What a fantastic night on Friday at the Underground Session, at Kendal Mountain Festival

For those of you who made a weekend of it, the weather gods were kind as it has been glorious in the Dales and Lakes - hence the late post, I've been out in the sunshine rather than sat at a computer
Rumours were rife that the session had sold out, then there were fears there would be lots of empty seats
Steph Dwyer helping with the organising before being just brilliant at presenting the evening
...however I'm pleased to report it was really well attended with many familiar faces in the audience - thank you to each and every caver who came to support the event
There were about 20? empty seats, however it was by far the biggest audience for an Underground Session yet - great.
Christine, Jason, Imogen & Tim - who's steadying his nerves prior to giving his Introduction!
https://youtu.be/hKzxJgBatvE
The Town Hall is an excellent venue, the bar was buzzing as was the pub across the road afterwards
....and as for the talks and films - they were all fabulous! Entertaining, inspiring and moving with plenty of laughter and banter during the first 2 talks - Christine's presentation included a film premier - The Mastercave - which was excellent, especially the footage of Chunky upside down in a swimming pool learning to cave dive
but also the story of the exploration to date - I won't give too much away. Imogen's presentation was wonderful, I thoroughly enjoyed every second and have never quite heard a caving talk like it - the audience even clapped half way through at one of her well made observations. Then there was an interval, the bar got busy and there was that lovely sound of a room full of cavers and outdoor enthusiasts all chatting and enjoying themselves.
After the interval, Steph introduced Jason. I was sat to the right of the audience, Jason was speaking to the left. As the hour went by I could see that everyone in the audience had moved in their seats to focus on Jason - all heads were turned towards him as he spoke in his calm, confident way. You could hear a pin drop.
What a shame there were those 20 empty seats - those people who could have been there but weren't missed out.
Thank you once again to Christine Grosart, Imogen Furlong, Jason Mallinson, Steph Dwyer and the Kendal Mountain Festival Team for making it such a memorable night - with special thanks from me to Tim who worked his socks off for weeks organising it all, well done hun.


For those of you who made a weekend of it, the weather gods were kind as it has been glorious in the Dales and Lakes - hence the late post, I've been out in the sunshine rather than sat at a computer

Rumours were rife that the session had sold out, then there were fears there would be lots of empty seats

Steph Dwyer helping with the organising before being just brilliant at presenting the evening

...however I'm pleased to report it was really well attended with many familiar faces in the audience - thank you to each and every caver who came to support the event

Christine, Jason, Imogen & Tim - who's steadying his nerves prior to giving his Introduction!
https://youtu.be/hKzxJgBatvE
The Town Hall is an excellent venue, the bar was buzzing as was the pub across the road afterwards
....and as for the talks and films - they were all fabulous! Entertaining, inspiring and moving with plenty of laughter and banter during the first 2 talks - Christine's presentation included a film premier - The Mastercave - which was excellent, especially the footage of Chunky upside down in a swimming pool learning to cave dive

After the interval, Steph introduced Jason. I was sat to the right of the audience, Jason was speaking to the left. As the hour went by I could see that everyone in the audience had moved in their seats to focus on Jason - all heads were turned towards him as he spoke in his calm, confident way. You could hear a pin drop.
What a shame there were those 20 empty seats - those people who could have been there but weren't missed out.
Thank you once again to Christine Grosart, Imogen Furlong, Jason Mallinson, Steph Dwyer and the Kendal Mountain Festival Team for making it such a memorable night - with special thanks from me to Tim who worked his socks off for weeks organising it all, well done hun.