Saturday 11th October 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Mike Kousiounis, Kate Lawrence and Adrian Vanderplank. Nice cool autumn day. Kate to the bottom again continuing to make the pit in the floor bigger. After the first 30 loads of mud Kushy was sent down to break up a couple of rocks Kate had found. The surface support team complained that he didn’t do a very good job as they were still heavy to haul out. Total of 40 loads of mud and 7 loads of rocks hauled out today. One mix of cement was used at the end of the session building up the step at the bottom of the first ladder. Couple of bits of nice broken stal amidst the mud. Hawk moth found on the surface. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 4th October 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Windy and wet with hail today so not really pleasant. Kate to the bottom again making the pit in the floor a workable size. Forty buckets of wet mud and 8 of rocks hauled out today. After the first 20 loads John asked Kate to fill them a little less full and also Adrian was seconded to help with the hauling as well as the emptying. Probably same again next week. Post digging refreshment was curtailed by a callout for Eastwater Cavern. 2 hours.

Saturday 27th September 2025

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Kate Lawrence. Cloudy and cool again today. Started by emptying the existing 7 buckets of spoil into the tractor bucket. Then Kate to the bottom loading more buckets with mud and occasional rock. A total of 30 buckets of spoil were then added to the tractor bucket and 3 buckets of rock added to the rock pile. Decided the tractor bucket was sufficiently full that it wouldn’t be fair to load another 10 so stopped. Kushy to the bottom with his camera to photograph the hole at the South end of the rift which Kate had exposed, it's underneath Pete's wall!  Reports of a draught. 2 hours. John.

Looking South at floor level. Photo MK.

Closer in. Photo MK.

Saturday 20th September 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cool at 17°C but overcast today. Adrian and Kate at the bottom with the capping kit. Objective today was to remove the rock in the floor that prevents the bottom ladder leaning nicely. 17 loads of rock and 6 loads of mud were hauled out today. One mix of cement was done which John used building up the step below the top ladder. Needs more still. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 13th September 2025

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cooler again, 15°C, and a breeze today but still sunny so pleasant working on surface. Adrian and Kate to the bottom with capping kit. After a while Adrian said there was more rock than Pete would need so we started hauling it out. After 27 loads Adrian and Kate came out and Pete went down. One mix of cement split over two buckets sent down and used building up the South end wall. On his exit a couple of rocks were added to the step underneath the top ladder. 2 hours. John.