Hi all,

CHECC, the Council of Higher Education Caving Clubs Forum is coming up in 3 weeks! This trip will not require any SRT (rope) skills.

This is a somewhat atypical weekend trip where a swarm of university caving clubs from around the UK home in on a small, unsuspecting village, and the focus is more on getting to know other caving clubs, training some extra skills on courses and having a bit of a party. There’s definitely the option to go caving if you’d like to though!

Use these links to sign up to Training events, Poetry Competition, Meme Competition, and Worst Cave you've Ever Done Report Competition (deadline 24^th Nov). There are also competitions for the Best Cake, Best Fancy Dress, and of course the In Person Competitions held on the Saturday night (which we’re signed up for). For more information see the CHECC Facebook page and the CHECC website. (Please don’t buy CHECC tickets individually – we’ll buy tickets for everyone in the club together, and that is included in our weekend trip ticket price).

When: Friday 25/11/2022 at 17:00 to Sunday 27/11/2022 at 23:45

Where: Priddy, Mendip Hills

Membership: you need membership to join weekend trips (£30.00) (membership lasts the entire year)

Price:  Capped at £45 however if this is your first trip with us, the membership fee will be subtracted from the trip cost, making it £15 for the entire weekend. More details regarding where to buy the tickets will be sent out once your place is confirmed. Please only buy the trip fee once your spot on this trip has been confirmed. We aim to confirm spots next week and an email with more details will be sent out then. 

Sign up: Please reply to this email if you would like to come! You must understand that the activities done contain an inherent risk that you are accepting. Spots will be given on a first-come-first-served basis. Please tell us your full name, any dietary requirements, any medical conditions, an emergency contact number for your next of kin and anything else you think we need to know over the course of the weekend. Please reply by 12 noon on Sunday 13/11 to ensure you get a spot.

We will meet in stores on Tuesday (22/11) at 18:30 to pack kit. You do not need any equipment of your own, we will provide everything you could possibly need in a cave. A thermal base layer is beneficial on particularly cold weekends, if you happen to own thermals. We’ll most likely be camping so if you have your own camping equipment that would be useful to bring, however the club has tents, mats and sleeping bags which all members can borrow for the weekend, so please don’t buy anything specifically for the weekend.

How the trip works:

We will set off in the minibus on Friday evening around 17:30 from outside Beit Halls, heading for Priddy in the Mendips, and return to London on Sunday evening around 23:00. COVID restrictions are very relaxed by now, so it is not a requirement to show a negative LFD test, however it is recommended that if you have symptoms resembling COVID you do a lateral flow test before leaving on Friday. Saturday’s and Sunday’s meals are provided by the CHECC team and are included in the ticket price. How the days run depends very much on where you’ve signed up for training courses and where you’d like to go caving - there’ll definitely be no shortage of things to do though.

After this the last trip of the term is Winter Tour to Yorkshire (16-22^nd December – SRT required) – more details to follow soon. Also: Pub every Tuesday (around 6pm at the union bar/568), and tree (rope) training runs every Wednesday 1-5pm (but you can stay as long as you like) in Princes Gardens.

Yours till an ambulance isn’t called,

Matti Mitropoulos

ICCC Committee