News: December 2013

[David Gibson]

• The December 2013 issue of Cave & Karst Science (volume 40(3)) is delayed slightly and is expected to be published in January. It will be mailed to members who are on the 2013 list, so you wont lose out by forgetting to renew your membership. But please note that ...
• Membership renewals for BCA DIMs will be posted today. Fees are unchanged for 2014. You can pay online or by cheque. See http://caves.org.uk/fees. Although we have not yet managed to arrange for renewals by Direct Debit, it is entirely possible that this will be sorted out by next year.
• The December issue of the CREG journal (issue 84) will be mailed today to subscribers. It is online at http://bcra.org.uk/cregj
• BCRA's other periodical, Speleology, hasnt been seen for some time, for which we can only apologise. In a volunteer-based organisation, these things happen from time to time, and difficulties can take a while to rectify. However, an issue of Speleology (number 19) is close to going to press and should be with members at the end of December or very early January.
• Hugh Penney is taking on the role of a "commissioning editor" for Speleology, and is in the process of re-establishing contact with our "regional correspondents" - see http://bcra.org.uk/contact.html. Please contact Hugh, or one of the correspondents if you have any items that you think would be suitable for publication.
• BCRA Meetings for 2014 - see http://british-caving.org.uk/phpBB3/vie ... =29&t=1223
  Please note that the Cave Science Symposium, traditionally held in March, has been moved to October; and the BCRA AGM, traditionally held at Hidden Earth, is moving to the Science Symposium.
• There were no additional nominations for Council for 2014 beyond those noted in the last newsletter (see http://bcra.org.uk/news), so that list is elected unopposed. Additionally, Council has co-opted the BCA Chairman Andy Eavis and Dr Paul Hardwick. Thus, BCRA's Council members, who are also the Trustees of the charity, are now A. Chamberlain, D. Checkley, A. Eavis, T. Faulkner, D. Gibson, D. Gough, J. Gunn, P. Hardwick, D. Judson, G. Moseley, I. Peachey, J. Potts. (Total 12)
• The competitions results and awards made at Hidden Earth 2013 can now be found at http://hidden-earth.org.uk/history/winners.2013.html
• I havent got around to putting the minutes of BCRA's 2013 AGM online yet.
• And lastly, as reported in the last newsletter... It was suggested that a useful follow-up to the Porcellanous Bed field meeting on 6 July 2013 would be to try to map the outcrops of the bed around the Dales. Various possibilities exist for discussion on the Internet - e.g. blogs, forums and so on. Perhaps someone would like to get this started by posting a message to the BCRA News Forum at http://bcra.org.uk/forum. Further information can be obtained by contacting d.checkley@bcra.org.uk. Although there was some initial interest in this, nobody appears to have followed it up. Please note that BCRA Forum is there is to be used for exactly this purpose!