Saturday 28th 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 21st 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 14th 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 7th 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 23rd 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 16th 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 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.