The topic of becoming an incorporated club has just been raised within a club I belong to, the primary reason cited being to minimise the risk of being sued to the trustees. I note there are some 150 plus clubs listed by the BCA as member clubs. It caused me to wonder how many clubs had taken...

Has any one any information about an opening in the east bank of the River Spodden at NGR SD 8810 1653, just north of Healey Dell near Rochdale? I saw it yesterday when on a geology walk; the speculation being that it was a sough for a coal mine into the lower Pennine Coal Measures. I've not...

Has anyone experience with FreeCAD or similar program capable of undertaking a FEM analysis? I would like to get an idea of how a simple structure (a tetrahedron) could withstand a sizeable force slung from an apex. Please PM me if you do have the knowledge.

I have just been asked about banning recharging of lithium ion batteries in club huts overnight. My first thought is whether there is sufficient incidence of such fires, despite the graphic tales which arise after one, to warrant such a ban. The available statistics do not pick out lithium ion...

Whilst looking for something completely different, I came across a reference that the British Geological Survey had just put up on their web site pdf scans of some 8,000 technical reports produced between 1950 to 2000. They pre-date the current report series and, for any given title, only a few...

I was showing some slides I have from a (tourist) visit to Þríhnúkagígur in Iceland (see Inside the Volcano) when I was asked what was the origins of the vivid colours one can see. The reds and yellows can easily be attributed to iron and sulphur. A quick on line search does suggest bacteria for...

Following discussion within the BCA's Training and Equipment Working Group, a poster plus back ground material has been produced on the topic of suspension trauma, see BCA News. (And for the pedants, trauma was chosen in favour of syncope being the medical term for fainting, that is the short...

The BCA Countryside and Rights Of Way (CRoW) Working Group (WG) is seeking volunteers to help push forward its work to get legal recognition that CRoW Act applies to caving. This work is now focused on getting political action assuming a change in government in 2024 or ‘25. A recent debate in...

I am looking for someone who can make a simple outline sketch of a caver. I don't want to get into detail as to what I am after as it is work in progress and would spoil it's presentation. So please PM me and I can explain in more detail.

See FaceBook page for new discover near Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula. See also Robbie Shone's FaceBook page.

I had been using the MathCad 15 program to process data obtained from rope testing work. The computer died on me so I no longer have access and purchasing a new copy is now extortionate. So I wonder if anyone has got MathCad 15 or later versions (or indeed their new version Prime) who could get...

Last week the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill came back into the news over the intent of the government to reduce the range of EU legislation that they intend to be impacted by the bill. The thought crossed my mind as to what legislation (both acts of parliament and statutory...

Can any one point me to the origins of the Barrel knot? Ashley's Book of Knots #295 describes a somewhat different knot to that used to connect a cows tail to a crab. Alpine Caving Techniques does not appear to reference it. I can see the relationship to the Capuchin knot which is used as a...

I have a five column by 1,000,000 row csv file data set which I would like to trim using Excel. (The columns represent 4 different measurements with respect to time.) Whilst I can see how to manually read in the data, create a chart of measurements with respect to time and hence identify the...

I am after help from someone who can write code to extract data from the web. Simply put, I am interested in several web pages which offer access to data in a large number of files (thousands) using a simple coding system for each file name. What I would like is to be provided with a program...

With the old format, I could BCC a copy of my PM to myself. That option seems to have gone. Or is there a way I can email the all of the PM exchange to myself?

I recently came across https://www.space.com/mars-subsurface-map-from-insight-wind-sound?fbclid=IwAR2_eh-gWAFu1PTfjJzG-xIAzUlOAbF0YLRJPfGStgLpzjTQt2AwNMusdS0 and thought I wonder how that works.  Looking at the paper gave no details but by going back through the refereces I found...

A simple question - does anyone know of a cave registry data base (paper or computer based) covering the Dales?  I ask because I have tracked down on line data bases for other areas but I can't find anything on the Dales apart from the material on the CNCC web site.  And that only covers caves...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/may/16/yosemite-national-park-rock-climbing-permit caught my eye and prompted two thoughts: would all caves in the UK become so busy that a booking system became necessary; and has any one given thought to monitoring some caves with booking system in...

I am seeking help from a computer expert to explain to me how to get running a piece of software in a virtual machine running Windows XP. The back ground is I have a PicoScope ADC 200 (a computer based oscilloscope) which is no longer supported by PicoTech.  In order to use the device, I need...