Thursday 27th March 2025

John Cooper, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken in and used by Adrian at the bottom. Needs spoil removing before more can be done. Interesting hole in floor. Not too drippy. 1½ hours. John.

Tuesday 11th February 2025

John Cooper, Alison Moody, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Ali’s first time down so a short trip to the bottom and back. Wetter than last week, with standing water puddles close to the entrance. John stayed at the top of the final shaft but the rest went for a look/shower. A couple of inches of washed in gravel covering the capping mat at the bottom. 1 hour. John.

Tuesday 4th February 2025

John Cooper, Kate Lawrence, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Spoil clearance session. Started by moving the spoil from the top of Father Duckmas shaft to the Tunnel. Moved on up and shifted the spoil to the bottom of the entrance shaft. Finally 10 rather heavier loads moved on up to the surface. Still drippy. 1½ hours. John.

Thursday 14th November 2024

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Clearing the bottom of small rocks. Jude at the bottom filling, Adrian guiding, Mike hauling at the top of Pensioners’ Pot and transferring the spoil to the other bucket which John hauled through the rift. Once Jude had finished we all moved up and cleared the bottom of Father Duckmas of all the spoil that had accumulated. It's now at the top of Father Duckmas Shaft. A lot drier today, could have cemented. 1½ hours. John.

Thursday 7th November 2024

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken in and brought out again unused. Still drippy but getting drier every week. With Mike and Jude at the bottom about 10 loads of gravel were hauled up and lost by Adrian behind the walls of Pensioners’ Pot whilst John acted as rope minder. A few rocks were hauled to the top. At the end the rocks at the top of Pensioners’ Pot were moved up to the bottom of Father Duckmas. 1¾ hours. John.

Thursday 31st October 2024

John Cooper, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken in. Still drippy but not as bad as last week. Adrian at the bottom of Pensioners’ Pot capping with John at the top stacking rocks. Jude in the middle guiding the bucket up and down. More work needed. 1½ hours. John.

Thursday 24th October 2024

John Cooper, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Tidying up trip and to see how wet it was. Drippy. At the top of the final drop John tightened up the final hanger and then set up the digging bucket to catch the water. It was overflowing by the time Adrian came up from the bottom having removed the green plastic sheeting. The 6ft crowbar was also brought out for use elsewhere. Saw James as we were departing so had a chat and let him know we were going to return once it was drier. He said it had puddles round it last week. 1¼ hours. John.

Floor. Capping mat keeping gravel out of the way down. Photo AV.