However, the impact of his head against one rock caused severe compression to the middle ear, resulting in a Barotrauma to the ear drum. Fortunately not too serious, and the rest of the journey was uneventful. We surfaced shortly after midnight to everyone's relief, especially those suffering a shortage of alcohol.
The diver would like to express his gratitude to all who were involved and grateful thanks go to Simon, Emma, Fritz, Henry and Tom. Dave Morris Was this the last of an era? Gaping Gill 2nd September I am writing this article for record purposes. To the best of my belief, everybody knows the first time GG was climbed by wood and rope ladders, it was in August by the famous EA Martel.
Very few though, know the last time it was climbed in this manner. Every week on a Monday morning in , I used to get up early; just to read the Daily Express to see if there had been any fatalities or accidents in the English caves. It was a fascination with me, never having been down a cave or pothole. Then early in I heard that a club, The Bury Cave and Pothole Club , had been reformed and having joined them in I made my first trip underground on a day I will never forget. It was into a massive cave system - Gunnerfleet Cave , feet long and I came out alive. I only intended to go once, to find out why idiots risked their lives every weekend in a stupid sport.
Now years later I feel a lot older but am still going down underground, taking a few photographs. One of the proudest moments in my life was in when I made a clean sweep of all the trophies in the Craven Pothole Club Photographic Competition, something which has never before or after been equalled. Now after a lot of waffling lets get back to the main topic of this article. We had to raise money, so we ran a dance and made a few bob; then twice a week at my place in the cellar under my butchers shop we had a working bee and by August we were ready. We had made feet of wood and rope, 10 inch rung space ladder, plus feet of electron.
- Talk:The Black Velvet Band.
- The Craven Pothole Club Record 48.
- Talk:The Black Velvet Band - Wikipedia.
- One Born Every Minute: YOU goes behind the scenes of the baby-booming documentary.
- Light Is a Messenger: The Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg.
- ;
I'd checked and rechecked Martel's descent and we could not fail on an exchange between Gaping Gill and Bar Pot, even with a small party. On Sunday 2 September we were up just after daybreak, a good day, the sun was shining and the beck was low and by 10am everything was ready, the team had laddered Bar Pot and the ladder was down GG, now it was up to me. I fastened on the lifeline and started the climb down.
All went well until I reached the ledge feet down, there was all the ladder neatly piled up. When I pushed it off my only worry was becoming entangled and dragged off the ledge. Well, I passed the obstacle and restarted the climb. After the ft mark the climb became easier but wetter. I found that although the beck was dammed somehow water was still coming down the shaft from somewhere and the occasional rung was slipping. We found out later that this was due to the pegs snapping and letting the rungs slip down.
Finally I reached the floor of GG and the eight months of hard work, as I stood there, seemed small for the achievement we had accomplished. I still even now remember thinking to myself as I stood there alone looking up the shaft, we have accomplished something that the Craven Pothole Club, Bury Cave and Pothole Club and BSA will never do again on wood and rope, because by this time every club was using electron ladder. By 4pm we had done an exchange plus 4 of the group had climbed GG both ways, all we had to do was de-ladder and off back over the Pennines to Bury.
Now I hit my major mistake, how do twelve people after caving all day pull out ft of wood ladder. We could not even move it, Even Martel made the same mistake, he used two horses to get the ladder out , then we saw a party of hikers coming down Ingleborough, so with their help we got the ladder out and by midnight we were back home, tired out but happy. To all new cavers, keep good records, dates, names of all members of every party you go down with because someday you might need to recall your records like I'm doing now and you don't know or forget names etc and then true records are lost forever.
Epitaph Anybody who has ever climbed GG will agree with me. The feeling after you have touched the floor after a ft climb and stand there alone in solitude and look up at the ladder stretching upwards out of sight towards eternity with your lifeline which had been your only safeguard between life and death for the past fifteen minutes, and feel the quietness only touched by the sound of cascading water on your left, and the earthy smell of a deep daylight chamber, plus the colours of the strata of the rock face facing you and the darkness behind you like black satin velvet; I then realised what a magnificent feeling Martel must have had 77 years before to be the first person in my position now.
I started this article in and it has taken me fourteen years to complete, is this a club record. Good caving to you all for the years to come. PS Best wishes to everyone who can remember me. For the records I was not deported to Australia in chains for poaching!! In giving his permission to reproduce the review Bill said "Really was fun to read. I'm starting to run into more boflts over here, as the religion seems to be spreading.
This ought to be a recipe for disaster, but it works for them, at least some of the time. The report on the Craven Pothole Club's expedition to the Berger is unusually fun to read. Rather than the traditional British expedition report, with dull sections on planning, transport, medical matters, finance, and so on, this report consists almost entirely of personal stories of their caving experiences there by fourteen of the members of the expedition.
I can't imagine a better way to get a feel for this famous cave, at least in dry conditions. An appendix contains a report on a trip there in wetter conditions by one of the expedition members who had also been there a couple of years before. And I learned a new bit of caving slang, the word 'boflt'. These dated from through to , when the first documented CDG. The culmination was the article describing the rediscovery, of the Leeds Cave Club extensions dated Now in the saga continues.
The Black Velvet Band
After the euphoria of breaking out of the sump had subsided, we realised we were no nearer our ultimate goal, we had merely passed another milestone. Progress could be made in two directions, vertically up the aven connecting to Calcite Way, or carry on forward beyond the boulder choke, hopefully into open passage and eventually the rising at New Houses. We decided the choke provided the most potential, but where would we start? We reasoned that since the old sump and the rift follow the same line of development, then the continuation must also follow that same line, but at a lower level and possibly stepping under the right hand wall.
We had the following options: Both of these could be ruled out owing to the unstable nature of the choke, due to the constant erosion by flooding. The 3rd and only viable option, was to create a level on the same bearing as the rift in the solid right hand wall. This would provide a degree of protection, while also enabling us to keep in contact with the choke.
The end of the rift has been heavily modified by blockfall development, resulting in some precariously poised slabs forming the roof over what we hoped would be the eventual way on. This was an open joint at floor level, only 2" wide but it was taking water. Before progress could be made forward we had to stabilise the roof. On Sunday 31st March we returned, along time was spent playing "what happens to this, if we take out that". Eventually we had a consensus, the results were quite impressive leaving a safe working environment.
The push for New Houses started on Saturday the 11th of May Diary entry Sunday 12th May I hope this is only stabilisation and will not prove to be an ongoing problem. One rather mean looking block has dropped about 3in and wedged, since we have to crawl past it to reach the face, it will have to be removed, that is of course, if it is still there next week.
The dig is now 8ft long with hopefully another 4ft to clear. Sunday morning Paul arrived in the new digging mobile, a Range Rover! We set off to rig the entrance permanently, and generally inspect the dig. Riding up to the hole with the farmer's permission in the new transport was absolute luxury.
No hitting your head on the roof, while being kicked up the backside by the seat, as you struggle to hang onto rope to stop the back door flying open. There had been a severe flood since our last visit. The low sections just before the dam had cobbled up again, only this time to such an extent that they would pose a serious hazard if caught out by rising water levels. On the way out these were cleared once more. Diary entry Sunday 9th June The dig is now 12ft long and 6ft deep, so we are now into unexplored territory even by standards.
The sound of water seems to be getting nearer. It would seem the rift did contain a stream, probably the one which now sinks in the cobbles behind the spoil heap, we will have to wait and see if we have created a 6ft deep puddle. The water which had been running horizontally under the dig, now took a more vertical course where the rift started to close down.
At this point a second stream could be heard, it had a much deeper tone to it, unfortunately no one could be sure just where it was emanating from. Because the working face had now been enlarged by our female equivalents of the JCB Karen and Barbara , it was now possible for a 6ft 2in digger with giraffe proportioned legs, to be effective while digging down. I attacked it for the first time in ages. It really was quite comfy now, I could dig and scrape away at the floor without having to practise some advanced form of yoga with my back and knees. I soon realised my hands where going deeper into the water than they were when I had started, I had inadvertently blocked up the drain hole and the water was coming up fast.
Our leader called for power with a sense of urgency in his voice, then attacked the floor with the Hilti chisel.
The situation was getting desperate, the water was above wellie tops and I was being cursed for his now cold feet. Earlier in the day I had remarked that the boulder choke could not be more than 2ft away through the left hand wall, if it was this, or just blind panic I don't know, but Paul attacked the front facing left hand corner.
The plug was pulled and I was banished back to the spoil heap. The new hole draughted and echoed, as a result the dig turned left at 45 degrees towards the choke.
- .
- ;
- The Dunes Twisted Edge: Journeys in the Levant!
The life of a generator stopper and starter can be a cold and lonely one. Because the gennie does not like to run unloaded for long periods of time, it became customary for one member of the team to give the digging crew a 2 hour start before walking up to the hole to look after the generator. Even though these members of the team were not actively digging, without their willingness to sit in the cold for hours on end, this project would have been much more difficult. The 16th June was one of the hottest days of the summer. I arrived at the entrance dressed in shorts and tee shirt absolutely lathered.
First job establish contact with the dig, then take the intercom up into the sunshine, and find somewhere in the shade to read me book. About 4pm the enemy arrived with a frontal diversionary attack, keeping me occupied with how wonderful Glover's Chamber is and the terrible weather they had at Gaping Gill. Meanwhile, Parrot the BPC double agent, had sneaked down the wet way to recce the dig. He was captured by friendly forces and sentenced to 10 buckets on the spoil heap.
The sun was on it's last legs when the team arrived on the surface to be greeted by a very red surface person. They all complained how hot it was, while I was wishing I had brought a jumper. Diary entry Wednesday 24th July Six hours work resulted in the exposure of the boulder choke. The floor was becoming more digable and the main water flow could be seen. We had reached one of our goals, a safe route to the edge of the choke, with the main water flow being a bonus. A considerable amount of rock could easily have been removed by hand, due to the highly faulted nature of the limestone beds in what had now become a 5ft square alcove in the left hand wall.
However, the roof was formed by two large blocks each approximately 3ft x 2ft x 10in, these where supported by buttresses of shattered shale in the dig walls. If we where to carry on down, we would de-stabilise what was holding up the roof, the consequence would not be an happy ending. Paul assured us they were well and truly wedged and perfectly safe. The team where not convinced, since this usually means that two good bangs with the hammer and the whole lot comes down.
We returned three weeks later, fresh evidence of ponding in the main chamber was evident. The low sections upstream of the dam which usually collect the cobbles washed down from the main chamber had in fact been scoured clean, nature seemed to be working with us for a change. The dig itself however had not fared well, as Ric and Paul where about to find out. The alcove leading into the choke was submerged, and no amount of effort could encourage it to drain.
With this in mind the dig was tided up to await the winter floods, we would return next spring. The settled cold weather of the Christmas holidays provided an unexpected opportunity to make progress. I must admit my reasons for rousing the team were a little self centred. I firmly believed that a concerted effort would have us exploring uncharted territory before May, when I was due to become a father. On Saturday 28th December we returned. The alcove leading into the choke contained about 2ft of water, but considering the rate of flow emanating from the choke, was estimated at gallons per min with no effect on the water levels, where was it going?
The obvious direction to proceed was down, this was ruled out by the amount of water entering via the choke in what was comparatively dry weather. A lot of time was spent inspecting the roof, and more importantly what was holding it up. Eventually John, Paul and myself came to a collective decision to go back to the right hand wall, go forward at least 6ft and see what happens. The abandoned alcove would be back filled with the large debris from the next digging session, hopefully this would aid drainage.
Some one had to start the gennie, John and I drew lots. Reaching the surface I realised how much warmer the cave environment is in winter compared to the open fell. After two and a half hours sat at the bottom of the entrance pitch, the sun was starting to go down, and so was the temperature rapidly, eventually John and Paul were on the surface and I was frozen daft.
We can’t find the page you are looking for.
The drive up in the morning had been interesting when the temperature had been above freezing. Now the sun had gone down, and the track had turned to sheet ice. The chances of getting the vehicle down, the way we came up with no damage, seemed minimal. The prospect of leaving it up there over night and having to abandon it if the weather turned nasty, would be embarrassing to say the least. We decided to carry on up the hill past Jackdaw and drop off towards Birkwith. All went well until it started to get dark, at this point it transpired that Paul had been having one or two private thoughts as to the wisdom of what we were now doing.
We stopped, had a look around and realised we where half way to Wharfedale. We had done some really silly things during the last 5 years, so jovially I suggested a pint in the George might warm us up. I must admit, I was more than a little concerned about the predicament we were now in. It was getting dark, the track was becoming more treacherous as the temperature dropped. We had already modified the near side door handle and surrounding body work on a gate post since leaving Sell Gill.
We where sopping wet, dressed in next to bugger all, and I was showing the first signs of hypothermia. It was decided to turn back and hope for the best, we made it just, but not without some interesting moments and another close encounter with the same gate post. The rest of the Christmas holiday allowed us to make steady progress until New Year's eve, Paul went home, and the club meet down Alum Pot was diverted to the Helwith, to watch the telly.
Diary entry Friday 10th January The blocked-up alcove in the left hand wall leading into the choke as been pulled out and inspected. Are we attracting the attentions of pirates? There is now a definite echo. The weekend of the cottage dinner and club meet down Sell Gill proved to be interesting; could it be that our leader volunteered for this one knowing he would have a captive digging crew.
The probationary members seemed under the impression that they were expected to remove at least 3 boat loads of spoil from this long standing club dig, before they could apply for full membership. Just where this idea originated I don't know, but the clearing was done in half the time.
Could this be why it is known as Club Pot? Again we seemed to have a distinct echo, only this time it seemed to reverberate 3 times. When we all reached the surface, Ric who had been last man out, informed us he thought he had heard boulders falling after we had exited. Could we be nearing the end, and I had not been imagining the echo during the past few weeks? The following morning the snow has all gone, the hills are green, and the river is rising fast. The chances of getting down the hole are nil. Our leader appears from the Crown having just breakfasted with his beloved.
He takes one look at the river, then makes every excuse known to man why we have to go down the hole. I think Ric had got him excited with thoughts of boulders falling into the unknown. Eventually John was persuaded to accompany him, on the pretence of retrieving the ropes. It transpired that the cave was in full flood, making it impossible to proceed beyond the main chamber. Diary entry Wednesday 15th January Is this the same water we encountered 5ft back? Which way is it flowing? We will have to wait until Sunday when we will be able to remove the blockage in the floor. We all rushed down the dig expecting the worst.
The limestone joints holding back the choke have been dug out, the choke itself has been entered for about a body length, resulting in the working face being de-stabilised and the possibility of the choke running in.
The pirates have returned, It would seem their knowledge is limited, or could it be they had taken this mistaken opportunity to beat us too it? From now on we will have to be more security conscious regarding how the dig is left between visits. If it flowed from left to right we would carry on forward and down. If it flowed from right to left, this would imply it was an inlet since it would be running towards the up stream flow.
The Black Velvet Band - Wikipedia
If this was the case we would have missed the way on, and would have to go back up to the area where we first turned left into the choke and dig down. The sound of water still seemed only inches away, but each time we removed a block from the floor another seemed to be waiting below it. Eventually a hole was uncovered and the water found, this was in fact 3 to 4ft lower down and flowing from left to right.
Laid flat out and digging at arms length another sound could be heard in the distance, only this had a much deeper tone. We were still on the right track, but the wall holding back the choke had now become so unstable it could collapse at any time. We had to go back to the solid right hand wall and go forward once again, resulting in the second alcove being back filled. Work continued until the 29th March , when the trip had to be aborted due to the working face being submerged. Water sinking in the rift, was flowing through the boulder choke, passing through the first back-filled alcove and emerging out of the second.
We returned a week later intending to dig out the second alcove and re-open the water drainage to the stream below. Arriving at the dig we found it to be dry. The dig was surveyed in relation to the chambers above the choke, this would enable us to see where we were in relation to the known break-down area. As a result it would seem we were now some 2ft beyond the area of known collapse. This had to be my last trip before junior arrives, I was left pondering would I be there for the break through.
On Sunday 13th April, I had just sat down after a busy weekend emulsioning the ceilings; the beers are at hand, and the cars are on the grid for the Argentine Grand Prix! I'm stood outside Sell Gill and It's gone! Also the phone call via satellite, had deprived me of arguably the best Grand Prix action of the year. The following Tuesday afternoon the team assembled at the cottage. I had missed out on the previous trips and was keen to see for myself the eventual break through.
A further 10ft of progress had been made, resulting in a 3ft square passage leading to a black void. Looking out over a 30ft pitch into a chamber below I thought "This is it, call me a taxi to New Houses". Paul and Ric had already descended and made a preliminary investigation when I arrived at the bottom.
Any thoughts of running down streamways and plunging over cascades were quickly dispelled; we were in a large breakdown chamber, roughly rectangular in shape, which was a continuation of the rift, as predicted at a lower level and dissected by the choke, A Grand Day Out. The obvious exit was via a short scramble up to a window in the left hand wall, this gave access to the bottom of an aven, No Way Out , estimated at 70ft high. This would put the visible extent at approximately the same height as the aven above the choke in the rift.
The north wall of No Way Out is made up of large blocks marking the extent of the choke at this level. Ric and myself entered the choke through an undercut in the boulders, which led into a void. Ric climbed up between three large blocks to investigate a body sized tube heading back into the choke at a higher level, this we assume is the main drainage from the rift above. The right hand wall of the terminal chamber is formed entirely by the fault. The downstream end contained a 6ft high by 18in wide rift, which slowly decreased to a body sized solution feature becoming too tight after approximately 25ft.
Directly behind, upstream, was an alcove with a mud bank in front, the top of which contained some fine mud towers with pebbles sat on top. Beyond here a wall of fault breccia four feet wide separated the solid right hand wall from the choke on the left. With Ric hanging onto my wellies to aid retrieval, I was able to shine a light along an open joint into what appeared to be the way on.
If this was the long awaited big break through, the team had every right to be subdued on the way out. It was not a break through as such, just another milestone. On Friday evening 18th May Paul and I returned. The upstream end of the fault still seemed the better option, the deciding factor was the weak draught emanating from somewhere in front. The following morning the full team returned; the majority of the previous night's dig was soon cleared leaving one problematic flake, which could be rocked with the bar but refused to come out.
John and myself decided to attack the floor and try to undermine the offending article. Once the chippings were cleared large flakes were easily barred out and the working face took on a more vertical nature. We realised significant progress could be made at this lower level, so the mud bank was cut back to give us room too work. Our leader became unhappy that buckets of mud, not rock, where now exiting the face, we where accused of making it bigger in the wrong direction!
We carried on forward and down until a point of diminishing returns was reached. The problematic flake was now 3ft above and 4ft behind us, it still rocked and refused to be removed. Pat who had now been sat in the cold for over 4 hours at the bottom of the first pitch, started the gennie and even offered to stay put just in case we needed power later on. We progressed forward until power was needed again, at this point the new dig was not looking good; it was still open, but not getting any bigger.
We had now been underground for some 10 hours and lights where looking a bit dim, John and I exited followed by Paul and Ric about two hours later. The following morning the open joint looked even less promising, it seems we may have dug our way into an alcove. The saga had to be suspended on the 20th April , due to the team's numbers being depleted for various reasons.
During the next few months, Pat, Ric and John went off to Mulu, my son Ian came into the world, Paul severely knackered his back again, and we had the wettest June on record. The thieves had made another visit, this time taking all the power cable which had been laid down the entrance pitches to the start of the main chamber. With the loss of the ropes earlier in the year and now the power cables, the generator was the obvious next target, this was rescued the following evening.
The wet weather which hampered the dig during early summer had in fact worked in our favour, the mud-deposits on the walls of the terminal chamber had been washed away, proving the choke to be the hydrological controlling factor. The most interesting aspect was the mud bank containing the mud towers, this still showed evidence of previous foot prints, suggesting the area of the final dig was not the main drainage route; this now appears to be along and down the continuation of the fault. Now seems the right time to sit back and assess the project so far.
Our original aim was to pass the sump and connect Sell Gill to Haytime Hole, then follow the continuation to the rising at New Houses. We estimate that the rising is only 50ft below the present level of exploration and still a considerable distance away. It has been suggested that we now leave nature to act on the floor of the terminal chamber and see what happens. We still have the avens to climb and the low passage beyond Grommet's Demise above the rift as still to be fully investigated.
During the last five and a half years some questions have been answered, however, many more have been presented. I will leave these to Paul Norman to answer in a subsequent article. The Group now has a World Wide Web site http: The caves are listed by the Rigging Guide which contains them and also the latest Stop Press status of caves being bolted but not yet in the guides is included.
Further information on the site includes notes on the safety of anchors and the tests which have been undertaken on anchors. There is also a very good article on the care of ropes for SRT. Ric Halliwell Memoirs of an Insomniac: Following the traverse onto the wide terrace of Parker's Route 43 deteriorating weather precluded any inclination to test the measure and exposed approach to the famed Cioch.
And so we retraced our steps, a prudent move that in any event was almost a necessity in order to allow sufficient time to digest what was to be the first of many mammoth evening meals. The very next day witnessed a crack of noon start as the same four drove north of Dunvegan to locate and pick over the acclaimed "coral" beaches.
C O N T E N T S
The said strands were devoid of coral, and for that matter anything else that would have kept a single beach comber in anything but a poverty-stricken state of limbo. However, during the course of a circular amble we 'bagged' a juvenile b eagle and were the focus of attention of enumerable bewhiskered faces beaming inquisitively from the briny depths, and seeming to implore us creatures of terrafirma to "come on in the water's fine".
Kath was treated to the more delicate amenities of the Cioch Slabs and, in a gravity versus adrenalin the brown variety traverse out onto the Cioch, Kath stood where those of lesser mettle witness their family flashing before their very eyes. With the arrival of Russell Myers and Dave Allanach, later that same day, the Craven and District Formation Snoring Team was complete and in full training for the all Britain chainsaw impressions.
Meanwhile the remainder of the group were abroad in the Torrin and Elgol regions of Strathaird seeking out cafes, and underground cavities measureless to those who in the event failed to find them. By Monday evening a veritable caterwaul of capital ZZZs were spilling from the upstairs windows of the memorial hut, effectively preventing spontaneous slumber for those of a more delicate physiological nature, those feeling the greatest need having resort to hastily fashioned earplugs whittled from karrimat material.
Somewhere not a million miles from this strange tableau that redoubtable man of the black stuff, Myers, was leading his intrepid band of followers into the hallowed ground of Coir' a'Ghrunnda, a strange sounding name of unknown lineage which is believed to roughly translate as the hollow of the bouncing buffet.
The Craven Pothole Club Record
The snorefinder's sojourn into the catacombs of Skye seemed to have worked a minor miracle, for in the wee hours of the next day the night air was disturbed only by the occasional wheezing and a few subdued burblings of lower case zzz's. By mid-week the meals for some, the nightly raspings for others, were becoming as much a major challenge as the Cuillin themselves, one culinary gauntlet thrown in our face revolved around charming into a roasting tray enough prime Cumberland sausage to rival the combined residency of the new Skye Serpentarium.
The crux of the matter was vested in whether four could eat for eight, and still haul themselves onto the hills the next day. Amid much controversy Thursday evening saw the nightly raspings augmented by the inception of a guest snorer. Masquerading as that University know-all, Bamber Gasometer, the guest led the ensuing synchronised sawmill impressions which subsequently attained such a crescendo that the shockwaves shook the bunkroom and even threatened the very fabric of the building. The final two days gave rise to two ventures. And so completed an excellent week of rumination, perambulation, somnolent nocturnalism and mechanical impressionism.
Beck Three women, five men and two boats This Summer six members of the Club, plus a very prospective member in the shape of 18 month old Gordon Weight, went out to Mulu to carry on the work some of us had started on previous visits. Maybe we should have seen it as a sign when we arrived in Brunei to find that only two of our eight pieces of luggage had arrived; John and Sue Allonby's caving gear and a tackle bag full of disposable nappies for Gordon.
When the rest arrived three or four hours later there were virtually no customs men around so we avoided any problems on that front At least it avoided the imaginary comments of "Ah you Westerner's with your Immodium and nappies, you are expecting problems with our food, no". The following day a friend of Steph Gough's persuaded Royal Brunei Airlines to follow Singapore Airlines example and fly all our excess baggage to Mulu free of charge. He said we wouldn't pay because the excess baggage costs were to be charged to all the other passengers, but there were only two other people on the plane!
Are we glad to see you to help us move our luggage". The response of "What are you doing here you aren't due for another week" was not what we had expected. However he quickly commandeered a pick-up truck for the luggage and drove us to the edge of the National Park, introduced us to the temporary Officer-in-Charge and then flew out of the area for three days.
The temporary Officer-in-Charge was very welcoming, swiftly provided accommodation for us and told us we could go where we wanted, a considerable change from our first visit in However when a few days later we said we would like to go to Berang's Entrance to Clearwater which we had visited in and which was about 2 hours through the jungle with no path a problem emerged. End of that plan. There was also the slight problem that our carbide which should have arrived a week before we did was still no where in sight or even on site.
After three days of being told that it was on it's way, it's arrived, it's still coming; we managed to borrow half a drum from the National Park Stores their entire stock. Eventually our carbide arrived a week before we were due to leave. There had been problems finding a boat to bring it up river so our agent tried to air-freight it.
The airline took one look at the warning on the side of the However being a resourceful sort of chap he repackaged the carbide in two cardboard boxes with a bin liner round the outside of each and these passed the airport scrutiny!! Light relief was provided by a visit of local VIPs. The Government of Sarawak was keen to exploit a new jungle walk and the local politicians thought they ought to try it. Thus late afternoon one day, after an 18km jungle walk, into the National Park HQ complex strolled the politicians in charge of Forests, National Parks and the Secretary of State.
Somehow I can't imagine many British Politicians being able to undertake that walk. However enough of the background we did, eventually, manage to start caving. We had a few acclimatisation trips in Simon's Cave and Stone Horse Cave where John and Sue, who were on their first visit, began to appreciate the sheer size of Mulu Caves.
When Alan, Becky and Gordon arrived we set off into the jungle to have a look at the first of the isolated hills near the airfield. We spent a full day searching about 3 or metres along one side of the hill; distances are very difficult to estimate when the only way to see where you have been is from the cleared land round the airfield, a mile away.
We found lots of collapsed small caves with strong draughts and promise but no way in. Now I am a mum, I can promise them it has all been worth it. Liz, a year-old travel agent, lost her first baby a year ago at 20 weeks to cardiomyopathy — a heart defect. Scans have shown that the baby she is now carrying also has a thickened heart muscle. Although Liz and her boyfriend Paul Buxton, 42, a landscape gardener, live in Sheffield, they have been referred to LGI, a minute drive away, because it has one of the foremost neonatal cardiac units in the country.
After months of close monitoring, doctors have decided that, at 37 weeks, it is time to induce the baby to give it the best chance of a safe delivery. The induction medication was administered at midday and. Liz is now lying in a quiet room waiting for the contractions to begin. It is a grade-one emergency, which means the baby must be born within 30 minutes. Like many of the medical staff, he admits that he was apprehensive about being filmed.
Gail prepares to hand over to the night shift and removes the microphone that has been recording her every word throughout the day. Liz Hague gave birth to a boy, Jasper, at 3. He weighed 6lb 11oz and a scan confirmed that he does have a condition in which the heart can become weakened, but he is thriving and, with ongoing care, has every chance of leading a full life. Reality TV is often contrived. Big Brother, which uses remote-controlled cameras similar to those at OBEM, was first portrayed as a social experiment but quickly became a vehicle for fame-seekers.
OBEM is heavily edited — by the end of seven weeks of filming, the production team had 4, hours of footage which needed to be condensed into 12 one-hour programmes. One of the most impressive aspects of OBEM is the way women are willing to be filmed while feeling vulnerable, because they know it will help others who have yet to learn what childbirth is really like.
Dominique and her team went out into the Leeds community, approaching women who were due to give birth between August and November. No one who was willing to take part was turned away. In the end, 60 agreed to be filmed and of those, around 40 should make it into the final cut. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
One Born Every Minute: Baby Elizabeth McHale holds her father Steven's finger. Midwives Naomi Robinson and Claire Bowler. Share or comment on this article: YOU goes behind the scenes of the baby-booming documentary e-mail. Comments 0 Share what you think. An earlier version by the publisher Swindells in Manchester is very wordy, and has no chorus.
It places the events in Barking , Essex. Some of the earliest versions mention the Old Bailey and London Town. The publication date of that version is probably between and It has a similar plot and may be loosely based on "Black Velvet Band"" [ citation needed ]. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. November Learn how and when to remove this template message.