Sunday 2nd August 2026

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis (Kushy) and Kate Lawrence. Kushy to the bottom. Used John’s drill and long bit to ream out holes then charged with 6m of 40gm cord. The bottom double ladder was pulled up about 3m and suspended from the fixed ladder above to prevent it getting damaged. Both dumpy bags stuffed down the rift to prevent debris falling down it, although it may slow down fume clearance. The wire was run down behind the fixed ladder to prevent any mishap. All went OK. Should be some rocks for next Saturday. 1½ hours. John.

Testing wire at start. Photo KL.

Saturday 1st August 2026

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Kate Lawrence. Cooler again today at 22°C with a nice breeze. Kate down first to remove any critters and tidy up. A couple of empty dumpy bags were dropped down and eventually reached Kate. These were used to block up the rift in the floor to prevent debris going down it. John replaced her and had the new section of ladder lowered. However it proved to be too long, the bottom would be severly damaged by the bangs, so it was hauled up again. The double ladder at the bottom was repositioned and the walls examined for loose rocks. Nothing significant so John came out and Kate went down again to continue clearing. A total of 6 loads of rocks and 6 loads of mud hauled out today. Pete then abseiled down using a new hanger he’d just installed, stopping halfway down to make a better fixing of the ladders. Not entirely successful as he didn’t have a suitable bolt. At the bottom it was proving too warm with the draught cut off so the bags were removed from the rift. This also allowed Kate to plumb the rift and Pete to measure with his Disto. From the floor Kate plumbed 4.6m whilst Pete from a ledge slightly higher measured 5.0m. Kate then came out and Pete was lifelined out. John then went down a drilled a line of 12mm holes in the West wall ready for the next bang. One drill bit broke and required grips to extract it from the rock. 4½ hours. John.

Rift in floor. Photo KL.

Pete checking Disto reading. Photo KL.

Saturday 25th July 2026

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Mike Kousiounis (Kushy), Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Cooler today at 22°C with a nice breeze. Kate down first to attach the bottom ladder then Jude followed. Buckets of rocks sent up until bigger ones reached when Adrian descended with capping kit. More buckets of rocks sent up, then once he’d finished he came out. Then more loads of rocks, gravel and mud came out. When the loading team had had enough they decided to plumb the depth of the rift in the floor using the lifetine with a krab on the end. Unfortunately the rift was too deep, or the krab was not heavy enough to detect the floor. They came out and John and Kushy descended to add a final 2 loads. John came out and Adrian descended again for a final look. Total for the day was 27 loads of rock and 15 loads of gravel/mud – total 42 of course! 3½ hours. John.

Jude with spoil. Photo KL.

South end of floor rift. Photo KL.

View from above. Photo AV.

View from above. Video AV.

Sunday 19th July 2026

John Cooper, Kate Lawrence, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. John drilled 2 lines of 6 holes. Could not drill too deep as they went through. John came out and Wayne went to the bottom to set up before ladder hauled up. Jude pressed the button. Phut then PHUT and finally BANG. There was some faffing involved here. Should be some spoil for next weekend now. 4 hours. John.

July 2026. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank (with a visit from Tom Chapman to look at installing gate/frame). Hot again today, 26°C with no breeze. Jude and Kate to the bottom to start and 1 frog, 1 cricket and several slugs sent up for rehoming. They then sent up 15 loads of mud and 35 loads of rocks, clearing all the spoil from Tuesday’s bang. Nice rift in floor with cool breeze coming out. At the end Adrian went down and thinks we need to repeat last Tuesday’s effort. 2½ hours. John.

Looking down, ladder on West wall. Photo AV.