Yank & caver daughter in Leeds & York next mont

[Wayne Harrison]

I hope I'm posting this in the right place...

Greetings from Colorado! 

My daughter and I will be in York and Leeds on 26, 27, and 28 March and we'd really like to meet some local cavers at a pub while we're there.  We're staying in York but will visit Leeds on the 27 or 28th as part of our tour of English Universities.  My daughter, 16,  is a dual citizen because my wife is British (also a dual) and my daughter will be attending university in England in two years.    My wife and I will be moving permanently to the UK at that time, also.

Anyway, we're keen to meet some local cavers and learn more about Yorkshire caving. 

By way of a caver introduction, I am the forum administrator for Cavechat.org, the NSS caving forum and the new OnlineCavers.com, the NSS social network set up for cavers.  I've been caving since the mid-70s and my daughter has been caving for 7 years, including a week exploring Roppel Cave in Kentucky (with Joe Duxbury from the UK).  You can read a little bit about her by visiting her Web site at www.coloradocaving.com.

Drop me a line if you live in the area and want to get together.  Our schedule is pretty much open those three days.

 

[ianball11]

I live in York, wouldn't call myself a local caver though, I only go twice a year.

York Uni has a club,

http://www.yucpc.org.uk/

From the quite impressive website,

"YUCPC is a small but friendly club who meet each week in the University Sports Hall for our weekly training sessions. Our meeting time is 8.00pm to 10:00pm on Thursdays. Here you can experience the thrill that is SRT Training (it's more than thrilling, it's the best thing you can possibly ever hope to experience...I hear we used to have it twice a week, hmmm.... Training Officer). Once we've had enough we move on to the thing we do best, drinking in one of the campus bars from about 10:15pm after the Thursday training session. Our bar of choice varies depending on what events are on, but its normally Langwith or Wentworth."

Which Unis are you looking at whilst you're here?

Ian B.

 

[SamT]

Hi - welcome to the forums. 

ULSA (leeds uni) are a well established and active club - http://www.ulsa.org.uk/

Im sheffield based - so probably not able to meet (unless you fancy an evening trip in derbyshire) but I guess it might be a bit out of your way.

Good luck - hope some of our northern cavers can meet you and make your time up there a hospitable one.

 

[Wayne Harrison]

Thanks.  Just to clarify, we're not looking for a trip.. just to meet up with some cavers, but the info on York Uni meeting Thursday nights fits right into our plans nicely.  It would be interesting to see UK SRT training.  We've both attended two-day cave rescue training in Colorado.

We're looking at Leeds Uni, University of York, Cambridge, and the University of London (where her grandfather graduated).  Of course it really depends on where she gets offers but this is an initial trip just to see what's out there.  We don't have A levels in the states but she's a 4.0 student already taking advanced placement (college level) courses.  The problem is, she hasn't figured out what she wants to major in, or even study, yet.

 

[cap n chris]

The problem is, she hasn't figured out what she wants to major in, or even study, yet.

Entirely normal for this country. In fact, I don't think it even matters nowadays. 

 

[complex]

Hi,

The dates that you have mentioned are fairly close to Easter.  I would guess that the univeristy clubs (YUCPC and ULSA) might not have that many people around during the holidays, and that the YUCPC SRT training would only take place during term time (when there are students around and access to facilities would be easier to arrange).

If I were you, I would get in touch with someone from the clubs (there is a contact page on the website) to check if/when people would be around.  They should be fairly friendly, and students don't usually need an excuse to meet up for a drink ...

Complex.

 

[caving_fox]

Not that you are actually in cambridge but there is (or was?) a pretty active university club there CUCC, and there is also a "town" club the CCCC. The CCCC will be around all year and are a pretty friendly bunch. Though probably less serious about their caving than the CUCC. The UK is sufficently small that even being located in an area without any rocks the nearest caves are still within a daytrip away.

 

[footleg]

Hi Wayne,

I hope you have a good trip. I've caved with the Leeds University club (ULSA) since 1991, and they are a great bunch who cave most weekends during the University term (plus many trips outside term time as the club is a mixture of students and non-students. I'm living down in Cambridgeshire now, and will actually be caving in Spain when you are in the UK, but I have pointed our club members to this forum post so hopefully someone will get in touch if they are around on those dates. I also have a friend in Golden Colorado who caved with us in Leeds for a year as an undergraduate. So PM me if you want me to put you in touch.

Footleg

 

[MSD]

As a former CCCC, CUCC and ULSA member, I can be sure you will get a warm welcome from any of those clubs. CUCC probably has the edge for expedition caving (and currently has a US citizen as president and a very nice guy he is too!) , ULSA definitely the edge where location and consequent amount of weekend activity is concerned. Caving activity varies a lot between the different London universities, my personal recommendation would be Imperial College, which has produced many fine cavers, including several good friends of mine.

I have degrees from both Cambridge and Leeds, but hey, it's caving that counts, right!

Mark

 

[Wayne Harrison]

That's for the very friendly welcome!  We've got the York visit sorted out.  We'll also be in Cambridge during this trip over and would love to meet someone who is/was both a student and is also a caver.  We'll be in Cambridge on 29, 30 March.  We're still trying to sort out where my daughter would fall in terms of admission to a UK uni  since she is a dual citizen but is not currently a resident of the UK.

 

[ianball11]

How did it go?

Ian B.

 

[Andy]

Various members of YUCPC say they were in the Wonky Donkey in York at the pre-arranged time but the Yanks didn't pitch up!