries of attending clubs will go to this session in an effort to improve the standards of club equipment across the board. If there are any bits of kit in your club inventory that you are unsure of and haven't made a decision as to what to do with it, bring it along! This will start at 3pm on Saturday at the Dalesbridge.

Hopefully there is something going on here for everyone to take an interest in, if you want to join in on any of these workshops, please send me a message at checc.committee@gmail.com including your name, your affiliated club and the training you wish to attend (please check the timings for clashes).

Places are generally FIRST COME FIRST SERVED, though some thought will be given to trying to get some geographical distribution of attendees within each session, along with prioritising Kit Secretaries on the Kit Inspection workshop.

Thanks,
Josh
CHECC Training Officer
 

Bratchley

New member
IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Spaces are starting to fill on some workshops, so get in before it's too late!

The venue for the BOLTING/TECHNICAL WORKSHOP is now the abandoned Ingleton Quarry, just outside of Ingleton, around 15 minutes drive away from the CHECC venue.


Please bear this in mind when planning your weekend, as you will need to arrange transport there, the same goes for the Cave Rescue (based in Clapham, 5 minute drive) and SRT/Training Workshops (at Inglesport in Ingleton, 15 min drive).

Lists of attendees of all workshops will be published and available to check at the sign-in reception on the Friday evening, so if you haven't organised transport to your training events by then you can look at who to car share with!

Advance sign-ups for training will end on the afternoon of November 23rd, after that you will have to fight for the remaining spaces at CHECC on Friday evening during sign-in.


Josh
CHECC Training Secretary
 

Bratchley

New member
ANOTHER UPDATE:

Ignore previous venue change for the Bolting Workshop. It will now be held at the Bradford Pothole Club hut in Brackenbottom, Horton in Ribblesdale, no further from CHECC than the quarry, but weatherproof and more comfortable. Same starting time as before, 3pm on Saturday.

Thanks,
Josh
 

Bratchley

New member
NEW TRAINING SESSION: "UK bat biology, ecology, identification and conservation. How do bats use UK caves?"

This session will be run by Jessica Eades, an Ecologist, who frequently works with bats in the Peak District.

This workshop is aimed to give you a basic knowledge and insight into the different species of bats found in the UK and some simple identification features for some of the species/groups. The focus being on those you may most likely encounter in UK caves and how and why they use caves and other underground sites.

It will cover basic bat biology and ecology and discuss the "bat calendar". We will touch on topics such as wildlife law, biosecurity issues such as White Nose Syndrome (WNS) and recent and current bat research going on in caves and underground sites. We'll discuss bat conservation and how bats and cavers can still be happy side by side.

If you have any bat related questions there'll be plenty of opportunity to ask during the session.

The session will run from 1630 until approx 1800 on Saturday evening. It will be a little more like a workshop than the evening presentations, where you'll be expected to engage in discussion, so it has been separated from them. There won't be official sign ups for this session but room space may be limited!
 

A_Northerner

Active member
Thanks for organising training this year Josh - the fact nobody ran against you in the AGM is a testament to the job you've done! Hope it's just as good next year.
 
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