2022

Mitchell’s Dig 2022

Saturday 1^st January 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Inspected damage from Tuesday’s bang. Pete decided it had done just what was required. While he and Adrian rearranged the debris I moved the spoil from the bottom ledge to the alcoves. Nigel finally reached the dig face. Conclusion is that a couple of walling sessions now required. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 15^th January 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Last week was too wet. This week took down 2 mixes of cement and capping kit. Walls built and boulder at the bottom capped to provide even more walling material. Will need the same again next week. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 20^th January 2022. John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. 15 loads of spoil moved from the alcoves to the Tunnel. Then moved on up to bottom of entrance shaft and finally 13 loads hauled up to the surface. All now clear. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 22^nd January 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. This week took down 2 mixes of cement and capping kit. About 1 quarter of the cement was used repairing a loose boulder just above the Tunnel. The rest was used at the bottom. Walls built and boulder at the bottom capped to provide even more walling material. Excess rock was hauled up and filled the bottom step before calling it a day. Will need the same again next week, but we will need to clear the spoil from the bottom step first. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 27^th January 2022. John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Andy Thompson, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. John took Andy to the dig face for a look. Then 22 loads of spoil moved from the bottom step to the Tunnel, 21 moved on up to bottom of entrance shaft and finally 15 loads hauled up to the surface. All now clear. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 29^th January 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 1 good mix of cement and capping kit taken to the bottom. Rock was hauled up and filled the bottom step before handing over to the wall building team. Now need to clear the spoil from the bottom step. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 3^rd February 2022. John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Andy Thompson, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. 23 loads of spoil moved from the bottom step to the Tunnel, 22 moved on up to bottom of entrance shaft and finally 16 loads hauled up to the surface. All now clear again. Slightly quicker than last time hauling up the bottom section as haulers better positioned. 2¼ hours. John.

Saturday 5^th February 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham and Pete Hann. 2 good mixes of cement loaded into 3 buckets. Pete took the first one down which he had used up by the time John arrived with the second. During moving the third one down below the Tunnel Nigel pulled a boulder from the wall so John parked the cement whilst he removed the boulder off Nigel and stashed it in the lower alcove. All three loads of cement used at the bottom. Next week more capping and cementing. 1½ hours. John.

Have been reading some old reports and it has made me realise I need to be more descriptive of the location of the dig face. Today Pete was cementing in a step sideways of about 1m to create a platform before the next downwards shaft begins. John.

Saturday 12^th February 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. 1 mix of cement and capping kit taken in. Walls built and bottom step filled with spoil ready for clearing. Nice outward draught. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 17^th February 2022. John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. The lull between Storm Dudley and storm Eunice. 26 loads of spoil moved from the bottom step to the Tunnel then another one added to the heap from cleaning the wall where Nigel’s rock came from. Then 28 loads were moved on up to bottom of entrance shaft and finally 16 VERY full loads hauled up to the surface. All now clear again. Slower than last time hauling up the two middle sections as only 4 today. It was rather damp as well. 4 hours. John.

Saturday 26^th February 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 1 mix of cement taken in (capping kit also taken in but not used). Very drippy today and the drain at the bottom of the entrance shaft was blocked so the water was running all the way down! Walls were built and bottom step half filled with spoil ready for clearing. On the way out John dug out the drain and cleared a bucket of the debris to the surface. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 3^rd March 2022. John Cooper, Richard Marlow, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Took in capping kit. 14 loads were hauled from the bottom step to the Tunnel and then on up to the bottom of the entrance shaft. Adrian and Rich then went to the bottom to cap the boulder whilst the remaining 3 hauled 11 loads to the surface to leave everywhere clear. Fortunately, with Jude loading and Wayne on the Naughty Step, John was able to cope on his own on the surface. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 5^th March 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham and Pete Hann. 1 mix of cement taken in used wall building at the bottom. Some clatch then placed behind the walls. Still very drippy. Needs lots more cement and wall building. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 12^th March 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement and capping kit taken in. Wall building and capping at the bottom. Some clatch then placed behind the walls. Not quite as drippy this week. Needs lots more cement and wall building but seems to be gradually getting more open. No hauling done. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 17^th March 2022. John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Andrew Thompson, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Hauling spoil. From bottom to bottom step (16 loads), from bottom step to tunnel (15 loads), from tunnel to bottom of entrance shaft (15 loads) and finally to surface (9 loads). A bit drippy after yesterday’s heavy rain. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 19^th March 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement and capping kit taken in. Wall building and capping at the bottom. Some clatch then placed behind the walls. Quite drippy again this week. Needs lots of clatch removing now then more cement and wall building. No hauling done. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 26^th March 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 1 mix of cement taken in by Pete and used wall building at the bottom. Adrian took in capping kit and John took in survey kit. Adrian and John surveyed the bottom bit whilst Pete started wall building. Then Adrian started capping. Some more capping and wall building. A small incident when a flying splinter cut open Pete’s top lip. When Pete ran out of cement John took the empty bucket and survey kit up to the Tunnel. When Adrian ran out of battery power John took the capping kit out, collecting the cement bucket and survey kit en route, whilst Adrian and Pete admired the way on. Good draught coming out from the end and not quite as drippy today. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 2^nd April 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank (Nigel forgot his wellies so walked back to Upper Pitts instead of digging). Capping and clatch removal, the stacking space at the bottom is now full. Pete reckons a double mix of cement next week and he can use a lot of the rocks building walls while Adrian caps the lip from the next drop. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 9th April 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Plans changed as Jude graced us with her presence. Adrian took capping kit to the bottom. Pete and I took 1 mix of cement in. Whilst Adrian capped, the rest of us hauled 22 loads up from the bottom to the bottom step. Then Pete started walling, aided by Jude, whilst Nigel and I cleared all the spoil from the bottom step up to the alcoves. Then I went down and collected the capping kit leaving Pete to complete his walling. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 16^th April 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement taken in (split over 3 buckets) as well as capping kit. Pete had used up first bucket by the time capping kit arrived. Adrian then did a bit of capping before the end of the capping rod broke off. Final 2 buckets of cement used up building more walls. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 23^rd April 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement taken in (split over 3 buckets) as well as capping kit. Pete used some of the first bucket and Adrian then did a bit of capping. After John and Nigel had a look at the bottom (looks horrible) Pete used up the rest of the cement building walls with no foundations! Lots more cement required. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 7^th May 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement taken in (split over 3 buckets) as well as drill with plug & feathers. My first trip since damaged shoulder, which is why no report from last Saturday when Adrian, Nigel and Pete were down. One bucket of cement tipped over at bottom of entrance but little lost. Wall building by John to hold clatch in created by Pete. Adrian created more space and eventually Pete tried to wedge the boulder ahead safely in place, only partially successful. Pete now thinks the way on is down again, not straight ahead as he had been assuming for the past few weeks. One loose boulder in bottom shaft removed, just above where the 2 hangers are, but some remedial work now required, 3 hours. John.

Saturday 14^th May 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Too many really. 2 mixes of cement taken in (split over 3 buckets) as well as drill and capping kit. Pete used first bucket of cement up then a load of clatch from Pete and Jude was hauled up to where I was building a retaining wall for it. Adrian started capping higher up to create another space but needs more work still. Then he moved to bottom capping before Pete finally used up last bucket of cement. Another loose boulder noted in final shaft about 1m below Nigel’s hangers. Pete reckons cement it in securely. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 21^st May 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. 2 mixes of cement taken in (split over 3 buckets) as well as drill and capping kit. Pete used half of the first bucket of cement up and Adrian capped at the dig face. Nigel and I used the third bucket of cement walling in the pointy loose boulder just below his P-hangers. Then I moved on down whilst Nigel took the empty cement bucket out. Adrian capped about 4m above the kink in the shaft to create an alcove for clatch. Then a load of clatch from Pete was hauled up and stashed in another alcove at a similar level. Adrian then moved to cap the dig face again whilst I built a retaining wall using the second bucket of cement at the alcove he had opened up earlier. Finally Pete used up the last of the cement at the bottom. The way on is down a narrow rift with a good draught coming out of it. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 28^th May 2022. John Cooper and Adrian Vanderplank. Took down plug and feathers and capping kit. Once the plug and feathers were stuck the capping kit was used to free them. Not a lot of progress. Needs a good spoil removal session. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 4^th 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.

Saturday 11^th 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.

Tuesday 14^th 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 18^th 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.

Saturday 25^th 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.

Tuesday 28^th 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 2^nd July 2022. John Cooper and Pete Hann. Drill and bang. Two long holes downward on left and one on right. Additional short hole by stuck drill bit from a couple of weeks ago. Not chased out by fumes today as only slight draught. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 9^th July 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken to bottom of entrance shaft “Just in case”. One mix of cement taken down and used to build spoil retaining wall. Long drill bit finally retrieved, looks to be still useable. With Jude at bottom and Pete just above her I built up the retaining wall to hold the clatch with Adrian passing the cement down to me as required (limited working space). Before coming out I went down and using a sling looped round the flake in the floor was able to pull it out and then break it up into rocks which were sent up the Adrian and Pete (Jude had gone out). I then left with the empty cement buckets whilst Adrian and Pete did a bit more rock shifting. Clatch and rock moved from very bottom but needs moving on up. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 16^th July 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. One mix of cement, capping kit and a new drag hoe taken to bottom. Rock capped and walls built. Cannot decide whether direction should be down or along. Drill and bang downwards next weekend? 3 hours.

Saturday 23^rd July 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Drill and bang. Two long holes forward and one downward, all on left. Outward draught but not so strong we had to hurry out. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 30^th July 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. One mix of cement taken to bottom and used wall building by John. Capping kit taken as far as Tunnel “Just in case”. Rocks pulled out of bottom and stacked by John making the way out awkward. Needs a proper clearance session now. Still more rocks to come up from the bottom. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 4^th August 2022. John Cooper, Mark Kellaway (Mak), Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Moved the spoil from the bottom ledge up to the bottom stacking space. John and Mak then retrieved Adrian’s flake from the end and left it in bits on the bottom ledge. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 6^th August 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Double mix of cement taken to bottom and used wall building by John. Adrian took down long crowbar for poking boulders ahead. When asked for a progress report at end of session he said “Minus 4ft.” 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 11^th August 2022. Richard Carey, John Cooper, Jess Eades, Martyn Grayson, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. After Jess and Martyn had had a look at the dig face we moved the spoil from the bottom stacking space to the Tunnel, then on up to the bottom of the entrance shaft and finally 12 loads were hauled to the surface. It was 30°C on the surface when we went in and 25°C when we had finished. 2 hours. John.

12 August 2022. Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank.
To the bottom with capping kit, 12gm cord plus 650 mm drill bit. After an abortive attempt to cap the left hand side of the passage, to widen it, attention was turned to drill a 600 mm hole in the large boulder at the end. With that completed another attempt was made on capping the side with more success, this made it easier to load the hole with 12 gm cord and attach the det. Nigel and Pete transported all the kit out leaving me just the wire to unroll. Started to wind in the wire but with fumes coming up past, abandoned that and made my way out. Despite all the frustrations of the trip all major objectives achieved. Adrian.

Saturday 20^th August 2022. John Cooper, Alastair Gott, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken in. Lots of spoil moved up from the bottom to the bottom stacking space until nearly full. The consensus is that the way on is down at the end. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 25^th August 2022. Richard Carey, John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. The 21 loads hauled from the bottom stacking space to the Tunnel became 13 rather heavier ones when hauled to the surface. 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 27^th August 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken in but not used. One mix of cement taken and used in the bottom stacking space before more spoil moved up from the bottom to the bottom stacking space until nearly full. The consensus is that the way on is down at the end. Cold outward draught. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 1^st September 2022. Richard Carey, John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Mike Thomas, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. The 19 loads hauled from the bottom to the bottom stacking space became 18 when hauled from there to the Tunnel, remained at that when hauled from the Tunnel to the bottom of the entrance shaft but became 10 rather heavier ones when hauled to the surface. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 3^rd September 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Full mix of cement taken down in 3 buckets. Used by Pete building retaining walls at the dig face. Nice outward draught still. Dig face now at least 4m below bottom survey station. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 10^th September 2022. John Cooper, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Drill and capping kit taken down. Initially John removed a few small rocks from the end then Adrian capped a bigger one. These were deposited at the little chamber stacking space. Jude then went to the face and put a load of clatch behind Pete’s wall so he could build it higher. Good outward draught. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 13^th September 2022. John Cooper, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Took in a good mix of cement in 2 buckets. Adrian used 1½ building up walls at the end whilst John used ½ a bucket cementing rocks in the roof of the approach rift (except for the ones that fell out and were ably caught by Adrian!). 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 24^th September 2022. John Cooper and Pete Hann. One mix of cement taken in. Half used by Pete at the end and half by John further back. Could have used a lot more. Outward draught still. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 1^st October 2022. John Cooper and Pete Hann. Double mix of cement taken in split over 3 buckets. Half of 1 bucket used by Pete at the end and all the rest by John further back. Pete spent a lot of time cursing the mud and wiggling boulders that would not come out! 2 hours. John.

Saturday 5^th November 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Nigel, Pete, Adrian and Jude had been down afternoon of AGM (15^th October 2022) but I had a Committee Meeting so it was over a month since I had been down (much work and injury keeping others away). I carried capping kit in and dug some boulders out of the floor before handing over to Adrian for some capping. After dealing with the one in the floor he moved on to one off to the right hand side under the BIG boulder. When he’d had enough he let Pete have a look and then came out. Really need a clearance session at the bottom stacking space. At least 4 to get it up the bottom shaft then 5 to get it to the Tunnel. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 10^th November 2022. John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis (Kushy), Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Kushy to the bottom to test the draught with his vape. Reported good draught coming up from below. Then we moved spoil up from the 184m level to the 196m one. Didn’t count the number of loads. There is now plenty of stacking space, although a bit of a wriggle to get past the new spoil heap. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 12^th November 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Mike Kousiounis, Richard Marlow, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. One mix of cement taken. First all the spoil was cleared from the 196m level to the Tunnel. Then Pete and Rich went down to the bottom with the cement whilst the rest of us hauled the spoil to the bottom of the entrance shaft. Finally, 18 Wayne sized loads were hauled to the surface, by which time everyone was ready to come out. 2¾ hours. John.

Saturday 19^th November 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Mike Kousiounis. One mix of cement taken in. Half used by Pete at the dig face and the other half used by John building small retaining walls. Rather drippy today. Several loads of muddy clatch dug out from the floor by Pete which John and Mike “lost” in various holes. Pete reckons he lowered the floor about 30cm. Nigel managed to reach the base of the bottom shaft. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 26^th November 2022. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. One mix of cement taken in but Pete accidently tipped one out at the bottom of the entrance shaft so John and Adrian went back and did another mix to replace it. At the bottom Jude got wet so went out while Pete used up the first bucket of cement. Whilst using up the second he frightened himself by dropping a large boulder, which stopped before landing on his legs. Adrian decided it would be capped next week! Very drippy today. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 3^rd December 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Capping kit taken in and used by Adrian to demolish the boulder that attacked Pete last week. Adrian passed the rock back along the rift to John in the drag tray. John transferred it to the hauling bucket which Pete hauled up until Nigel took it and stacked it in the bottom stacking space (184m level). Once this was complete Adrian and Pete discussed what to cement next week. 2¼ hours. John.

Saturday 17^th December 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Rich Marlow, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Today the spoil was moved up from where it had been deposited last week in my absence. First 17 loads were moved up to the Tunnel then, whilst Rich, supported by Jude, went down to view the end, spoil was moved up to the bottom of the entrance shaft and finally 8 loads reached the surface (Pete and Nigel on the surface noted the weight of the loads!). 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 24^th December 2022. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Capping kit taken to bottom. After Jude and I dragged a boulder back from the face Adrian capped it and a second one. Debris stacked at the bottom stacking space (184m level). Rather drippy today. Nigel finally reached the dig face. 2 hours. John.