Greetings from Reading University Caving Club! 2018 is our 50th anniversary year, so we were determined to make it a good one!
We were riding a wave from last year's good haul of new members (building upon our recovery from some very tricky years), and there was an idea being bandied around, about doing some kind of reunion trip with our previous members. It quickly became apparent that no-one was really prepared to put in all the thousands of hours needed to organise such a thing, and some kind of foreign adventure seemed much more appealing!
Ireland was the closest, we'd heard lots of nice things about it, and already had vague ambitions of going there, but as winter turned into spring, the two people most keen on an Easter trip there, realised that they lacked the logistical competence to bring the price within reach of the humble student...
Southern CHECC at the SWCC proved an inspiration - why don't we just go here for 4 days? We did lots of hardcore caving in OFD, including the longest RUCC exploratory trip we've done in a long time, well off the beaten track. We saw some stunning crystal pools, many incredible stalactites, as well as lots of other amazing formations, before descending down the Skyhook. On Easter Sunday, we had the privilege of going to see the Columns.
Over the course of the year, we went on 5 trips during the Autumn term, 5 during the Spring term (including Northern CHECC for the first time ever!), and we even managed to fit in 2 trips during the exam season!
All of a sudden, Ireland was back on the cards again! This rapidly morphed into a far more ambitious plan for a 10 day trip, instead of the long weekend we had initially anticipated. Thanks to some incredible budgeting and organisation work by Jo Meldner, we kept prices incredibly low, achieving ?250 per head - which covered everything, with a lot left over to treat ourselves to some gigantic pizzas! Among other things, we used Tesco vouchers to obtain some dirt cheap ferry tickets. In total, 11 RUCC members went, including a good proportion of current students.
Before we set off, we sent out requests for help to all of the Irish people we knew, along with anyone else who vaguely knew the country. The Irish have a reputation for camaraderie, but even so, we were astounded by the response! Everyone was extremely helpful and welcoming, and arranged for people to turn up during both the weekends, to show us the lie of the land, and to guide us to the best caves...
The Hoo was described to us as everything a caving hut should be, which turned out to be totally accurate - if you've not visited, you should! The road between the Hut and the nearest town crosses the border at least three times, resulting in us having to obtain a multiple entry visa for one of our non-EU members - somewhat problematic, since The Hoo - a place with no electricity - doesn't exactly do booking confirmations...!
We explored a lot of fantastic caves (quite like the ones in the UK, but wetter!), most notably Marble Arch. Our Irish friends who were there initially were unable to take us down due to the weather, but they said "it's a showcave, so you can't possibly get lost" - over the course of the next 3 days, several RUCC groups went down there, and then proceeded to get lost in a number of completely different places... We weren't helped by the 'interesting' descriptions in the Irish cave books ("turn left at the place that used to flood"), so we put together our own guide, which we hope will be of more practical use to future student club trips to Ireland.
Among our many other adventures there, we went to a gig in a cave - three people in weird costumes (one of which was wearing an animal skull as a mask) did lots of shouting and wailing - very atmospheric... We also jumped into a lake next to a prison in the pouring rain, hoping desperately not to be mistaken for escaped convicts - as you do...
Flushed with success from our Ireland trip, we decided it was time to venture further afield, so a group of us went to Austria. One of our members went out for a month - taking part in the Cambridge epedition, before being joined by two more members at the Eurospeleo conference - where we went on lots of excursions, attended some interesting talks, and socialised heavily, consuming copious amounts of alcohol (some presented to us for free by the organiser). After that, we went to Dachstein, where we were joined by one of our new student members. It was exhilarating to be part of this expedition in their breakthrough year!
We then progressed straight into preparations for the next academic year... We updated our website to add new content, changed the branding to be more in line with our other club publicity materials, and featured our brand new Instagram account to share pictures of all our adventures.
Due to all the preparations we have made in previous years, freshers fayre recruitment is now starting to feel like a well-oiled machine. Our tackle store arrangements have been transformed over the last few years (thanks in no small part to all the incredible efforts of Jo), which has made it much easier to find things when we're getting ready for trips. Thanks to the generous financial support from our student's union, we have invested heavily in new kit, which has increased the number of members we can take with us on trips.
This year we have managed to attract nearly 40 members - more than last year, and notably, the level of enthusiasm is the highest it's been for years. Turn out at our weekly pub meets (rotating between various pubs in Reading) has increased significantly - helped by a new group on Facebook Messenger which was started by one of our new members, and has since grown organically to include virtually everyone in the club.
Among other socials, we organised one of our popular film nights, watching that well known caving "documentary", The Descent. Our trip to Thorpe Park had an unprecedented level of popularity, with 20 people turning up to this! We are also planning to go to London later this term for a sightseeing trip.
So far this term, we have run a day trip, two Wales trips, a Mendips trip with fireworks, and finally CHECC. All of which were very well attended... except rather unfortunately for CHECC itself: I am currently writing this in the car on the way there, being driven by the only other RUCC attendee! Clearly our organisation is a bit 'patchy' to say the least! But two people is enough to enter most of the competitions, right?!
We were riding a wave from last year's good haul of new members (building upon our recovery from some very tricky years), and there was an idea being bandied around, about doing some kind of reunion trip with our previous members. It quickly became apparent that no-one was really prepared to put in all the thousands of hours needed to organise such a thing, and some kind of foreign adventure seemed much more appealing!
Ireland was the closest, we'd heard lots of nice things about it, and already had vague ambitions of going there, but as winter turned into spring, the two people most keen on an Easter trip there, realised that they lacked the logistical competence to bring the price within reach of the humble student...
Southern CHECC at the SWCC proved an inspiration - why don't we just go here for 4 days? We did lots of hardcore caving in OFD, including the longest RUCC exploratory trip we've done in a long time, well off the beaten track. We saw some stunning crystal pools, many incredible stalactites, as well as lots of other amazing formations, before descending down the Skyhook. On Easter Sunday, we had the privilege of going to see the Columns.
Over the course of the year, we went on 5 trips during the Autumn term, 5 during the Spring term (including Northern CHECC for the first time ever!), and we even managed to fit in 2 trips during the exam season!
All of a sudden, Ireland was back on the cards again! This rapidly morphed into a far more ambitious plan for a 10 day trip, instead of the long weekend we had initially anticipated. Thanks to some incredible budgeting and organisation work by Jo Meldner, we kept prices incredibly low, achieving ?250 per head - which covered everything, with a lot left over to treat ourselves to some gigantic pizzas! Among other things, we used Tesco vouchers to obtain some dirt cheap ferry tickets. In total, 11 RUCC members went, including a good proportion of current students.
Before we set off, we sent out requests for help to all of the Irish people we knew, along with anyone else who vaguely knew the country. The Irish have a reputation for camaraderie, but even so, we were astounded by the response! Everyone was extremely helpful and welcoming, and arranged for people to turn up during both the weekends, to show us the lie of the land, and to guide us to the best caves...
The Hoo was described to us as everything a caving hut should be, which turned out to be totally accurate - if you've not visited, you should! The road between the Hut and the nearest town crosses the border at least three times, resulting in us having to obtain a multiple entry visa for one of our non-EU members - somewhat problematic, since The Hoo - a place with no electricity - doesn't exactly do booking confirmations...!
We explored a lot of fantastic caves (quite like the ones in the UK, but wetter!), most notably Marble Arch. Our Irish friends who were there initially were unable to take us down due to the weather, but they said "it's a showcave, so you can't possibly get lost" - over the course of the next 3 days, several RUCC groups went down there, and then proceeded to get lost in a number of completely different places... We weren't helped by the 'interesting' descriptions in the Irish cave books ("turn left at the place that used to flood"), so we put together our own guide, which we hope will be of more practical use to future student club trips to Ireland.
Among our many other adventures there, we went to a gig in a cave - three people in weird costumes (one of which was wearing an animal skull as a mask) did lots of shouting and wailing - very atmospheric... We also jumped into a lake next to a prison in the pouring rain, hoping desperately not to be mistaken for escaped convicts - as you do...
Flushed with success from our Ireland trip, we decided it was time to venture further afield, so a group of us went to Austria. One of our members went out for a month - taking part in the Cambridge epedition, before being joined by two more members at the Eurospeleo conference - where we went on lots of excursions, attended some interesting talks, and socialised heavily, consuming copious amounts of alcohol (some presented to us for free by the organiser). After that, we went to Dachstein, where we were joined by one of our new student members. It was exhilarating to be part of this expedition in their breakthrough year!
We then progressed straight into preparations for the next academic year... We updated our website to add new content, changed the branding to be more in line with our other club publicity materials, and featured our brand new Instagram account to share pictures of all our adventures.
Due to all the preparations we have made in previous years, freshers fayre recruitment is now starting to feel like a well-oiled machine. Our tackle store arrangements have been transformed over the last few years (thanks in no small part to all the incredible efforts of Jo), which has made it much easier to find things when we're getting ready for trips. Thanks to the generous financial support from our student's union, we have invested heavily in new kit, which has increased the number of members we can take with us on trips.
This year we have managed to attract nearly 40 members - more than last year, and notably, the level of enthusiasm is the highest it's been for years. Turn out at our weekly pub meets (rotating between various pubs in Reading) has increased significantly - helped by a new group on Facebook Messenger which was started by one of our new members, and has since grown organically to include virtually everyone in the club.
Among other socials, we organised one of our popular film nights, watching that well known caving "documentary", The Descent. Our trip to Thorpe Park had an unprecedented level of popularity, with 20 people turning up to this! We are also planning to go to London later this term for a sightseeing trip.
So far this term, we have run a day trip, two Wales trips, a Mendips trip with fireworks, and finally CHECC. All of which were very well attended... except rather unfortunately for CHECC itself: I am currently writing this in the car on the way there, being driven by the only other RUCC attendee! Clearly our organisation is a bit 'patchy' to say the least! But two people is enough to enter most of the competitions, right?!
