Bradwell Dale cave clean-up - 9/10 February 08
- Thread starter JB
- Start date
JB
Member
Hi,
Apologies for the delay getting back about this. Regrettably have had to work this week
Nick - thanks very much for the offer of kit. I'm going to have a trip out to look at the amount of rubbish at WG and BPC this afternoon. Bob D and I are going to have a bit of a recce in Bagshawe on Monday evening so by Tuesday I'll have a much better idea of what's needed equipment-wise. Will be in touch.
Rob - if you can bring your camera that would be great!
Excellent to hear that we will have plenty of people down. There's lots to do! Will update with further info early next week.
Cheers,
Jules.
Apologies for the delay getting back about this. Regrettably have had to work this week
Nick - thanks very much for the offer of kit. I'm going to have a trip out to look at the amount of rubbish at WG and BPC this afternoon. Bob D and I are going to have a bit of a recce in Bagshawe on Monday evening so by Tuesday I'll have a much better idea of what's needed equipment-wise. Will be in touch.
Rob - if you can bring your camera that would be great!
Excellent to hear that we will have plenty of people down. There's lots to do! Will update with further info early next week.
Cheers,
Jules.
underground
Active member
graham said:
I don't know what's worse Graham, being on the way back from the Dordogne, or not being around to clean up in Bradwell dale
JB
Member
Bit more info:
We're going to meet at Bagshawe Cavern at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings and I expect we'll be working until around 6:00 p.m. Location of Bagshawe Cavern is here: http://www.eldon.org.uk/bagshawe_cavern.html
As well as the stuff already described we are aiming to make a start on stabilising the roof in the Bagshawe entrance stope. We have a materials wishlist so if anyone is able to donate any of this please let SamT know:
- scaff and clips (this will only be needed temporarily). You can have it back when the job in the entrance stope is finished.
- plywood (or similar) boards to use for shuttering concrete
- rebar
Please bring caving kit and decent gloves. If you have a crowbar and some bolt croppers bring those too as will be useful for removing the showcave lights and cable. Refreshments will be available but bring sandwiches or there's a chip shop in Bradwell.
Parking is limited at Bagshawe Cavern so if possible please car share.
Hope you are able to join us even if it's only for a few hours. Should be a good weekend!
Jules.
We're going to meet at Bagshawe Cavern at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings and I expect we'll be working until around 6:00 p.m. Location of Bagshawe Cavern is here: http://www.eldon.org.uk/bagshawe_cavern.html
As well as the stuff already described we are aiming to make a start on stabilising the roof in the Bagshawe entrance stope. We have a materials wishlist so if anyone is able to donate any of this please let SamT know:
- scaff and clips (this will only be needed temporarily). You can have it back when the job in the entrance stope is finished.
- plywood (or similar) boards to use for shuttering concrete
- rebar
Please bring caving kit and decent gloves. If you have a crowbar and some bolt croppers bring those too as will be useful for removing the showcave lights and cable. Refreshments will be available but bring sandwiches or there's a chip shop in Bradwell.
Parking is limited at Bagshawe Cavern so if possible please car share.
Hope you are able to join us even if it's only for a few hours. Should be a good weekend!
Jules.
Johnny
New member
nickwilliams said:
All of the above please Nick.
We will be underpinning the choke and false-floors by smacking Ischebeck into the walls and tyeing it together with re-bar, this will eventually be cast over with concrete.
There has been a load of wood fly-tipped on Dirtlow which we could use for shuttering so Land Rover and trailer would be good.
Anyone got a load of spare Fischer fixings? we need to bolt joists along the walls to support the shuttering.
Cheers
D
DARBY
Guest
Hey up Sam seen your online is there electricity like plugs in the coe for kettles etc cheers andy
Charlie
New member
just been to the labs for civil+structural and mechanical+materials+manufacturing engineering and asked one of the lab technicians if they had any spare rebar, he said i could help myself to any of the offcuts from the scrap metal skip - which was empty.
sorry guys, no luck.
Charlie
sorry guys, no luck.
Charlie
JB
Member
Excellent weekend Quick report here:
Preparation began the previous week with trips to Bradwell Dale and Bagshawe Cavern with SamT, Johnny and Bob D. At Bagshawe on the Thursday night we were joined by John Barnatt and Terry Worthington who were interested in the conservation aspects of the mined sections and made valuable comments on what needed looking after. The skip was delivered to Bagshawe on the Friday and I spent the day collecting materials and kit from various places around the Peak District. Significant materials and equipment were provided by Phil Burke, Nick Williams and others and without their help we couldn't have done half of it.
I arrived at Bagshawe Cavern at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and cavesherpa opened his car to reveal a boot full of hot bacon butties. I can't think of a better way to start a working weekend so we made that first job! Immediately afterwards Rob went into Bagshawe with his camera to start taking photographs of the entrance stope and the rest of the cave before work began. A team including Big Jim, Nick Williams and Bat Girl went over to Bradwell Dale where they spent the morning clearing rubbish from around the entrances and inside Bradwell Parish Cave and Walker's Grotto. Meanwhile another team including me, Brendan, cavesherpa and Charlie went into Bagshawe Cavern to start stripping out the old showcave lighting. This proved to be a big job but by midday all the old cable and lighting was in a large pile at the bottom of the steps. With an hour to go before lunch attention turned to fifty years of cave and mine-related crap that was in the mine workings at the bottom of the steps. By lunch that had all joined the cable and lights on the pile ready for the big carry out up the stope in the afternoon. Meanwhile a third team including Johnny and SamT got stuck into the job of installing steel bars and wooden shuttering in the roof of the entrance stope. This will be used as the base for casting concrete slabs which will protect anyone in the stope from falling rocks and is necessary before Bagshawe Cavern can be used by local outdoor education centres. Work here progressed well with scaffold platforms being built and some steel reinforcing in place by lunchtime.
An excellent lunch of soups and rolls was done by cavesherpa. It says a good deal about how hard everyone worked that he went up to put the soup on and then came back into the mine to help drag more stuff out! Over lunch we were entertained by Johnny who brought the assembled audience to their feet with a display involving an angle-grinder and Calor gas bottle. All agreed that it was brilliant - at least after Nick had turned off the gas and the flames had died down! After lunch the Bradwell Dale crew went back with a trailer to bring the rubbish up to the Bagshawe car park whilst the Bagshawe teams went back underground. The rubbish that had accumulated at the bottom of the steps was parcelled up by Brendan and passed out of the cave by a line of cavers. This wasn't as easy as it might sound as most people had to ascend and descend at least ten 'Bagshawe steps'. Bagshawe steps are about three times the height of normal steps as when they were built it was easier to build and cast one big one than three small ones! Meanwhile the team shoring up the roof in the stope continued with that. At 3:00 p.m. a break was called for and the Bradwell Dale team arrived with a trailer full of rubbish. This went into the skip filling it completely! By 4:30 p.m. all the rubbish was out of Bagshawe and a few of us went for a quick trip whilst the others finished removing the cables and lights from the entrance stope. By 6:00 p.m. we had cleared up and headed to the White Hart in Bradwell for a well-earned drink. Eighteen cavers were involved from the Eldon, SUSS, Crewe, Orpheus, TSG and NUCC; a fantastic turnout.
On Sunday morning I arrived to find Big Jim already half way through moving the enormous pile of cable, lighting and mine crap from the Bagshawe entrance up to the car park. This got finished and then we started on a clear up of the area around the Cavern removing a load of junk and having a good sweep around. In the afternoon Bob D and I took down part of the car park wall and rebuilt it to allow larger vehicles in. Skip lorry is coming tomorrow but there will still be a load of stuff that needs to go so another one will be needed.
Loads got done over the weekend and the Bradwell Dale caves and Bagshawe Cavern look so much better! I know that Amanda who looks after Bagshawe Cavern, Bradwell Parish Council and Natural England are very grateful for the work that we put in over the weekend and hopefully this will cement already good relationships between local cavers and the people who allow us access to the caves. However, the job at Bagshawe isn't finished. The work in the roof of the stope continues and there will be another working Saturday sometime in the next month. We need to mix and move a large amount of concrete into the entrance stope to cast the concrete slabs to make the roof safe. I'll post on here so that you know when it is happening and it would be great to have another good turnout.
Rob is going to put the best photographs on the web and we'll add a link to this thread. I've got a blue Edelrid helmet with Petzl Duo lamp which must belong to someone. Let me know if you've lost one.
Many thanks to everyone who was involved.
Jules.
Quick report here:Preparation began the previous week with trips to Bradwell Dale and Bagshawe Cavern with SamT, Johnny and Bob D. At Bagshawe on the Thursday night we were joined by John Barnatt and Terry Worthington who were interested in the conservation aspects of the mined sections and made valuable comments on what needed looking after. The skip was delivered to Bagshawe on the Friday and I spent the day collecting materials and kit from various places around the Peak District. Significant materials and equipment were provided by Phil Burke, Nick Williams and others and without their help we couldn't have done half of it.
I arrived at Bagshawe Cavern at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and cavesherpa opened his car to reveal a boot full of hot bacon butties. I can't think of a better way to start a working weekend so we made that first job! Immediately afterwards Rob went into Bagshawe with his camera to start taking photographs of the entrance stope and the rest of the cave before work began. A team including Big Jim, Nick Williams and Bat Girl went over to Bradwell Dale where they spent the morning clearing rubbish from around the entrances and inside Bradwell Parish Cave and Walker's Grotto. Meanwhile another team including me, Brendan, cavesherpa and Charlie went into Bagshawe Cavern to start stripping out the old showcave lighting. This proved to be a big job but by midday all the old cable and lighting was in a large pile at the bottom of the steps. With an hour to go before lunch attention turned to fifty years of cave and mine-related crap that was in the mine workings at the bottom of the steps. By lunch that had all joined the cable and lights on the pile ready for the big carry out up the stope in the afternoon. Meanwhile a third team including Johnny and SamT got stuck into the job of installing steel bars and wooden shuttering in the roof of the entrance stope. This will be used as the base for casting concrete slabs which will protect anyone in the stope from falling rocks and is necessary before Bagshawe Cavern can be used by local outdoor education centres. Work here progressed well with scaffold platforms being built and some steel reinforcing in place by lunchtime.
An excellent lunch of soups and rolls was done by cavesherpa. It says a good deal about how hard everyone worked that he went up to put the soup on and then came back into the mine to help drag more stuff out! Over lunch we were entertained by Johnny who brought the assembled audience to their feet with a display involving an angle-grinder and Calor gas bottle. All agreed that it was brilliant - at least after Nick had turned off the gas and the flames had died down! After lunch the Bradwell Dale crew went back with a trailer to bring the rubbish up to the Bagshawe car park whilst the Bagshawe teams went back underground. The rubbish that had accumulated at the bottom of the steps was parcelled up by Brendan and passed out of the cave by a line of cavers. This wasn't as easy as it might sound as most people had to ascend and descend at least ten 'Bagshawe steps'. Bagshawe steps are about three times the height of normal steps as when they were built it was easier to build and cast one big one than three small ones! Meanwhile the team shoring up the roof in the stope continued with that. At 3:00 p.m. a break was called for and the Bradwell Dale team arrived with a trailer full of rubbish. This went into the skip filling it completely! By 4:30 p.m. all the rubbish was out of Bagshawe and a few of us went for a quick trip whilst the others finished removing the cables and lights from the entrance stope. By 6:00 p.m. we had cleared up and headed to the White Hart in Bradwell for a well-earned drink. Eighteen cavers were involved from the Eldon, SUSS, Crewe, Orpheus, TSG and NUCC; a fantastic turnout.
On Sunday morning I arrived to find Big Jim already half way through moving the enormous pile of cable, lighting and mine crap from the Bagshawe entrance up to the car park. This got finished and then we started on a clear up of the area around the Cavern removing a load of junk and having a good sweep around. In the afternoon Bob D and I took down part of the car park wall and rebuilt it to allow larger vehicles in. Skip lorry is coming tomorrow but there will still be a load of stuff that needs to go so another one will be needed.
Loads got done over the weekend and the Bradwell Dale caves and Bagshawe Cavern look so much better! I know that Amanda who looks after Bagshawe Cavern, Bradwell Parish Council and Natural England are very grateful for the work that we put in over the weekend and hopefully this will cement already good relationships between local cavers and the people who allow us access to the caves. However, the job at Bagshawe isn't finished. The work in the roof of the stope continues and there will be another working Saturday sometime in the next month. We need to mix and move a large amount of concrete into the entrance stope to cast the concrete slabs to make the roof safe. I'll post on here so that you know when it is happening and it would be great to have another good turnout.
Rob is going to put the best photographs on the web and we'll add a link to this thread. I've got a blue Edelrid helmet with Petzl Duo lamp which must belong to someone. Let me know if you've lost one.
Many thanks to everyone who was involved.
Jules.
SamT
Moderator
Yes - a fantastic effort by all
Cant praise JB enough for the effort he put in in the preceeding week - organising, planning, and preparing - As well as working like a trooper on the day (not that there was anybody there that didnt), Let alone turning up again today. :bow:
I'd like to Echo the thanks to folks for kit etc.
Theres more hard work to do on the stope, but once its finished - I think it'll be an impressive looking job.
PS - Jules, the helmet is Katies.
Cant praise JB enough for the effort he put in in the preceeding week - organising, planning, and preparing - As well as working like a trooper on the day (not that there was anybody there that didnt), Let alone turning up again today. :bow:
I'd like to Echo the thanks to folks for kit etc.
Theres more hard work to do on the stope, but once its finished - I think it'll be an impressive looking job.
PS - Jules, the helmet is Katies.
nickwilliams
Well-known member
Current count is I'm missing a pair of red handled wire shears and the 5 gallon drinking water container. I assume they will re-appear in due course.
There is also the 100m 110V cable reel. I suggest you keep that at Bagshawe until you've finished the work on the stope. Speaking of which, I may have a line on a concrete pump if you need to shift literally tonnes of concrete.
Good effort all - I can't speak for anyone else but Zak and I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday.
Nick.
There is also the 100m 110V cable reel. I suggest you keep that at Bagshawe until you've finished the work on the stope. Speaking of which, I may have a line on a concrete pump if you need to shift literally tonnes of concrete.
Good effort all - I can't speak for anyone else but Zak and I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday.
Nick.
