Referring to the comments of 3rd March, I would observe that Cymmie's objection to the Cave Preservation Society (correct title) was that in practise it would be unenforcable. That was merely common sense, as 'policing' the underworld would just not be practical. There was of course by this time some animosity between Leakey and Simpson (mainly from the latter), which led to Leakey resigning from BSA. By way of defence, I would comment that Simpson was PASSIONATE about caving, but quickly took the hump with some people, forcing them out of BSA. His collection of archives was astounding, even if his world view was strictly 'BSA-centric', and ultimately, his reputation - perhaps like that of Winston Churchill -should rest on his achievements, not his personal peccadillos.
From the Archives
- Thread starter langcliffe
- Start date
langcliffe
Well-known member
The Kingsdale volume of the BSA records have some great photos of Graham Balcombe taken on his dive in Keld Head in 1945, the first serious attempt on the sump. You will find them here, and on pages following:
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES118&item=61
A report of the dive may be found a few pages earlier:
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES118&item=53
Bob Leakey repeated the dive in the late 1950s using a bottle, and produced a fine sketch map of the first 80 metres.
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES118&item=57
We all stand on the shoulders of giants...
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES118&item=61
A report of the dive may be found a few pages earlier:
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES118&item=53
Bob Leakey repeated the dive in the late 1950s using a bottle, and produced a fine sketch map of the first 80 metres.
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES118&item=57
We all stand on the shoulders of giants...
He was a paratrooper in India and Burma, called up the year after his older brother Nigel was posthumously awarded a Victoria cross in Abyssinia. His younger brother (Arundell) Rea served in North Africa and became a major general in tank regiment. Their father and his 2nd wife were killed by the Mau Mau in Kenya. Their second cousin twice removed, Joshua Leakey, was also awarded the Victoria Cross for his service in Afghanistan in 2013 (He was the only living British soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross for the War in Afghanistan[4] and the last person to receive it from Queen Elizabeth II.) Rea's son (Arundell) David is a retired lieutenant general, also of the tank regiment. Seems to run in the family. Their cousins are the famous Kenyan paleoanthropologists and archaeologists.
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