i started caving through a school trip to burrington, aged 11 i think. loved it, carried on. at 16 the club i had joined treated me to my own petzl zoom, (though i did the the man in 'Dragon Supplies' to change the strap to purple as that kind of thing was important at the time) over the years i have been involved with many 'kids trips' but find these days people are wary because of the child protection issues as well as missunderstandings about insurance. if a youngster in my care falls and i grab them to stop them injuring them self, am i touching them without there permission- breaching some kind of child protection law? personally i would not question and do what had to be done to keep everyone safe, but i have herd this discussion among cavers as a reason not to take young people. worries about what the repercussions might be of the story being told to someone who takes the scenario completely the wrong way.funnily enough, more so with the male cavers than with the girlie's - i maybe wrong but i get the impression that blokes are more cautious of exposing them self to this kind of thing. sad really, cos if we don't encourage more young cavers where will the next generation come from?
No offence intended of course! 
