Saturday 15th November 2025

John Cooper, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cooler again, 12°C, but dry with a slight breeze following yesterday’s heavy rains. Kate at the bottom to report the boards had failed to hold the mud wall so they were moved aside and mud/slop removal started. After 20 heavy loads had been hauled out there was a rest break whilst the right hand side of the middle ladder was bolted to the wall using a short strut. Hauling then resumed. At 35 loads a halt was called as the large bucket was deemed to be full. 3 loads of rocks had also been hauled out. At the end of the session Adrian went down to check on how the securing of the retaining boards could be achieved. A plan for next week was devised. In addition it was thought a shaving off from the top pitch where the ladder touches the left wall would give a better placement and also move it further away from the haul line. 2 hours. John.

Large bucket deemed full. Photo PH.

Scarlet waxcap. Photo PH.

Saturday 8th November 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence and Adrian Vanderplank. Cool again, 10°C, but sunny with a slight breeze. Sorting out ladders was the plan for today. Initially John hung a 10.3m electron ladder down fastened to the scaffold bar adjacent to the pulley. The bottom rung was still about 3m from the floor! John descended and used the hauling line to attach to the top of the bottom ladder. This was hauled up a bit so the tape joining the bottom and middle ladders together could be removed. Then undid the bolts holding the middle ladder in place. The top bolt could be knocked in to release the ladder but the bottom two could not so Adrian descended and cut through them using a reciprocating saw. The now free section was carried to the surface out of the way. Locations for fixing the previous bottom ladder in as the new middle ladder were then identified before it was hauled to the surface for drilling. Unfortunately both are on the left. It was then lowered back down and the spot on the wall where the top anchor was to go identified and drilled. The top fixing was then loosely installed. Using the electron ladder’s bottom rung it was just possible to descend and mark then drill the bottom fixing. This was loosely installed. A new section from a double extending ladder was then lowered down to become the new bottom ladder. At the end of the day Pete ensured the fixings were tightened up. We still need to put in a bracket to hold the right hand side of the ladder securely in place. Kate was then sent to the bottom to dig out mud that had slumped in. After a while Pete went down to make sure she was excavating a suitable base for the retaining wall, I think he had to keep her focused a few times! We lowered a piece of plastic board and a stronger wooden piece for Pete to use as a retaining wall in the hope it would stop the mud slumping in too much. Unfortunately Pete’s batteries all died and he was unable to securely fix them to the walls. There was a mutiny at 30 buckets of mud and 2 of rock. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 1st November 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cool again, 10°C, and overcast with showers getting heavier towards the end of the session. Started by measuring the current depth which was 13m from the horizontal scaffold bars. Then Kate to the bottom and 40 loads of mud together with a couple of newts and other critters sent up. Also a bit of flowstone 150mm x 100mm x 25mm. At the end Adrian went to the bottom to get a video record of the current state using his GoPro. Really need to sort out the ladders! 2 hours. John.

Video of bottom of Pot

Saturday 25th October 2025

John Cooper, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cool, 10°C, and overcast with a light shower halfway through the session. Last weekend the hauling platform was extended by the addition of the “Diving Platform”. This enables a simple reach out to grab the spoil bucket rather that the awkward swing and pull required previously. Also, partway through this session, the bucket was transferred from the middle of the rope to the end as the haulback line was no longer needed. With Kate at the bottom, as usual, a total of 40 loads of mud and 4 of rocks were hauled out. In addition 2 small newts, 2 toads, 1 frog and a hairy caterpillar were moved to new homes. To complete the session one mix of cement was used to build up the platform at the base of the top ladder. This enabled the top clamps to be moved onto the next to top rung of the entrance ladder. Next jobs are to stop the mud slumping into the pit, which is now 1.5m deep, and to sort out the ever growing gap between the bottom ladder and the middle ladder! 2 hours. John.

Saturday 18th October 2025

Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Mike Kousiounis, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Surface work setting up the platform extension. 1 hour.

Adding platform extension. Photo MK.