9th June 2012

A spoil clearance session was the plan for today and a fine effort by Alex and myself to clear the spoil from the base of Witches Cauldron back to the bottom of the entrance. There was a considerable amount of spoil to shift and it will require another good effort to clear the spoil now at the base of the entrance up the shaft to the surface next session (?). After a period of extremely wet [and windy] weather there was a strong drip of water in the cave and very soon both of us had got very damp and had a good coating of mud. We even had time to pop into the Hunter’s for refreshments. Unfortunately the refreshment break was cut short when a phone call was received by the landlady and passed on to me – cave rescue in Cheddar Gough’s Cave. I ended up abandoning half my drink, heading to the Belfry, rousing a fine team, grabbing some kit from the rescue store and set off for Cheddar. Others were already present in Cheddar including paramedics and cave rescue wardens and it was a quick carry out of the cave for the female patient, who had fallen and injured her knee, she was then taken by ambulance for further treatment at a local hospital.

In the evening went with the family up to the Hunter’s for supper and to attend a BCRC lecture presented by Tony Rich that gave an overview of cave rescue and the law. Cheddar Caves had very kindly put on a barrel of beer as a thank you to the rescue teams that had attended todays incident – marvellous!