Sunday 31st July 2022

 

Sunday 31^st July 2022. John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Geoff Newton. Took across support beam and fixings. Mike and Geoff at the bottom fixed it in place. Then a constant stream of spoil was hauled out by John. Two buckets in use meant as soon as the empty one reached the bottom it was swapped for a full one. Probably more loads than Friday were hauled out. After a couple of hours lunch break and Geoff departed. John did a mix of cement which was sent down and used by Mike walling with John at the bottom as well providing made to measure rocks. 4 hours. John.

Mike, Geoff and John. Mike and Geoff at the bottom, takes two people to dig the bottom now. Mike was in about 8ft under the big boulder, cleared roughly 30+ buckets of big rock and clatch. Geoff had a go at the sharp end and pulled out 2 very large slabs. These were left in for cement work. Whilst Geoff was in the questionable scaff bar moved out of place, this was replaced with a larger bar now sat on much more solid rock. Oh! The first part of today’s session Mike and Geoff attached the angle iron high up on the right to support the ceiling (John hsd cut and drilled this at home), Geoff left at 1pm then John made a mix and came down with Mike to break up the big slabs, Great draught(s) as usual! I think the strongest came from the hole in the right wall I believe, but a pungent draught came from down below and forwards 4 ½ hours. Mike

Friday 29th July 2022

John Cooper and Geoff Newton. Took over another tub of water. With Geoff at the bottom John hauled out 14 loads of rocks left from Wednesday. Then John went down with drill and plug and feathers to create more rock. 10 loads sent up to the surface. Going in horizontally now. Roughly measured for a support beam to be fixed to the right hand wall. 2½ hours. John.

Wednesday 27th July 2022

John Cooper. Took over 4 bags of sand and a bag of cement. There are now 6 bags of sand and 1 ¾ bags of cement on site. Continued breaking up rock on the right hand side. There is now very little holding up the right hand end of the scaffold bars which support the roof. Need to fasten a support to the wall to help hold them up. Lots of rocks to haul out. Nice outward draught from way on. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 23rd July 2022

John Cooper, Rob Harper, Mark Helmore and Mike Kousiounis. Mike banged a boulder ahead about 10.30am and the fumes cleared within the hour. Mark and Mike were breaking up boulders and when I arrived about 1.30pm Mark and Rob departed. Mike went back in and I supplied him with two mixes of cement and building rocks until calling it a day about 15.45. 2 hours surface work for me. John. 

Mike’s report. Mike arrived at the dig around 10 after picking up a det and 1m of 20g from Graham.
Solo trip down and drill 2 holes into the ongoing Boulder, all went well and set of charge about 10.40. Went to put gate back on but the fumes beat me to it, flying out in about 3 seconds, so 12m in 3 seconds is the maths for the draught speed at that time, slightly overcast.
Waited in the car and Mark/Rob showed up at 11. Went back into the cave about 11.15 and no problems with fumes at all. The bang did as hoped and the Boulder in the ceiling stayed in place, although still sat on a shattered pillar to the left (unsure if this is propping it, but it can stay there and get cemented in with enough space still moving forward).
Cleared some spoil and cut the angle iron out, Rob went to grab a hacksaw from Bean as my blade didn’t last long. Mark joined me at the bottom whilst Rob was away and started to attack the right hand wall. Lots of damage done, Rob was very patient at surface waiting for buckets to be filled, that right hand wall is very stubborn with no particular grain.
John arrived and Rob/Mark left.
I managed to fish some of the spoil ahead back and stacked the bigger rocks up to support the scaffold bar above the ‘abyss hole’, also managed to pull some more of the right hand wall out.
Cement was put in to stabilise the left hand wall, high up on the right and started on the dodgy stack further ahead to the left. Once set this will allow more of the right hand wall to come out and a safe exit if anything moves when pulling the rest of the stuff from ahead back/stabilising the dodgy stack.

Thursday 21st July 2022

John Cooper. Took over 4 bags of sand and a bag of cement. Continued breaking up rock on the right hand side. 1½ hours. John.

Sunday 17th July 2022

Mike Kushy, Rob Harper, Geoff Newton, Monica B, Valerie ?. A lot of mud and rubble was first removed from the “passage” ahead. Then all the remaining sand and cement was used to concrete in boulders, rubble etc to stabilise the first metre or two of the “passage” roof. Work in progress. 3½ hours. Geoff.

 

Thursday 7th July 2022

John Cooper, Rob Harper, Al Mills and Dave Morrison (Tuska). Surface levelling work all day. Attempt to erect cover showed up weakness in design. Back to the drawing board. 7 hours. john.

Thursday 30th June 2022

John Cooper. Continued breaking up rock. Took in a couple of short bits of scaffold tube which will be used in building a roof over the ongoing tunnel. 1½ hours. John.

Friday 24th June 2022

John Cooper and Geoff Newton. Geoff loading and John hauling. Nice draught from the Wookey end. John then took over at bottom with a mix of cement and fixed a scaffold bar as a roof support. I think it may be necessary to completely wall up the bottom left hole. 2½ hours. John.

Thursday 23rd June 2022

John Cooper, Al Mills and Dave Morrison (Tuska). Al and Tuska arrived mid-morning and made a start on fabricating a shelter for the winch. John arrived about 12.45 and after helping a bit descended and sent up spoil. This revealed the winch had been moved quite a bit by the sheep so had to be repositioned several times. When it started spitting with rain a halt to hauling was called. John ascended and continued helping with the fabrication. The rain held off. 2 hours for John. John.

Wednesday 22nd June 2022

John Cooper. Continued breaking up rock. Needs a good clearing session now then a tunnel roof constructing. Draught coming from Wookey end today. 2 hours. John.

Monday 20th June 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore and Mike Kousiounis. Mark inspected bottom and did not like the lower hole on the left. Decided far better to go back up a bit and follow solid wall along. Started to demolish the wall and when Mike took over he was excavating clatch from behind it. Managed to retrieve his ear defenders. Finally used the remains of his Swildon’s cord to pop a couple of boulders. Not too loud and fumes quickly came out. 3¼ hours.John.

Thursday 16th June 2022

John Cooper and Dave Morrison (Tuska). Took across 4 bags of sand, 1 bag of cement already there. Put electron ladder don then John life lined Dave down. After inspection life lined him back out. Dave thinks best to tackle the higher level hole along the solid right wall rather then the lower left which goes into nasty breakdown. Then John went down and did a bit of plug and feather work. 2 buckets of spoil. 2½ hours. John.

Monday 13th June 2022

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Cleared some spoil then 3 mixes of cement used by Mike building walls. No sand left but 1 full bag cement. 3 hours. John.

Wednesday 8th June 2022

John Cooper. Continued breaking up rock. Needs turning into a supporting wall now. Draught coming from Wookey end today. 1½ hours. John.

Friday 3rd June 2022

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Geoff Newton. John arrived an hour after the others. Geoff had already cleared the spoil from yesterday. Mike then went down and created more which John and Geoff hauled out. Quite a bit more clatch also hauled out. Two mixes of cement were then done and used cementing at the bottom (rocks sent back down as building material. Current depth 11.6m. 3 hours for John. John.

Thursday 2nd June 2022

John Cooper, Al Mills and Dave Morrison (Tuska). Started by clearing the spoil, 1½ hours. Then breaking up more rock for another hour. Draught is coming from the Wookey end at head height. 2½ hours. John.

Wednesday 1st June 2022

John Cooper. Continued breaking up rock on the solid side. Needs spoil clearing now. Didn’t notice any draught today. 1½ hours. John.

Sunday 29th May 2022

John Cooper joined Mike Kousiounis, Al Mills and Dave Morrison (Tuska) for the end of day session. Geoff Newton left as I arrived. Mike continued with plug and feathers for a while until batteries all dead. Then I did 2 mixes of mortar which Mike used up walling. Used a mixture of rock he created using plug and feathers and some I sent down. 2 hours. John.

Friday 27th May 2022

John Cooper. Continued breaking up rock on the solid side. Didn’t notice any draught today. 1½ hours. John.

Sunday 22nd May 2022

John Cooper joined Mike Kousiounis for the end of day session. Geoff Newton had already left and Dave Morrison (Tuska), Frank Tully and Chris Williams left when I arrived. I did 2 mixes of mortar which Mike used up walling. Used a mixture of rock he created using plug and feathers and some I sent down. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 19th May 2022

John Cooper. Took across 6 bags of sand. Took my drill down but discovered I’d left the main battery on charge at home. Continued breaking up the same rock as Tuesday. Made a little progress before running low on battery power. Then a voice from above turned out to be Wayne out on a run. He volunteered to get his drill so I continued working until I had no power left. Then Wayne returned and lowered his drill. I continued breaking up the same rock, it’s nearly gone now. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 17th May 2022

John Cooper and Wayne Starsmore. Took across 2 bags of cement and 4 bags of sand together with the refilled water drum. Took my drill down. My plug and feathers used to break up a bit of the rock freeing up 4 sets of Mike’s PFs in the process. Still not quite removed. One mix of cement used building up walls using the debris. Nice draught from the down-dip end. 2½ hours. John.

Sunday 15th May 2022

Cutting up angle beams to help stabilise the loose wall that keeps peeling away. All went well and started building up off the beams. Managed to leave an open space towards Wookey also. 2 mixes used. MK, AT, MH and DM. Mike.

Tuesday 10th May 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Two mixes of cement used building up the wall at the Swildon’s end using rocks from the surface. Still not looking safe. 2 hours. John.

Sunday 8th May 2022

John Cooper joined Dave King and Mike Kousiounis for the end of day session. Geoff Newton had already left. Sent a bit of mortar and some rocks down to Mike for walling. 1 hour. John.

Thursday 5th May 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Andy at the bottom and John on the surface. Andy started by breaking up the big rock left by Mike and then another one from the side. John hauled the bits to the surface. Then some clatch hauled out. Finally a few rocks broken up for Mike to use as walling material. Depth now 10.8m. 6 bags of sand, 2 bags of cement and 2 containers of water on site. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 26th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Started by hauling clatch out. Then a bit of boulder breaking to create walling material for 2 mixes of cement. During the hauling of clatch a boulder was dislodged from somewhere in the shaft which fell hitting John’s helmet and left shoulder. A bruise is now developing from the rock which was about the size of 2 house bricks. Later on the empty bucket came down on its own! I really don’t trust the hook on the hauling rope, needs to be a closed one so it cannot fall off accidentally. Depth was 10.4m to foot level. 2½ hours. John.

Wednesday 20th April 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore and Andrew Thompson. Started by hauling clatch out. Then 1 mix of cement and a bit of boulder breaking, just hammer. Depth was 10.4m to foot level. 2 hours. John.

Monday 18th April 2022

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Andrew Thompson. When we arrived the winch setup was a real mess. We reset it up and later watched as one of the sheep had another go at demolishing it. The sheep went under a scaffold leg and lifted it up as a means of scratching its back. With no weight on it they were able to move the legs several metres rotating the winch itself at the same time! With Andy and Mike at the bottom a steady stream of debris, rocks and clatch, came out. A half hour lunch break was an opportunity to take one of Mike’s batteries back for recharging. Continued after lunch using my batteries before finally going to get the newly charged one to finish off the day. One mix of cement done in the morning session and a second mix in the afternoon one. Depth now 10.2m. 5 hours of work. John.

Friday 15th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Started with 1 mix of cement which was used cementing the boulders left from last time. Then hauled some clatch out. Then a spell breaking up the bigger boulder on the solid wall side. Still 10.1m to bottom. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 12th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Started by hauling clatch out. Then 1 mix of cement and a bit of boulder breaking. Depth was 9.8m to top of talus cone, 10.1m to foot level. Winch bearing died at end of session. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 9th April 2022

John Cooper joined Mike Kousiounis and Dave Morrison for the last part of the session (Mark Helmore having already left). Mike was breaking up rock with plug and feathers when I arrived but soon switched to clearing. Loads of rock and a bit of clatch hauled up before calling it a day. 1 hour for me. John.

Thursday 7th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Plug and feathers used to create wall building rocks. 2 mixes of cement then used to build wall. There are 4 bags of sand and 1+ bags of cement remaining. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 5th April 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore, Dave Morrison and Andrew Thompson. Quite a bit of clatch removed. Plug and feathers used to break up a few boulders. One mix of cement used to build wall. Measured depth 9.7m but did fill up the hole again so probably 9.5m now. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 2nd April 2022

Mike K, Andy T and Mark H. Removing the large boulder and clatch. Surprised how low we are after John’s sessions. Roof looked very suspect towards Wookey so cemented 2 bags of sand early for support, Chris W joined us and so did John later. 6½ hours. Mike.

John Cooper took over from Mark Helmore for the last cement mix of the day. Others were Mike Kousiounis, Andrew Thompson and Chris Williams. They had been there all day whilst I only joined after I’d finished in Dave Mitchell’s Dig. Mike had removed the big pointy boulder but decided more support was required before proceeding further along. 1 hour for me. John.

Friday 1st April 2022

John Cooper, Dave Morrison, Geoff Newton and Andrew Thompson. Quite a bit of clatch removed. Spent some time working on the pointy boulder but it just splintered when drilling the end. Eventually it wouldn’t release a plug and broke the tip off the drill bit. Dropped the boulder so it is now possible to drill the top of it. Depth at end of session was 9.4m. 3 hours. John.

Wednesday 30th March 2022

John Cooper, Dave Morrison and Andrew Thompson. Depth at end of session was 9.2m. Plug and feathers used to break up boulders. Quite a bit of clatch removed. Some cementing done at end. Need more sand and cement. 3 hours. John.

Tuesday 29th March 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Depth at start 8.5m. Plug and feathers used to break up boulder. Not very effective at start because boulder surface kept fracturing. Eventually got it sorted. Bit of cementing done at end. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 24th March 2022

John Cooper, Dave Morrison and Andrew Thompson (and Wayne stopped by for a visit). Widening the bottom by John using plug and feathers. Also some clatch removed. Depth measured at 26¼ ft (must do it myself next time in metres!). 2½ hours. John.

Tuesday 15th March 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore, Dave Morrison, Andrew Thompson and Chris Williams. Took across another large water container. Plug and feathers used to break up a couple of boulders into bits small enough to haul out. Also removed a load of muddy clatch. Some work done on surface repositioning haul line. Draught coming outwards today. 2 hours. John.