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.

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.

Tuesday 14th July 2026

John Cooper, Xiao Jin, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank (with a visit from Kushy). Jude and Kate to the bottom to start and 1 frog, 1 cricket and several slugs sent up for rehoming. They then came out and John went down with his drill. A line of 4 holes drilled in the bulge, another line of 4 in the ledge below and 1 at the floor level. John was then replaced by Adrian who filled the holes, connected them and came out, raising the ladder out of harms way on the way out. Xiao pressed the “FIRE” button. All went OK. Bottom ladder lowered again but will need securing by the first person down next time. Should be some spoil to clear on Saturday. John.

Saturday 11th July 2026

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis (Kushy) and Pete Hann. Hot today, 28°C with a slight breeze. Mike and Pete down, Pete wall building at North end of rift and Kushy assisting. John on surface mixing cement and supplying rocks as needed. There was good cold draught coming out of a 15cm wide crack at the South end of the rift, floor level. John used the foot of the first ladder as a cool refuge when not working on the surface. Wall completed with 3 mixes of cement. Next step requires the wall on the East side to be taken out to make the bottom workable. 2 hours. John.

Base of Wall at North end. Photo MK.

Floor rift at North end. Video MK.