jasonbuckley
New member
I've been bringing small groups from a school I used to teach at to the Mendips to go caving for several years, instructed by Andy Sparrow. I run an outdoor ed company but these trips are just for fun. We usually go to Goatchurch and Pierre's Pot, then Swildon's to Sump 1 the first time they come, and then the follow-up trip the next year for a slightly smaller group who have got the taste for it is the Bath Swallet-Rod's Pot through trip and Swildon's to Blue Pencil Passage.
After that it gets rather tricky - they don't really want to go down Swildon's again because they feel they've "done that" and want a new challenge, and so many caves have access restrictions for novices or commercial groups.
I can understand why it's very sensible to limit the one-off trips that most groups do to a few honeypot sites like Goatchurch and Swildon's, but this group rather fall through the gaps. Not many school groups return repeatedly and need something beyond the standard weekend. The trips have to be run with a professional instructor, but the group aren't complete novices any more either and need a good challenge for a sporting day's caving. The blanket ban on commercial groups doesn't really fit with the practicalities of getting young people more into caving if you're not a caving parent.
The school is in South London so Mendips are much easier to get to than Derbyshire. Any suggestions for other caves that don't have access restrictions, or is there perhaps another way I could do it? Such as enrolling them as youth members at a club that has access privileges to some other caves, but still having Andy as the instructor? Or getting special permission for a third- or fourth- time group to get access to somewhere special.
Just seems a shame not to be able to build on their enthusiasm by putting a really good sequence of escalating (descending?) trips together. I've got one lot who are in their last year of school, and ideally I'd like to run a final trip with them, hook them up with a club and encourage them to maintain the interest when they go off to university.
We could go further afield to Wales or Derbyshire if necessary but it's harder for a weekend. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
After that it gets rather tricky - they don't really want to go down Swildon's again because they feel they've "done that" and want a new challenge, and so many caves have access restrictions for novices or commercial groups.
I can understand why it's very sensible to limit the one-off trips that most groups do to a few honeypot sites like Goatchurch and Swildon's, but this group rather fall through the gaps. Not many school groups return repeatedly and need something beyond the standard weekend. The trips have to be run with a professional instructor, but the group aren't complete novices any more either and need a good challenge for a sporting day's caving. The blanket ban on commercial groups doesn't really fit with the practicalities of getting young people more into caving if you're not a caving parent.
The school is in South London so Mendips are much easier to get to than Derbyshire. Any suggestions for other caves that don't have access restrictions, or is there perhaps another way I could do it? Such as enrolling them as youth members at a club that has access privileges to some other caves, but still having Andy as the instructor? Or getting special permission for a third- or fourth- time group to get access to somewhere special.
Just seems a shame not to be able to build on their enthusiasm by putting a really good sequence of escalating (descending?) trips together. I've got one lot who are in their last year of school, and ideally I'd like to run a final trip with them, hook them up with a club and encourage them to maintain the interest when they go off to university.
We could go further afield to Wales or Derbyshire if necessary but it's harder for a weekend. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.