Alco-hole

By Harding and Richards

NGR 40675884. Banwell.

Length: 6.5 ms   VR 5ms

Alco-hole is a previously missed ochre cave in the woods that crown the hill not far from a ruined cottage. It is a rift with an ochre vein in ceiling and it has been used as a dump for numerous bottles; gin in the main, hence the name. The floor is choked with material and it appears that the mine goes deeper. Bats have taken up residence.

There are other filled in workings in the same woods that lie south east of Alco-hole at around 100 ms distance. There are also badger holes in an ochre cave 100ms south west of this location. 

The Adventures of Zot 2

‘Zot goes to Thrupe Lane SwalletÙ

By Mike Wilson

As I was involved in this venture, with Rich Long, and others I have noted their comments and then filled in the gaps accordingly.

So here we go, one year, many moons ago Zot and I decided on a trip to Thrupe so he and ZotÙs Dog got themselves ready for the off by having a last drink or six in the Hunters the night before!!

Sadly as had happened many times before, ZotÙs Dog didnÙt make it any further than the pub because Zot wandered off and left him there. Still I guess this avoided any complications at Somerset Customs regarding rabies [not that I am in any way saying that either Zot or his dog were Rabid!!] Just in case you are all wondering what happened to the dog left in the Pub, his friends would either take it home for him or look after it until we saw him again. It wasnÙt just dogs he used to leave in the Pub it was girl friends as well!! H and I once had to take a young lady home from a pub in Mells when he decided to go home and leave her there. ItÙs a long walk from Mells to Paulton in high heels!!!!!!! [I canÙt be doing with this!!]

I digress; we arrived at Thrupe Lane Rich Long Mark, myself and eventually Zot, with the intention of going to Atlas Pot via the EagleÙs Nest route. We changed in Mrs ButtsÙ garage entrance and politely declined a glass of their cider [deciding that later was safer than sooner].

Zot opened his screw top drum and this wonderful aroma of rotting clothing and damp wet earth wafted out. It doesnÙt pay to wash or dry caving grots too often he said, its bad luck!! Actually the smell was a little like compost when wet. Or a recent grave dig!!

Next question, “hey team has anyone got a spare oversuit!!” Obviously the answer was no, not many people carry two suits except for Shepton Sean who has three in case the conditions change. “Well” said Zot, “I will just have to use this one that I found by the side of the road!!” He held up an emaciated heap of tattered road workers yellow waterproof overalls that had obviously been thrown away in a dirty ditch and left to rot. The zip was useless so he tied the waist and sleeve cuffs with baler twine [very effective stuff in the wet], poured washing up liquid into his wellies [he always did this to hide the smell and help him prise the boots on]!!!!

And so on down the cave. As you all know beyond the entrance pitch is a rift, which is quite sharp, spikey and not at all water worn. ZotÙs suit was soon shedding yellow bits everywhere and making tearing noises. This continued all the way down through to Butts chamber, down the streamway to the top of the waterfall. Mark, Rich and myself abseiled down the pitch while Zot guarded the rope, at least that was his excuse. When we were prussiking up, Rich was heard to say that we would have no problem finding our way back just follow the yellow markers. This proved to be the case. There were chunks of ZotÙs suit all the way back to the entrance. !!!! Having filled 2 gallon containers with Mrs ButtsÙ excellent homemade cider we retired to the Belfry to share it amongst our mates.

NB the other effect of filling your wellie boots with washing up liquid is that they foam at the mouth as soon as you encounter any water much to the amusement of your mates, just another route in the life of a caver.

Harold.    

Multi-Club meet to Forest of Dean Fri 4th May to Mon 7th May

By Peter Hellier

Because of all the other things in oneÙs life, I decided to pop over on Saturday morning and return Sunday evening. This maximised time caving and face-showing on the domestic front, as well as a bit of socialising on Saturday night.

Worried that some keenos may have been setting off at 9:30, I arrived at about 9:15 and looked for the BEC contingent. Mike Wilson was still/again doing battle with his knees, and not going underground. I decided that Chris (Zot) Harvey was probably not caving as no caves had streams big enough for his kayak, but knew Sean Howe was up for something. So, I found myself heading for Slaughter Stream Cave after the key had arrived at 10:30. In the meantime I experienced EmmaÙs wonderful organisation by completing the Camping Register, the Going Down a Cave log, and the What I Want from the Chinese tonight order.

To be honest, my presence turned an 11 man SMCC trip into a 12 man multi-club trip, and I somewhat relied on their tackle, but at least they need not worry about being ‘the slow oneÙ with me around. Based on a laminated A4 survey (thanks again to Emma), and a little bit of ancient memory, we had a cracking trip.

This was my first Forest of Dean caving trip so I did not have a great deal of pre-conceptions. The entrance consisted of an impressive series of fixed ladders against endless stacked, shored and cemented-in boulders, and a final fixed ladder out of daylight. The first pitch to rig was just a few metres, but we rigged it properly with ladder and line, though really it was only needed for one small part. The main pitch was a rather nice 11m freehang. The breakthrough crawl led quickly to a streamway which we followed downstream. By then we had split the party up, and I was in a group of 5.

The plan was to do a round trip as referenced in the guides, with a bit on the side to see the famous dog skeleton and prints. Having left the stream just above Sump 1 , we regained it and followed down towards Sump 2 before returning to The Coal Seam and the circular trip. Generally we were on a fairly well beaten track most of the time, but without the A4 survey we would have needed a copy of descriptions from somewhere. I was very surprised at just how much fossil cave there was, of good caveable proportions – I think I was expecting something less mature. The dead dog had travelled (when it wasnÙt dead) a considerable distance judging by the footprints in the now dried up mud, quite apart from the mystery of how it got there. Now, even its bones appeared powdery, though its collar, bowl, teething ring and lead seemed to be in very good condition.

On returning from there we met the other party of 5 (2 had returned earlier), who had done the same trip as us. I still canÙt work out how we did not meet them on our return from the lower streamway earlier…

The connection back to the breakthrough crawl was down a climb that was a bit splashy even after the very dry weather we had in April, but a nice end before the climb back up to the late afternoon heat. We spent 4 - 4.5 hrs at a sensible pace with quite a number of social stops. There was not much very technical or demanding, though my knees and back found the Sand Deserts hard work, and we all got a bit warm in some of the very dry areas. The sand in this cave being, I believe from the limestone itself, which is largely a brown sugary textured and coloured dolomite, and not any nearby sandstones. 

A superb trip overall, and suitably celebrated at the pub on the way back, courtesy largely of ‘Butty BachÙ a local brew.

Sunday, and a trip to Wigpool Mine. On the upside, this was a lead trip with fine formations, so not to be missed, but on the downside was the fact that it was a mine, and ‘smallÙ. When our guide turned up on a motorcycle combo, and changed into shorts and sweatshirt, I think I was not the only one to fear for the worth of the trip. Our leader, ‘MoleÙ obviously lived and breathed mines like this, and was a wealth of information about the mines in the area. Unfortunately he forgot the key to our exit, so we had a half hour to enjoy the bluebell woods before pacing off to the entrance.

The trip started in what was more badger hole than mine, and very red and ochreous. The theory is that the upper levels had all been dug out as miners extracted the ore, traces of which could be seen at times, though it was clear that at least some of the surfaces were fully natural. In fact the upper series felt more of a cave than a mine.

It has to be said that this was a photo trip, which lent a relaxed air to the proceedings, and normally there were formations to be viewed while the photographers did their stuff ahead. The formations in the cave were generally pure white, which was particularly stunning against the very dark reddish rock. And they were good. They were also very fresh, and small in size, though not extent, which supports the idea that the passage did not exist before the voids were mined out.

We then dropped to the mid levels of the mine, which were very mine-like, and one could march off along the 2m square section passages, and we were shown where the different shaft would have entered. There was little hardware remaining other than a few timbers.

The plan was to do a circuit into the lower levels, but water levels prevented us from completing the loop. This meant we had to head back up which certainly generated some heat, first back to the main haul-ways, then on up to the highlight of the trip, some more formations.

This involved a climb up the dip of the rocks which here were very steep, and caused a few slippages. The main body of the formations were on a deep shelf of rock, so could be viewed as it were from the side. The highlight being a small pool containing some pom-poms under the water, and worth the trip for those alone. It was not far from there to the exit, for which we were glad Mole had obtained the key.

One of the main mysteries was how Mole had managed to avoided getting his knees filthy, and seemed to have avoided sitting on a wet rock for the whole 4 hr trip. Presumably he was more agile than the party, which was half his age (writer excluded).

WhatÙs happening at the Belfry

By Henry Bennett

Since the beginning of the club year a huge amount of work has gone on at the Belfry. This has been achieved through working weekends and a few members putting in time when they get a chance. One of the main driving forces has been our Hut Warden, Jane Clarke, who has input a huge amount of effort and time. Numerous maintenance jobs have been undertaken including repainting the main room, hallway, loos, doors, outside walls, providing more visitor storage in the bunkroom and mattress covers, new seating and better storage in the changing room, taps replaced, automatic lights fitted…the list goes on. As well as this, a massive effort to clean up the Belfry, inside and out, has been undertaken and several loads of rubbish have been dispatched to the council recycling centre. Many thanks to all involved, you know who you are.

Recently we identified that the gas cooker was a serious hazard and need urgent replacement. Fortunately, Ian “Slug” Gregory had some contacts in the kitchen equipment auction market and managed to provide us with a fantastic commercial oven and hob to replace it. After the initial problem of it not fitting through the door (amazing what an angle grinder will do) we got it in. Chris “Batspiss” Batstone also pulled out all the stops to getting it plumbed in. Many thanks to both of you!!

Work on the extension is progressing steadily. While many might not see any material progress a huge amount of effort has been made on arranging quotes for work and getting key things ordered. The stairs are due to be delivered later this month and we expect a rush of progress after they are installed. Once again we need skilled bodies (or people who can work under instruction) to move things forward. Contact Henry Dawson if you can help.

Hungary Budapest Caving

By Zot and Mr Wilson.

Some months ago Zot and I were invited on a trip to Hungary, starting in Budapest doing some caving there and then on to Aggtalek for the rescue conference. We decided to go to Budapest for a very long weekend and then return to England for various reasons.

There were other BEC members on the trip Emma Porter and John Christie plus various members of the CPC .In fact it was a fairly international occasion with 2 cavers from the Lebanon and of course several Hungarians who were a great help.

We decided to travel to Luton Airport as the fare was only £50 return from there [the drawback being that the flight left at 7.00am. The plan was to all meet at the airport and travel together. Thanks to Slug we stayed overnight at his flat in Bedford and travelled down to Luton early in the morning. Arriving at Luton car park Zot says, “here Wils IÙve left my wallet at Slugs!!!” No chance of going back to Bedford so we decided that I would sub him for the trip.

We had forgotten what a dump Luton airport is!! The baggage wait was huge and disorientating and the security check was worse. Zot was stopped because he had a tube of toothpaste in his hand luggage, not in a clear plastic bag !!And everyone had to take their shoes off [this did not include Zot as he was wearing wellie boots to save baggage weight!!]

Budapest airport was a complete contrast, clean and tidy with no delay; Emma had laid a bus to take us to the caving hut. Thanks Emma!! [Called the JÓSEPH-HEGYI] it was situated on the edge of a hill with a wonderful view of the Danube and the City a really peaceful spot. See photo.

There was a little co-op type shop nearby which sold food and beer. Dino, one of the local cavers kindly negotiated a price per crate [3 per day].

The main cave in this region is situated in the cellar of the hut and is called Jóseph-Hegyi-barlang. It was found while excavating the foundations for a house on the site and is a geothermal cave. The entrance is a concrete tube with a fixed ladder [of the window cleaner type] approx 10m long. This is followed by a fairly small twisting route down to an awkward 14m vertical free climb with a hand line. After another series of crawls the cave opens up into a series of chambers. These are extremely beautiful with gypsum crystals, and a wonderful floor that resembles a collapsed wedding cake [this was a lake that had dried up and collapsed leaving layers of icing like sections on the cave floor]. There were also gypsum and aragonite flowers in various sections of the chambers. All in all a fantastic place to be!! We managed a fairly lengthy photo trip thanks to the local cavers who provided access and a leader.

Out in time for a sausage barbecue, kindly put on by the local cavers, slightly marred by one of the Hungarian group who seemed to think that green leaves are a good thing on a fire, not true!!! ItÙs oh so hard to be happy when you are engulfed in choking green smoke, but the cheap beer helped no end. There was also a very yappy sausage dog, which was extremely lucky to escape the barbecue!!

Day 2 saw us walking to the next cave, which was about 1km away. This cave was called Pál-völgyi-barlang. A round trip was planned with a bonus [a bar at the end]. Quite a large group that day so we split into 2 groups. I believe the cave was about 2 km long. Tourist entrance and then a lot of tortuous crawling passages, some tight, interspersed with several small chambers. The cave itself was formed by geothermal activity so it was warm and fairly dry. The best kit is grots and overalls and plenty of liquid. Just a small anecdote, Zot was following a Hungarian girl, and got stuck in a tight twisting tube. Three of us were following behind and heard him say, “Here love I think I am stuck can you pull on this, harder, harder!!” The imagination ran riot at this moment and we all fell about laughing. Luckily he got through only to find a tight spot further on.

We also had a contingent from Guantanamo Bay with us, all wearing orange overalls I donÙt know how they managed to escape the regime!! Its tricky caving with chains around your ankles and a blindfold!!

This was a 4-hour trip in what was in places very soft rock, which is a kind of marl [not red]. Very interesting cave and bar.

The last day for us was spent in Budapest R and R; Dino took us to a Gothic spa where there were several pools some warm and sulphurous and some cool. There was also an outside pool with a wave machine [great fun]. To cap it all 2 scantily clad young ladies in thongs took ZotÙs eye, while I pointed out that there were a large number of East European ladies with blue floral swim hats and oceans of cellulite [he wasnÙt interested in those].

We finished the trip off in a restaurant, which did eat and drink all you can for 2,400.00 florints about £10.00 in sterling. Many thanks to Mr Dyson, Dino, Emma and all the other Hungarian cavers who helped to make this trip a success.

I Forgot More Than YouÙll Ever Know (About Wigs)

Music:  Don & Phil Everley
Lyrics:  N Harding and D Irwin

For those of you who have yet to visit HuntersÙ Lodge Inn Sink a myriad of delights await the visitor. The strenuous exertions of negotiating the 45-degree incline of Pub Crawl is amply rewarded by emerging into Happy Hour Highway with its splendid vistas.  Beyond that a fine, well mud-padded crawl through a phreatic tube leads to the wonderful formations and colours of the BarmaidsÙ Bedroom, with the bones yet to come, and below a fine descent on the stal flowed Pewter Pot leads to the awesome connection into Bron Ale Boulevard.  However the cave does have its Siberian section.  On entering Happy Hour Highway one can levitate under a menacing boulder and enter an unpleasant descending crawl, which is guaranteed to rip holes in all new oversuits.  A rope assisted descent of Rocking Rudolph leads to a tight crawl, which in turn becomes a strenuous contorted wriggle and we emerge gasping into the Stygian gloom of Hangover Hall, a truly unpleasant place of oppressive menace.  From there we dug a further 20 feet into Stillage Sump chamber.  For six months we attempted to penetrate further by bailing said sump.  This involved the construction of an elaborate dam system by which we blocked the stream, which backed up Rocking Rudolph whilst in our self-inflicted tomb we attempted to dig and pump the sump. However, like St Genevieve and King Cnut before us, we failed to hold back the water and eventually with winter storms coming on we abandoned the dig and adjourned to the relative comforts of the new dig at Rose Cottage. 

Jake Baynes was convinced though that further extensions of HuntersÙ Lodge Inn Sink were not to be found at the bottom of Slop 3, at the bottom of Pewter Pot which seems to be the general consensus, but by trying to achieve a high level bypass of Stillage Sump.  Fine in theory, but the actuality is that above Stillage Sump there is a fearsomely unstable looking boulder ruckle.  For some months Jake has been asking me to accompany him down to inspect said ruckle and I had been able to fob him off with a series of well-constructed excuses.  Finally though, Jake resorted to emotional blackmail and said that he was going come what may and if I refused to go with him he would make a solo trip.  So, on a fine Wednesday evening in August when all sensible folks were frolicking in the warm embrace of Rose Cottage, I reluctantly returned to the dig.  It was worse than we remembered, the detritus of the abandoned dig lay everywhere like a failed gold rush claim. Everything was covered in inches of black silt, a clear sign of the winter ravages.  Surprisingly a large toad had survived and as on our previous trips we frequently extracted small toads, this time we rescued one fat toad, which at least gave some point to the trip.  Jake meanwhile had ascended into the ruckle and urged me to take a look for myself, which I did with some reluctance and it looked just as dangerous and hostile as remembered.  Jake urged me to imagine this potential digging site when safely shored and with proper shoring he is convinced that we can then move horizontally above the sump. This idea, danced just over the horizon of my imagination, failed and all I could achieve were visions of the whole lot crashing into the sump.  So I made a hasty descent whilst Jake pushed and prodded at the boulders, several of which made ominous rumblings.  I decided it was foolish to remain below on the downward side of the ruckle and so moved upstream listening to the alarming crashes and bangs coming from above, thinking that at least from an upside position I could retreat for help should the whole lot collapse. To take my mind off the situation l looked again at the leaking dam and wondered if in CattcotsÙ day the remedy would have been simply to block the holes with some fine weasel hair, horsehair and wildebeest hair wigs as per Nick HardingÙs excellent articles on The Wig In Caving.  Eventually the foul air, which was giving us headaches, was made worse by JakeÙs noisy injections of methane gas so we called it a day and retired to meet the Rose Cottage crew in the HuntersÙ.

Being intrigued by NickÙs article I had begun doing some research into both The World of Wigs and Samuel Butler of “Fleas are not Lobsters, dash my wig” quote.  Relieved as I was to get out of H L I S, I began spewing Samuel Butler quotes all over the digging crew until Tony, desperate to escape my word hoard said “why not put them in a BB article Phil” and so for those of you who would like to know more about Samuel Butler here are some more of his quotes.   Its was surprising to find that many of them are in every day common parlance including “spare the rod and spoil the child” which because of change in usage of words became twisted by the Victorians as an excuse for adults to inflict violence on children, whereas originally it was to protect against such activities, spoiling at that time having beneficial not detrimental connotations.

There are lots of others such as “it is better to have loved and lost” etc. etc. but here are a few less well-known ones that seem apt to BEC.

 “You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.”

 “ Independence is essential for permanent but fatal to immediate success”.

 “Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have”.

 “Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises”.

 “Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on”.

 “Any fool can tell the truth but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well”.

 “The advantage of doing oneÙs praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thickly and exactly in the right places”.

 “The public buys its opinions as it buys it meat, or takes its milk on the principal that it is cheaper to do this than keep a cow.  So it is, but the milk is more likely to be watered”.

 “Morality turns on whether the pleasure precedes or follows the pain.  Thus it is immoral to get drunk because a headache comes after the drinking, but if the headache came first and the drunkenness after it would be moral to get drunk”.

 “It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds”.

 “Civilisation rests on two prerequisites.  The first being the knowledge that fermentation produces alcohol and the second being the voluntary inhibition of defecation”.

(Imagine the BEC dinner without either of the above.)

 “And shall I unlock my word horde?  Nay for I do fear it much.”

(This when cornered by a rampant bore in the HuntersÙ.)

As for wigs themselves, the custom of wig wearing is of great antiquity.  If, as seems probable the curious head covering of a prehistoric ivory carving of a female head found by M. Piette in the cave of Brassempouy in Landes represents a wig (see Ray Lankester, Science From An Easy Chair, fig 7) the fashion is certainly some 100,000 years old.  Wigs were known amongst ancient Egyptian, Greek and Chinese cultures either as an adornment or to supply the defects of nature.  They were also used theatrically and in second century Greece various comic and tragic masks had hair suited to the character represented.  A. E. Haigh, (Ancient Theatre page 221, 239) refers to the black hair and beard of the tyrant, the fair curls of the youthful hero and the red hair characteristic of the dishonest slave of comedy.

Both Romans and Carthaginian Empires were major centres of wigness.  Polybius (iii, 78) says that Hannibal used wigs as a means of disguise.  The fashionable ladies of Rome were much addicted to false hair and we learned from Ovid that the golden hair imported from Germany was most favoured.  Juvenal (vi, 120) shows us Messalina assuming a yellow wig for her visits to places of ill fame, and the scholiast on the passage says that the yellow wig was characteristic of courtesans. 

In more recent times the wearing of false hair was prevalent amongst the ladies of Europe.  Queen Elizabeth I had 80 attires of false hair and, interesting for a virgin Queen, one merkin.  For those of you not familiar with the merkin, it is a pubic wig initially first documented in the 14th Century and later used by ladies of the night as a means of disguising the ravages of syphilis.  During the American War of Independence and War of 1812, a merkin, because of the similarity of pronunciation, was used as a pejorative term by the English for an American.  I understand that such use has recently reoccurred on the Internet.  I am also told by my researchers that merkins are now widely used in erotic films where the elder viewer dislikes the modern tendency for a shaved pubis.  Mary Queen of Scots also had numerous wigs.  When her fratricidal relationship with Elizabeth culminated in her beheading, the High Executioner, being drunk on Malmsey, botched the job taking three wildly inaccurate swipes before severing MaryÙs head.  As tradition demanded he then held the severed head aloft for the traditional round of applause.  Consternation ensued when he found he was in fact clutching a wig and MaryÙs bald head bounced to the ground and rolled towards the less than pleased audience.

It was not until the 17th Century that the wig, or peruke, was worn as a distinctive feature of costume. The fashion started in France at the court of Louis XIII who was prematurely bald and wore a wig imitating natural hair.  The fashion gradually spread through Europe and as most folks were plagued by lice (creeping dandruff) the advantage of taking the wig off and not having to scratch was much appreciated. Wigs became larger and under Queen Anne obtained maximum development, covering the back and shoulders and floating down over the chest.  It was at this time that their shape and forms altered and began to denote rank and occupation with the wonderful names and descriptions in NickÙs previous articles. The fashion began to fade in the reign of William IV and now only remains in the judiciary and parliament. Hats and for certain occupations helmets took precedence.  In caving the practice had more or less died out before the 2nd World War except for the occasional ceremonial use.  Older members will no doubt recall the famous BEC powder blue wigs worn by committee members right up until the late 60s when they were consumed in the fire, which destroyed the Belfry Mark II.  If any older member has any of the famous colour slides of the committee members in full regalia, perhaps they could submit to HenryÙs excellent web site.

EdÙs note: This article had been lurking at the bottom of Phil CÙs cupboard of curiosities and having been rejected by the Wig on a previous occasion it was high time it went in.

A Caving Anecdote

Phil Coles

For reasons I don't pretend to understand - rugged individuality?-cavers generally don't like organised team sports especially spectator sports like football. However there are a few cavers that buck the trend....

Paul Brock phones the Noble household to see if John can come out to play i.e. go caving. John's good lady wife Julie answers the phone and tells Paul that John has gone to watch a football match with Phil Coles.

Paul, disappointed that John is not available, tells Julie that he would quite like to see a football match but he is put off by all the fighting/swearing/drinking and general unruliness that he might encounter.

Julie retorts, "Well Paul, you don't HAVE to go with John and Phil"

Boom boom

Reciprocal Rights with Other Clubs

Henry Bennett

The BEC maintains a reciprocal rights scheme with a number of clubs around the country and weÙve recently been confirming and reviewing the list.  At present this is the list of clubs who we have rights with:

• Bradford Pothole Club
• Craven Pothole Club
• Grampian Speleological Group
• South Wales Caving Club
• Yorkshire Subterranean Society

If you are planning on staying at one of these clubs you should ensure that you book in advance of your visit and avoid members only weekends. Most clubs now have online diaries and booking systems which you should take advantage of.

These arrangements enable you to pay members rates for use of facilities.  No other rights or privileges are conferred by these arrangements. In particular, we remind you that reciprocal rights do not bring any access to caves managed by these clubs. The normal permit systems have to be followed.  Additionally, you should check in advance about access to hut keys if required.

Hollow Hills

Make Hay!

So little time – so many caves.

The one certainty in life is that we are here for a short time then itÙs off into that great darkness where no caverÙs lamp will illuminate. With more recent losses in the club it should remind us that it is ever more important to keep caving. All the trivialities of day-to-day existence amount to nothing in the end and it is not so much how we live but what we leave behind. So the more caves you find the more you will be immortalised in speleological history and the more glasses will be raised on your passing.

There are no excuses! Keep digging.

Just a reminder about submitting articles: Text files are fine, preferably as a word document. Photos: BLACK and WHITE JPEGS – and make sure the image sizes are reasonable – no 1000cms x1000cms please! I think most, if not all photo packages will convert colour snaps into B and W.  Photoshop will get good images down to and below 100kb or so. 

If you are able please could you also email a copy of the images to Henry for the web version of the BB. Full color and hi-res is what we need here!