Fred Rattray, if you are still on this forum, would you pm me? A mutual friend would like to contact Jim.

I'd like to ask about Barry Hill's exploits in Agen Allwedd, some 60 years ago! Is Barry on here? If he isn't, would anyone be able to put him in touch with me?

The Gloucester Speleo Soc had a trip to Slovenia in August 2019, and we stayed at the Speleo Camp Laze. There was another group of cavers staying in the bunkhouse there. If any of you were in that group, would you please contact me? I'd appreciate your comments on the place.

I know that copper stains calcite blue, and iron gives a red colour, but what creates a yellow colour, as in the attached photo?

It has been suggested (April 2023 UBSS Newsletter) that the Hunters' Lodge Inn Sink is the 'closest cave to any pub (probably in the world!)' I know of one cave which is actually entered through the garage of a bar. Do you know of any other contenders?

From the trailer I've just seen, it looks like next Tuesday's episode of 'Dan and Helen's Pennine Adventure' will feature them descending Alum Pot. I dare say some of you were involved in making this episode. Will they go back up, or will they come out through Long Churn ...?

A fascinating film on Netflix. Well-filmed, no excess lighting. It was interesting to see how non-cavers managed underground: "We only go through this crawl one at a time, in case it collapses."!

Chelsea SS have recently been investigating several high-level passages off Main Passage in Agen Allwedd. They have been visited before, but there are no records of who was involved. In one of them is scratched the date 1961 and some initials, 'RR' and 'RS'. I have not been able to match these...

I have some questions which I hope the electronically-knowledgeable among you might answer. I have a pack of rechargeable NiMH batteries (nominally 6V, 2.7 Ah) that I charge using a home-made charger. The method I use is to charge them at 0.27 A (the Ah rating divided by 10) for 14 hours. If my...

A while ago I asked if anyone had copies of the Bill Tidy 'caving cartoons', and was pleased to get sent just the very ones I was after. Now there's another I would like to get hold of. It shows a guide leading a party of tourists along a tunnel, and one wall of the tunnel has four large bums...

Many years ago, Bill Tidy produced a page of cartoons for Punch magazine on the subject of caving. Did any of you see those, and maybe kept them? If so, would you be kind enough to scan and send them to me?

Tonight, on ITV1 at 9:30 pm: 'Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad'. We get to see 'if Bradley can make a perilous crossing over a steep drop. And ... there are snakes and bats to welcome them to a pitch-dark cave'. Well, they could always turn their lights on. I expect they'll be given lights...

How easy is it to pull out old Petzl spits? If they'll still take a bolt, can the bolt be used to crowbar them out? Otherwise, I guess they'll have to be drilled out.

Along Main Passage in Agen Allwedd are holes high up in the walls. One of these has a line of spits leading up to it. Who put them in, and where did it lead to? Also, high up in the LH wall of the slope leading up to Erse Passage, there is a single piton. Again, who put that in, and did the...

There has been an incident outside Whitewalls, the Chelsea SS hut, in which the car of the next-door neighbour was damaged. Disappointingly, no-one has owned up to doing this. Would cavers visiting Whitewalls please be particularly attentive and careful. Drive and park considerately, leaving...

Hello! Is Fred Rattray on here? An old friend has lost contact with Jimmy, and would like to get in touch. If Fred (or anyone else) can help, please PM me.

What do you cave photographers like to use to give a close-up shot some scale? A karabiner? An AA battery? Is there consensus as to what looks best?

The Chelsea SS library is getting rid of unwanted volumes. If anyone wants the following (or even some of the following), please let me know. Otherwise they'll go in the recycling bin. An almost complete run of The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Nos. 413 (1948) to 446...

I'm not sure whether 'Cave Science' is the right category for this. Could it be 'Caving in the Media'? Anyway, have any of you seen the recent newspaper articles about Stone Age cave painters deliberately starving themselves of oxygen to bring about hallucinations? The theory, according to a...

I have just received the following message from a contact in Molvania: I announce discovery of deepest cave in world: Gruuta Busjbusj. It is explored to 2243 m deep by valiant members of Lutnblaagesc Partstuolet Gruuti in Lutenblaag, Republic of Molvania. A great and sensational discovery with...