Badlad said:
When I first attended Hidden Earth, although I think it was called the BCRA Conference then, it was at UMIST in Manchester and it remained there for many years.
seven years if I recall correctly
Badlad said:
It's been at Churchill three out of the last four years if memory serves me correct with only the Eurospeleo event breaking up the run. So there is a precedent for it to remain in the same location for many years.
It was at Churchill either side of Eurospeleo because our other "southern venue", at Monmouth in Wales, has actually been demolished, the entire school and the leisure centre...
We also went to Monmouth when we should have been at Churchill as Churchill did major works and the venue wasn't available then.
I have been in communication with Monmouth very recently (as a result of looking for a venue this year) and am advised that the builders are suggesting the new leisure centre and school will be available in August 2019...
Badlad said:
I think in an ideal world we'd all like to see it move around the country or the regions and that is clearly the aim of Les and the team.
It is indeed the aim, but venue availability is the main driver...
Badlad said:
I do worry, and from what Les says it appears to be true, that there just aren't the venues to run Hidden Earth like it has been in the past.
I'm not sure this is entirely true, the venues are there, but we need to make contact with them and convince them that they want us..
The real issue is that where we had regular venues, we had a relationship with them which made it easier to organise the event. We have temporarily lost one venue (Monmouth) and permanently lost another (Leek High)
We never really had a good permanent Northern venue so we are now only left with Churchill, but with Monmouth coming back on line, hopefully in 2020.
Not having regular venues actually increases the work load exponentially on already hard working volunteers.
We really do need to develop a "Peak District venue and a North venue, but there are major issues here as with smaller centres of population there are smaller schools, with less facilities...
The other issue is that all the regular venues have come about because a caver already had some sort of contact with those sites and was able to convince them we should go there. If there is anybody with a long relationship with any large school sites please speak with me...
Badlad said:
Is it time for a change of format? To think outside the box and review what sort of national event can be delivered given the resources available.
On this point I will say the following. Hidden Earth is very successful, it has a format that seems to work and I am minded to the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
However, like anything, it doesn't hurt to evolve, to keep it fresh and keep others interested.
Badlad said:
Should we consider a larger budget?
Cavers are notoriously "Careful " with their money, unless its beer, or gear.
The event currently runs on a total budget of something like ?10k. If we charged more then less would come, for sure. So the danger here is that a larger budget will be self defeating...
Badlad said:
A different time of year?
Having it at a different time of year is problematic. The current "window" for the event is after the summer expos and before Freshers Fairs. A later date will lose delegates (we were 20% down last year and only just slipped into October...)
Earlier will be during expo season and we lose not only delegates but talks too...
Fitting it around other existing events is an issue too.
Badlad said:
Do we need camping on site,
Camping availability has pretty much doubled attendance at the event so I think it's essential
Badlad said:
to run our own bar, a sit down dinner and three lecture theatres?
I take you back to "if it ain't broke..."
However, there is always room to change formats, but the effect of this won't be known until it's done...
The bar makes a substantial surplus on the backs of the volunteers, that money is put back into caving.
Typically, Hidden Earth donates ?3k each year to Ghar Parau for expedition funding.
Money has also gone to BCRC for development work on rescue kit.
That money comes, predominantly from the bar...
The meal is there to ensure people that don't want to leave site (or cant, such as the staff) can actually get fed.
With three theatres we normally struggle to squeeze all the talks in. If we reduced the numbers, there would be less talks, but then a lot of people that offer talks would be miffed their offer wasn't taken up. I reckon they will be less likely to offer again...
Badlad said:
What about less lectures and more field trips, some caving even. Does it have to be a single national event, what about a series of smaller events around the regions, Cavefest meets Eurospeleo perhaps, or tie it in with other larger outdoor events. How about getting regional councils more involved and identifying the event with them.
We used to have a regional based Cavers Fair that moved around the country each year. It was similar in concept to what you suggest, but it petered out with lack of interest and lack of willing volunteers. It would be good to resurrect it, but it needs committed personnel in all the regions.
And the support of cavers.
CSCC has run similar events in recent years, normally on a two year cycle, typically when Hidden Earth has been further north that year. These have been quite successful, but the key organisers are the same people organising Hidden Earth, so it still requires a commitment from people to organise
Badlad said:
There are always lots of options and ideas rather than the same old same old. Happy to work on more ideas if you think it would help and good luck for this year.
As I said above, we will try anything, but it needs staff and support to make it happen. The management team is already overworked and although open to any ideas, the idea needs to come with it's own personnel to make it happen...
Thank you for your input and kind wishes
