Hello from Swansea!

[SimonDontFitDownDraenen]

Hey! I'm Simon, and I don't fit down Draenen 
I'm from Aberystwyth and have been caving for nearly a year with Aberystwyth caving club! I've been down approximately 9 holes in the ground so far, and looking forward to exploring many more 
After some drunken conversation at CHECC with a guy called Joe from Swansea (if your on here drop me a message!) Thought it was time I properly got involved with the caving world as I may be trying to set up a Uni club for Swansea seeing as that's where I study!
Anyway, here's some pics of me doing cavey things!

[Ian Ball]

Good luck to you wih the new club endeavour

[ClaireV]

Hi Simon,
I think that is a great idea! There are already several staff members at Swansea Uni who are cavers (myself included). We are South Wales Caving Club members. The uni could use its own club. There is definitely some interest in caving here - I have taken a fair number of Swansea Uni Mountaineering Club members caving over the past 5 years - and if there was an actual club here, I think more people may well come out of the woodwork. Perhaps liaising with South Wales Caving Club may also help to get things started?

[Badlad]

Hi Simon - it may be a blessing in disguise that you don't fit down Draenen    Very best of luck with Swansea Uni Club it would be great to follow the success of Lancaster and the fledgling Birmingham.  The BCA Youth & Development team will be sure to help with guidance and kit.  See nearlywhite and others on here for an introduction.   

[langcliffe]

Wasn't there a University College of Swansea Caving Club in the 1960s which published a journal called Speleotawe?

You're certainly well placed. I wish you all the best with your endeavors.

[Tony_B]

Hi Simon, I echo ClaireV's comments above. South Wales Caving Club is only just up the road and when there last was an active Swansea Uni club we had good relations with them. SWCC runs regular 'provisional members weekends' and we introduce a lot of people of all ages to the sport. I'm sure we could put on something similar for a newly formed Swansea Uni CC.   

[Huge]

Best of luck starting up the new club Simon! I'm sure there's plenty of people willing to help out. 🙂

[nearlywhite]

This is brilliant.

BCA Youth and Development are able to provide quite a bit of support:
Paperwork: writing constitutions, risk assessments, and other incredibly boring necessarry things.
Finances: able to make financial plans, sources of funding and loans.
Insurance & other tricky subjects: we are able to give a lot of advice and are happy to liaise with unions directly.

I'm sure I've left stuff out but drop me a message and I'm happy to have a chat at any point - hopefully we can take the boring stuff off anyone's plate.

[SimonDontFitDownDraenen]

Hi Simon,
I think that is a great idea! There are already several staff members at Swansea Uni who are cavers (myself included). We are South Wales Caving Club members. The uni could use its own club. There is definitely some interest in caving here - I have taken a fair number of Swansea Uni Mountaineering Club members caving over the past 5 years - and if there was an actual club here, I think more people may well come out of the woodwork. Perhaps liaising with South Wales Caving Club may also help to get things started?

Hey Claire! yes I spoke to someone recently who said to seek out a Claire at Swansea uni! I'm studying with UWTSD but my plan would be to open it up to all Swansea students of course, and most definitely liaise with SWCC and my home club ACC.
I've already been offered a massive amount of support and help to do this all from a drunken convo at CHECC and a facebook post haha! Truly blown away by it! I'm meeting with a student sports officer on Friday to discuss things with them, but it all seems pretty positive so far =)

[ptpeaty]

Wasn't there a University College of Swansea Caving Club in the 1960s which published a journal called Speleotawe?

You're certainly well placed. I wish you all the best with your endeavors.

There was a Swansea Uni Caving Club for many years and Paddy O’Reilly was a member. It was last active in the 90s but has been in hibernation a long time now. I used to cave with several Swansea post grad bods in the early 80s.

Simon, there is a good cadre of people who go caving mid week, with them being mainly SWCC and Chelsea Speleological Society members. We operate on the rules that the trips we do have to be no longer than three hours, and they have to be fun to do! That last bit is important. At the moment we Cave mainly in Swansea valley due to the disruption caused by the A465 dialling work taking place near Brynmawr which affects access to Clydach Gorge etc. Make contact through Claire Vivian and we’ll get you caving with us. We do need to do more stuff on Gower......
Cheers
PT

[langcliffe]

There was a Swansea Uni Caving Club for many years and Paddy O’Reilly was a member.

There's a memory to conjure with . I used to cave with Paddy in Ireland in about 1977. He was the the only Paddy O'Reilly in Ireland with a Welsh accent! If I remember rightly, he was largely responsible for the OFD survey that was published in about 1970.

[Graigwen]

There was a Swansea Uni Caving Club for many years and Paddy O’Reilly was a member.

There's a memory to conjure with . I used to cave with Paddy in Ireland in about 1977. He was the the only Paddy O'Reilly in Ireland with a Welsh accent! If I remember rightly, he was largely responsible for the OFD survey that was published in about 1970.

I understand Paddy and his wife undertook to hand colour some of these surveys and almost went mad showing the many different levels. They were more like a work of modern art than a cave survey, I still treasure my copy.

[SimonDontFitDownDraenen]

UPDATE: So I spoke to student union today about setting up the club, they were really helpful and seem Ok with it so far, I've filled in the application form for the club and sent it off to the powers above to authorise it (fingers crossed!). so will be hearing back around the 10th of December with news on it it gets the go ahead or not.

hopefully Theres a strong possibility that Swansea WILL have a caving club next year! 

[langcliffe]

I understand Paddy and his wife undertook to hand colour some of these surveys and almost went mad showing the many different levels. They were more like a work of modern art than a cave survey, I still treasure my copy.

Understandably - the one I saw was amazing.

I never received mine  - the demand was far greater than their capacity to produce them! I met Paddy and Sue in Ireland a few years later.

[CavefestUK]

Everyone here at CavefestUK wish you all the best with your new club .
The Gwent CC are also a fairly new club and will always be helpful if you need advice or trips.
You should all pop down this August and join us at Cavefest 2019 in Crickhowell and tell us all about your endeavours.