Annual Dinner 2018 - booking open

You can now book on-line for the Annual Dinner on 10th November 2018. Bookings have to be in by 27th October. Members can follow this link. Non-members should contact a member or email the Club. Members without email will receive a printed booking form.

Vera Glenn

Sadly, we have lost another elderley member of the Club with Vera Glenn passing away in early September. Her funeral was held on 12th September and attended by a number of DCC members. Vera had been involved in the Club since the 70s and went on a number of Club events including trips to Mallorca, visits to the Forest of Dean and one-offs such as Todge's 60th birthday party in West Mine where she performed a (partial) striptease in his honour! Vera lost her sight over the years but still managed to walk and dance her way around the world until dementia overtook her in her last few years. She will be missed by the Club, the Morris Dancers and of course her family.

MEETS LIST

Rob has been busy and set up dates for a load of meets, at least one a month. Have a look at the list here or on Facebook (click the link below the news).

Annual Dinner 2018

The Dinner and Dance to be held on 10th November at Bramhall Golf Club is now fixed and we will shortly have menus for us to choose from. Booking can be done on-line (for members) but non-members are asked to contact the organisers for a booking form or speak to a member. The Dinner is always a great social event and a chance for partners to meet. Normally, at least 50 to 60 attend so make sure you get there. At the Dinner, we also give out awards for Caver of the Year, Mighty Miner and so on. Keep an eye on this item or Facebook for details of when you can start to book.

Alderley Mines Open Weekend

The September 2018 Open Weekend is now history. Most people who had reserved trips did turn up, unlike in the Spring, but with numbers down a bit, there was plenty of space anyway. Nevertheless, a few hundred visitors enjoyed a trip and no one was turned away. We also welcomed members from a number of other caving clubs for the weekend. Planning will now start for the Spring 2019 Open Weekend (6th and 7th April 2019) and bookings can now be made. This is earlier than usual to avoid Easter and the Bank Holiday at the end of the month. There is reaction from visitors on the feedback page and Facebook.

New Meets Secretary

Rob has now taken over from Anton to look after planning meets. He can be contacted via meets-sec@derbyscc.org.uk. He doesn't plan to lead the trips but will help to organise a meets calendar.

More about the Alderley Mines

The new edition of Chris Carlon's Alderley Edge Mines book is for sale from the publisher and from Amazon. Copies are also available at the Club's Open Weekends. The book has been heavily revised and describes all the main mines in detail. It remains a useful companion to the Alderley Edge Story published in 2016. Contact Nigel for further details. The cost is £12 plus postage.

Caving and mining log

The most recent items on the caving and mining log can now be viewed in brief in this panel. Click on the section below that says: news | events | log. Remember to add a record of your own trips.

Members may be able to view more events on the DCC calendar that we do not make public.

Members may be able to view more log entries on the DCC log that we do not make public.

This was taken in a chert mine in Derbyshire. After the chert (a form of silica) had been extracted, the waste was left in the mine retained by walls such as the one on the right.
Two flashes have been used so as to gain perspective. The nearby flash was not on the camera so as to avoid spots on the picture and to provide a bit of shadow behind the nearby objects.

Molino is a large cave in the Matienzo valley which is particularly easy to visit and is often used as an introductory trip for new cavers in the area. The entrance is a massive river sink and the river can be followed to a sump which has been dived to a large resurgence, also in the valley. The picture shows some of the massive stalactites in the roof of the cave.