Mendip Cave Rescue
Hidden Earth 2017
Hidden Earth is the UK's annual caving conference, and Hidden Earth 2017 will be held at Churchill Academy near Bristol over the weekend of 29th September through to 1st October. As it is being held in our backyard, Mendip Cave Rescue will have a stand in the main hall, so please feel free to drop by and say hello. Over the course of the weekend, we will be auctioning an original Robin Gray oil pastel artwork titled "Rift Pitch", which has been generously donated to help raise funds for the MCR.
Training at Monks Park mine, 16th September 2017
A MCR training event was held on Monks Park mine on Saturday 16th September 2017. The training scenario involved having an overdue party lost in the mine, which included one person who had suffered multiple injuries requiring the use of a stretcher to extricate them and one person who had suffered minor injuries and was able to walk out when assisted by rescue team members. This rescue practice also included the successful use of the Cave Link underground communication system, demonstrating that this underground communication system works well in these stone mines when a good earth connection is found (or created using a bucket of water to damp the terminals!). During the course of the rescue scenario, a SARCALL log was created and the surface control team ensured that this was regularly updated. Some more photographs from this rescue practice can be found on our Facebook page. Our thanks to all at Hansons, and in particular the mine manager Gary Sales, for allowing us to use the mine for this training scenario.
Incident 11th September 2017
Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Wiltshire Police at 00:40 on Monday 11th September 2017 for an incident at Monkton Farleigh stone mine. A party of two people had entered the mine at around 20:00 the previous evening and were very overdue for their callout. MCR contacted four local cavers, who assembled at the mine entrance at 01:25, and two of these conducted a sweep search of the main passageways within the mine whilst the other two provided surface support and coordination with the emergency services. At 02:00 the missing party safely arrived at the surface, having enjoyed a much longer trip than they had planned. By 02:45 the underground search party also arrived back at the surface and the stand down message was then sent to the MCR wardens to bring the incident to a close at 03:05.
Incident 20th August 2017
Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Wiltshire Police at 19:45 on Sunday 20th August 2017 for an incident at Monkton Farleigh stone mine. One member of a party exploring the mine had become separated from the rest of the group underground and had not returned to their vehicle with the others. After a quick search for their missing person, the remaining members of the party called for help. On receiving the initial call from the police, MCR contacted a number of local cavers who knew the stone mines well, who quickly organised a more thorough search of the mine, whilst MCR wardens were put on standby in case a more protracted search was required. Happily, the missing person was found after a few minutes, a little lost but safe and unharmed, and escorted to the entrance. The stand down message was then sent to the MCR wardens to bring the incident to a close at 20:49.
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