Encouraging more new people to go caving.

[graham]

chavs don't cave.

Its cuz Warmbac du'nt make thongs innit???

I'm sure if you asked Kermit to measure you for one ...

 

[Aubrey]

chavs don't cave.

Its cuz Warmbac du'nt make thongs innit???

I'm sure if you asked Kermit to measure you for one ...

Does that make Pete H a chav?

 

[andymorgan]

"EQUITY STATEMENT - BCA and its members will make its services available to all sections of the sporting community, and there will be no discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, colour, occupation, religion or political opinion".

So a neo-Nazi caving club would be tolerated and welcomed into the BCA fold?  :-\

 

[damian]

"EQUITY STATEMENT - BCA and its members will make its services available to all sections of the sporting community, and there will be no discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, colour, occupation, religion or political opinion".

So a neo-Nazi caving club would be tolerated and welcomed into the BCA fold?  :-\

[...] there will be no discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, colour, occupation, religion or political opinion.

I would think the bold bits would rule them out, wouldn't you???

 

[Andy Sparrow]

We have about 40 members in our club.  We are open to anyone, from any social background, but our membership are almost exclusively 'educated' people.  It seems to me that caving appeals mainly to people who have imagination and enquiring minds.  To put it more bluntly - chavs don't cave.

As a newcomer obviously I don't know this contributor, and can only hope his comment is tongue in cheek, if not I'm appalled -  but to repeat my earlier piece, you need to target people who don't even think about caving as a possible hobby or sport - that might be why certain groups of people don't go caving.  Has anything been done to target young people in inner cities, ethnic minorities such as the BME Ramblers, etc etc, or maybe what you're saying is that you prefer to maintain the status quo, keeping so-called 'educated' people in the majority.  And an ageing majority too.

If caving is so wonderful and has given so much to your lives, just think what it could give to other people too.  If you're serious about this issue, and I think it's a big one, then you need to be much more evangelistic.

Liz

Liz, I have spent most of the last 25 years taking disadvantaged inner city kids caving.  There is no group in society more targeted.  They enjoy a bit of caving but do they want to become cavers?  The answer seems to be a resounding 'no'.  This is an observation of fact rather than a prejudice on my part.  I don't know why caving does not appeal to them - your guess is as good as mine.  Look at the average caver at Hidden Earth and you find educated people in the vast majority.  The doors are open to everybody but some social groups are just not interested.  If you feel like taking affirmative action to enlist a quota from every racial group or social class then good luck to you.  I do not offer an explanation or a solution I simply make an observation of fact.

 

[Peter Burgess]

Look at the average caver at Hidden Earth and you find educated people in the vast majority.  The doors are open to everybody but some social groups are just not interested. 

"Hidden Earth is the UK's annual caving conference, hosted by the British Cave Research Association and the British Caving Association for the benefit of all cavers."

The underlined words in this statement might have something to do with it.

 

[Hughie]

And another comment (from someone without a uni education) - if you ain't got any "get up and go", caving isn't for you.
"Get up and go" has to come from within - imo it's virtually impossible to instill.

Still can't think of any barriers.......

 

[andymorgan]

"EQUITY STATEMENT - BCA and its members will make its services available to all sections of the sporting community, and there will be no discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, colour, occupation, religion or political opinion".

So a neo-Nazi caving club would be tolerated and welcomed into the BCA fold?  :-\

[...] there will be no discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, colour, occupation, religion or political opinion.

I would think the bold bits would rule them out, wouldn't you???

My point is that some political opinions discriminate, so these opinions would have to be (rightly) discriminated against. But anyway I'm off topic.

 

[cap n chris]

 

[oli]

It seems to me that caving appeals mainly to people who have imagination and enquiring minds.  

something that has only a tenoues conection to a university education.

 

[whitelackington]

Intrigued: for which religion is spray painting in caves considered a sign of devotion?

not spray painting
but i think you will find Chris that most prehistoric societies painted on rocks or even in caves,
possibly even for religious reasons

 

[christ8]

What about Schools, Scouts/Guides and other Youth groups, Local sports centers. Work place sports and social clubs, outdoor Centers,The Armed Forces, the list goes on.

The YSS (hopefully Chris Tate will post a reply here) - are doing exactly this and I was at the YSS during one of their 'Try Caving' weekends - excellent stuff and I'm sure they've got some new members from this. Sure you take 20 people caving and 5 stick with it - but that is all uni clubs do!

Regular clubs need to get on with attracting new members from the wider populace just like uni clubs do at the freshers fairs. And how does a club do this? What about advertising in the local press, notes and flyers in the local pubs/ outdoor shops etc...   

Andy Sparrow said we need a 'continue caving' campaign - well if people try caving with him or someone else then we need to get them into a regular club. So it is in down to our clubs to go out there and make themselves know to people and be open and welcoming.

Incidentally you might say that not all clubs need to do this work - some are less suited than others... but those clubs serve another purpose - as somewhere for people to move on to (can't be many people who joined the BEC as their first club..?)

Since we have stopped running our coach meets a couple of years ago - where many of our new members came along to have a go. The only new members we had were people joining to use the hut or people joining the club to go on expedition. In this situation you are attracting the converted whilst that helps the caving core it doesn't help bring in new blood.

Since our last try caving weekend of around 20 people we have had 6 people joining the club and come back for more. It's been very successful and people are willing to travel from all over the country we are not just attracting people in Yorkshire.

A suggest a few more people could open their doors they might be surprised! It takes a lot of work and organising, at least until they find their feet. Were still learning as to the best way to encourage people to keep coming back but if you end up with a few keen ones then you have the momentum to carry forward.

Chris

 

[graham]

It seems to me that caving appeals mainly to people who have imagination and enquiring minds.  

something that has only a tenoues conection to a university education.

They do learn to spell, though, except for SUSS members that is.

 

[NOZ]

To misquote you;
Graham, if you've got nothing useful to say, just butt out.
Flourine is likely to make your mouth a little doughy, but do no good for your teeth.
Some people from SUSS can spell, however some cannot. There are many who cannot.

 

[graham]

To misquote you;
Graham, if you've got nothing useful to say, just butt out.
Some people from SUSS can spell, however some dyslexics cannot.

Didn't know the bloke I was thinking of was dyslexic. In fact I'm quite sure he isn't.

 

[NOZ]

Flourine?

Were you referring to Oli's post. I think he/she may not be SUSS and by their tagline, may be dyslexic.

 

[graham]

Nope, someone else entirely. I didn't see that post until afterwards.

 

[Hunter]

That's right, go on and encourage more people to go caving; as if the queue at the ladder in Swildon's isn't long enough already!
It's been mentioned already way back in this thread but why focus on university clubs only?
When I started caving nearly 30 years ago we had groups from the Army and the Navy staying at the club hut and the local 'caving pubs' were full to bursting on Fridays and Saturdays, standing room only.
If people are interested in a sport, be it caving, soccer or any other they will find a way to further their interest.
As far as caving is concerned, type 'caving clubs' into a search engine on the net and you can find an alphabetical list of clubs although the details are a little out of date on some.
It ain't difficult and if you have a degree of common sense it shouldn't be difficult to sort out a local club if you want.
If local clubs want to encourage new members an 'open day' or 'pub night' advertised in the local press are acouple of ways forward.
From my personal experience, membership of a small climbing/caving club outside of a caving region meant we caved all over the country and built links with several clubs with huts in caving areas.
Perhaps some of the bigger clubs in caving areas could build up a relationship with some of the less fortunate clubs out of the area, a bit like 'town twinning' thus forming a spiders web of conections which would undoubtedly lead to a wider audience of prospective cavers.

 

[rich]

Yes, clubs have always played a part and they will continue to do so. But that doesn't make them essential.

It depends on what you count as caving. If you just count exploring caves, then maybe not. If you count the associated culture, then I think they are.

 

[rich]

part of what i love about caving is the diversity, something that'll be lost unless clubs recrut from all over. student cavers are allready really well catered for. those of us who are keen and go on lots of trips move on to a 'real' club pretty easaly.

Ah but Olivia, you were introduced to the BEC, which is unusually friendly among caving clubs. When I was a university caver, it took me a while to decide on a club to join.

When I first went to Mendip I stayed at the Wessex, and when we sat down in the lounge all the members there decided to immediately decamp to the kitchen -- fair enough, it's your club, but how are you going to get anyone to join the club if you don't talk to your visitors? We hardly saw a Wessex member all weekend.

The next time I stayed on Mendip it was at a certain well-known club who maybe should remain nameless, who accused us of ripping them off over hut fees, ripped us off instead, and refused to try to sort a solution out. This rather put me off Mendip caving for a long time.

After spending a bit of time there and getting to know the odd member, I also asked about joining SWCC. None of the members there could tell me how to go about it -- "oh you have to fill in a form or something, I don't know where you could get one", and weren't very enthusiastic about the process, making some disparaging comments about student cavers.

Eventually I stayed at the Belfry and after talking to a few members, who were much more friendly, I had joined by the end of the weekend. I don't find it much of a surprise that the BEC has dozens of new members , most in their 20s, whereas the other clubs I've mentioned are seriously struggling from what I've heard.