Caving clubs in 1956

M

mikem

Well-known member
The NSS published a list - presumably of clubs they exchanged magazines with, as it included Bristol City Museum - for all countries outside the USA. Most have the secretaries' addresses. There are 57 in UK, although some appear twice, but the following I'm not sure still exist (CC, CG, PC, SG, SS are the obvious, MC is mountaineering club, PH is Pot-Holers or Holing):
Beechen Cliff School SS, Bath (don't, but did produce some publications)
Birmingham Cave & Crag Club
Bradford Technical College CG
Cave Preservation Society (Bob Leakey)
Derbyshire Pennine Club
Derbyshire SG
Durham CC (are they now Durham cave & mine club?)
Lancashire Caving & Climbing Club
Leicester university SS
University college SS, Leicester (same or not?)
Liverpool CC
London SG
Martel CC (don't, see Leslie Pill thread)
Matlock Bath SG
Moorland Ramblers, Lancaster
Morecambe Rock Climbers & PC
Northern SG
Nottingham University MC
Odin exploration Club
Operation Mole SS
Peakland Archaeological Soc
Peakland SS
RAF college PH section
Rushop exploration Club, Manchester
Sheffield university MC, caving section (breakaway?)
South Town CC (are they now South Bristol CC ?)
Stockport PH & Climbing Club
Stoke on Trent PH Club
 
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M

mikem

Well-known member
Cave & Crag Club (Birmingham) & Lancashire climbing & CC are both still in BCA. Moorland Ramblers & university of Nottingham MC still exist but aren't part of BCA. Peakland arch soc also produced newsletters relevant to caving.
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Derbyshire Pennine Club are also still in BCA (I just missed them in the list)

I can't find any mention of peakland SS, so presumably same as the archaeological society, but this came up in relation to them:
"Darfur Ridge Cave was excavated in 1960 and 1961 by the Rolls-Royce Caving and Archaeological Club"
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
SUMC had a caving section, which later broke away to form SUSS. Some of the post war explorations in the Peak Cavern system involved SUMC members, particularly the events leading up to the 1949 breakthrough(s) at the Black Swan Syphon (now referred to as "Mucky Ducks") and the passing of Buxton Water Sump, leading to the "Surprise View" story.

I think the late Dr. Trevor Ford was a SUMC member.
 
AR

AR

Well-known member
Operation Mole still exist, though I'm not sure if they're BCA affiliated. Yes, the SUMC caving section is what morphed into SUSS in the early 1960s, and TDF was definitely a member when he was at Sheffield. I think Mike Luff was at Sheffield Uni around the time of the breakaway, might ask him at the next PDMHS council meeting. I thought the Orpheus were in existence by 1957 but they're not on the list, maybe they hadn't published anything at that point?
 
Steve Clark

Steve Clark

Well-known member
Fylde MC were formed in 1950 and were caving in 1956. I understand we originally had the lease on Bull Pot Farm from around 1959 when Norris Scar moved down to Gale Garth Farm. The Red Rose took over when we pulled out through lack of support, but not sure when that was (£2.50 per month rent! ).

There are some journals from around then, there are a few pages on caving in each one :


I'm not sure we've ever been a BCA club
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Yes, please do AR. His perspective on that bit of caving history would be well worth placing on record.
Wasn't it around then that PDMHs was also founded and was Sheffield-based at first? It'd be interesting to learn more about how these three organisations may (or may not?) be interelated.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Those FMC Journals are superb Steve! I've never seen these before.
The "New House At NEWHOUSES" poem (in the 56-58 Journal) had me in stitches.

Er, wearing my club librarian's hat; I don't suppose there would be any spare copies of any of those lying around which might be donated to a good cause, would there?
 
Steve Clark

Steve Clark

Well-known member
Pitlamp said:
Those FMC Journals are superb Steve! I've never seen these before.
The "New House At NEWHOUSES" poem (in the 56-58 Journal) had me in stitches.

Er, wearing my club librarian's hat; I don't suppose there would be any spare copies of any of those lying around which might be donated to a good cause, would there?
Click to expand...

I can ask around. I think we only have one copy of the really old ones. We always have spares of the more recent club mags, but not much caving until we kicked things back off a couple of years ago.

The full archive is scanned here :

FMC Newsletter Archive – Fylde Mountaineering Club

fyldemountaineeringclub.org fyldemountaineeringclub.org

The club did a big journal for 1950-1990 history too that's in the above list.

 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks; I'm supposed to be doing something else but I'm totally absorbed in those journals - they really are excellent. Just been reading the FMC's perspective on using the CPC's GG winch in the 58-60 Journal. Things have evolved rather a lot at Gaping Gill since those days.

Yes please, if you could ask whether there are any spare copies which might go to one of the main Dales club libraries, it would be very much appreciated.
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
Steve Clark said:
Fylde MC were formed in 1950 and were caving in 1956. I understand we originally had the lease on Bull Pot Farm from around 1959 when Norris Scar moved down to Gale Garth Farm. The Red Rose took over when we pulled out through lack of support, but not sure when that was (£2.50 per month rent! ).

There are some journals from around then, there are a few pages on caving in each one :
Click to expand...

Fascinating - thanks for posting!
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Feb 22, 2021 · The University of Bristol Spelaeological Society (UBSS), founded in 1919, is the longest-running student society at Bristol. As the society celebrated their centenary in 2019,
 
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