Peter Burgess
New member
I think party sizes are generally smaller than they used to be as well.
jasonbirder said:Its easy to be pedantic about what constitutes an "Active Caver"
But i guess we all know what one is when we talk about it...
Once a week/fortnight/month even once a quarter probably counts!
Once last year on the Christmas Candle trip round Box/Ashford Black marble etc etc you@re probably not!
Either way I guess everyone that gets "Out and about" knows there are less cavers about than their used to be...just one look at parking spaces in popular areas on a weekend, the number of people you bump into underground/ the number of times you have to "rig under" or wait at pitch heads will confirm that...
Whilst many Professional Instructors report good numbers...are the people they take underground frequently people that think "that was ace - I'm going to buy some kit and start going caving regularly" ?
Peter Burgess said:I think party sizes are generally smaller than they used to be as well.
graham said:Cookie said:Make of them what you will.
The mean size of a club has gone down over the period from 32 to 29.
dcrtuk said:Dudley Caving Club was formed in 1966 and throughout its history the membership has remained in the teens and twenties - until recently. Over the last couple of years the membership has slowly crept up and it now has 51 members which is incredible for a caving club around 80 miles or so from the nearest caves, and at a time when caving seems to be losing popularity.
We can't help but feel that we are doing something right. We have a website, blog (which is regularly updated), active Facebook page, 2 very good cave photographers and a few half decent videos. Publicity it does seem gets people off their bums and underground.
jasonbirder said:I was trying to make the point that the (reported) good health of the Instructed Caving sector doesn't necessarily lead to good numbers coming into Caving
S'way cheaper than buying the gear.