Tuesday 28th June 2022

Richard Carey, John Cooper, Richard Marlow, Wayne Starsmore and Jude Vanderplank. Spoil removal. 17 loads were removed from the bottom step and deposited at the Tunnel. This was then moved on up to the bottom of the entrance. Finally 10 rather larger loads were hauled to the surface. 1¾ hours. John.

Saturday 25th June 2022

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Capping kit left at bottom of entrance shaft “just in case”. One mix of cement taken to bottom used in building retaining walls for clatch. Stuck drill bit still stuck, joined by grips that Pete forgot to bring out. Rocks hauled to bottom step stacking space and clatch distributed wherever there was space. Needs banging again. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 18th June 2022

John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Was to be an easy day, drill a few holes at the bottom and out early for tea and cake. Good outward draught noticed in entrance shaft. First problem came when Pete turned his light on at the base of the entrance shaft and got no light. Easily fixed when he remembered he hadn’t connected the cable. At the bottom Pete drilled 4 holes, 2 on the left and 2 on the right, with his 300mm drill bit then swapped to his 600mm drill bit. 2 holes on the left successfully deepened but while drilling the first on the right the tip broke! Abandoned that hole and used the 900mm bit on the 4^th hole. Suddenly it hit liquid slurry so he stopped. Moved to the first on the right to continue deepening that one, but very quickly the slurry left on the drill bit from hole 4 set solid and nothing Pete did could free up the bit. So the only thing left was to drill several more holes with the one remaining, 300mm, bit. Once everything was connected John went out with the drill and bits whilst Pete and Adrian fired the charge from the Tunnel. Pete tried to wind up the cable but before he had got very far he was enveloped in fumes so he dropped the cable and chased Adrian up the hole. Before they reached the surface the fumes were there. Looked like a chimney billowing smoke. All cleared within 5 minutes, but we didn’t go back down. Enough is enough for one day. 1½ hours. John.

Tuesday 14th June 2022

Richard Carey, John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Spoil removal. 22 loads were removed from the alcoves and deposited at the Tunnel. This was then moved on up to the bottom of the entrance. Finally 15 rather larger loads were hauled to the surface. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 11th June 2022

John Cooper, Nigel Graham and Pete Hann. One mix of cement taken to bottom and used building walls. Nigel not in form today as his stop just missed John on the bottom pitch! 1 hour. John.

Saturday 4th June 2022

John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement taken in (split over 3 buckets) and capping kit. Pete used half the cement building at the bottom whilst I used the other half building retaining walls higher up. Several buckets of clatch hauled out and stashed behind the retaining walls. Adrian capped a few bits off the way down. Lovely outward draught today. 2½ hours. John.