NEWS FEST! Three things:
1 We have some new shirt ideas here. Top work! May need some refinement but I think the idea is there.
2 Ever wondered what your favourite caving club members look like when their face is superimposed with a potato based snack? Yes, us too…
3 Congratulations to Marie and Kay who have now jumped out of a plane for charity and have lived to collect the money from you all.
As some of you may know RUCC has a long history of undertaking underground expeditions in foreign parts. We have now consulted with the club’s caving elders before their memory goes into terminal decline, and are now able to post an outline and photos of all the expeditions over the years on this site. You can also use the expeditions button on the left.
It’s a true tale of heroism, sleep deprivation, mud, carbide, burst tyres and entertaining trousers. And interesting caves. If anyone wants to add, dispute or delete anything let me know. Thanks to Lisa in particular for archiving duties, even though entire years seem to have slipped her memory. Here’s to continuing this expedition tradition….
On a separate note, message from Ann-Marie: For this Friday’s beer festival we will be congregating in the Monks Retreat at 6.00 pm to talk tactics and formulate a festival game plan, before moving on at 7.00 ish. There may be diagrams involved.
Also – rumour indicates that this weekend in Yorkshire may be the first appearance of ‘Chez Paul’s – On Tour’, with a special mobile drinking unit set up to meet everyone’s special cocktail needs.
We really really new some new shirts. To encourage someone arty to have a go there is now a page on the site that is there to display whatever people come up with. There’s one on there as an example, the idea is to do better.
In other news don’t forget that there’s a Yorkshire trip this bank holiday weekend (Saturday 30th April – Monday May 1st.). We are going on Saturday so we can attend the 11th Reading Beer Festival on the Friday. Your attendance is of course required for this event which is held in a very big tent in Kings Meadow. 400 different ales apparently. Oh dear.
Photos of last weekend’s trip are available here.
This weekend’s guest photographer: John W.
to Andy & Esther who have recently announced their engagement. This will apparently bring the RUCC wedding tally into double figures. We should start charging more for membership.
In unrelated news future plans for the junkyard sale have been slighly derailed by the news that someone else has got there first…
UPDATE: Apparently the rope went for £31.00. Arse. And we have a whole hut full of dodgy old rope. RUCC online crapometer latest: £60.00.
New in the resources section – RUCC’s guide to basic Single Rope Technique (SRT). This is an update to our previous guide, and is now presented in spangly new technicolour. If you are going to Yorkshire next term please read and memorise this guide, and sleep with it under your pillow. Thanks to J for the original on which it is based.
A direct link for download (1.8 mb .pdf file) is here.
Our new super efficient committee have decreed forth. Top dates for your diary next term:
29th April – 1st or 2nd May. Bullpot Farm, Yorkshire – SRT trip. It’s the middle of nowhere. And then in a bit. Durham University Speleological Association have this virtual tour if you want more proof.
27th – 29th/30th May. YSS (last year’s fabled CHECC venue), Yorkshire – SRT trip
17th – 19th June SWCC (we’ve been there before, car park is very good for saucepan divining) Wales – non SRT trip
If you want to go on any of the trips let Charlotte know. We particularily need leaders for the first 2 trips as it seems some of you are going to be away!
It’s a news orgy!
Congratulations to the new committee. Nikki was voted in and won the president’s post by a single vote (and I checked). Charlotte and Harriet took the other two posts hence RUCC IS AN ALL FEMALE CAVING COMMITTEE! This may be a world first. In celebration I have taken the liberty of temporarily changing the design of the main page. Full profiles for the committee will be posted shortly.
2) A few photos of the AGM (or ‘testaments to togetherness’ as I prefer to term them) are available here.
3) Fantastic news from the Great RUCC Junkyard Sale! Sales are well above expectations. Check our sales and progress using our online crapometer here. Phase two starts next week. After a fierce round of bidding, our dear pound coin eventually sold for 96 pence. We will of course be selling this 96 pence again through ebay as we feel it would be an interesting experiment in the mechanics of online supply and demand.
4) There are plans afoot to attend the Irish Student Caving Seminar on 17-20th March. Contact John W if you are interested.
5) John K has today announced a ‘gear amnesty’. If you have old gear bring it on a Monday or let John know or otherwise he will find out that you have gear squirelled away and come round and beat you with sticks.
Photos from this weekend are now here. There are also a select few from last month’s social event. I also have some unpublished photos of Henry Patton for anybody with ‘speciality interests’ out there. Price on application.
Our reporters will be covering the committee election results tonight so stay tuned in to see the results as they come in. There’s also been progress on the great RUCC junkyard sale. More to follow.
Details of next week’s highly important elections can now be found here. They will be held at next week’s AGM, which is due to take place on Monday 7th March at Sweeney & Todd’s Pie Shop, Castle Street, Reading. 8.00 ish, probably in Pavlov’s beforehand but no doubt an e-mail will go round. This means we will NOT BE IN THE COLLEGE ARMS NEXT MONDAY. New posts are now available.
Reading University Caving Club