The British Caving Association

BCRA NEWSLETTER APRIL 2024
Our Social media news outlets...
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/groups/britishcaver
• BCRA News forum: http://bcra.org.uk/forum
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/bcra_speleology
• UK Caving http://ukcaving.com/board/?board=86.0

In this newsletter
• Next online seminar via zoom
• Information on the rest of this year’s seminar programme
• Other planned seminars up to June
• The 2024 BCRA Cave & Karst Science Symposium and AGM
• Changes to BCRA membership system
• BCRA publications
• New council member and publicity officer
• Next Council Meeting
• Supporting BCRA

The next online seminar is on:
Mon 13-May, 19:30 to 21:00 via Zoom
Exploring Ancient Environmental Genomes in Cave Sediments, with Mikkel W. Pedersen, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. For further information, including details of how to log on, see bcra.org.uk/seminars. Last-minute changes to the programme will be posted to our Facebook page.

Other planned Seminars currently are:
Monday 10th June, 19.30 to 21.00 via Zoom
What do karst and Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) have in common? with Spela Conc, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. For further information, including details of how to log on, see bcra.org.uk/seminars. Last-minute changes to the programme will be posted to our Facebook page

Information on the rest of this year’s seminar programme
There will be a break in July and August, but the Seminars will start again in September with Ruairidh Macleod [ r at palaeome.org ] as the new organiser so if you have suggestions for speakers, please send them to him.


The 2024 BCRA Cave & Karst Science Symposium and AGM will take place on Sat 12 Oct, 09:30 to 17:00 at Northumbria University, hosted by Mike Rogerson. This will be a live event but, hopefully, we will be able to stream it live via Zoom. Further information, including a timetable, abstracts, and directions to the venue will be available later in the year on the BCRA News forum. Last-minute info will be posted to our Facebook page.

Changes to the BCRA membership system The move to the Just Go system is well underway, However with all new systems there can initially be teething problems so we would be grateful for members patience during this transition. Further information will follow when the new system is launched.
You will also notice that we are no longer issuing plastic cards when you receive your new membership information.

BCRA Publications The latest edition of Cave and Karst (51) 1 is now available online to down load and hardcopies will be in the post shortly . This issue starts with tributes to David St. Pierre: 1938–2024 John Denis Wilcock: 1937–2023 and David William Gill: 1941–2024 and also includes research work and articles on:

• • Well-shrimps and well-worms in the British Isles
    Interdisciplinary explorations of the Kythera Island caves.
    Preliminary U-series dates from Goyden Pot
    Investigating the formation of quartz speleothems within the karstic Theochari Cave
    Rapid post-flood disintegration of a tufa waterfall:
    Fungal mycelium in Swan Mine, Bath and Northeast Somerset, UK
    There is also information on applying for BCRA research funds and grants

CREG journal 125 is now online at https://bcra.org.uk/cregj and should already be with those members who subscribe so they can have a hard copy. CREG is The British Cave Research Association's special interest group for cave radio and electronics but, recently, CREG has broadened its remit to cover other aspects of cave technology, including surveying and photography. A list of contents, and brief descriptions of the articles in the present issue can be found at https://bcra.org.uk/cregj.

New Council Member and Publicity Officer Emily Tilby was co-opted as a member of BCRA Council and as a Trustee at Meeting 204. Emily is taking on the Publicity Officer role. You can see her profile and those of the other trustees on the BCRA website at https: //bcra.org.uk/ biographies detail

The next council meeting will be held on Wednesday 15th May at 8pm via Zoom

Supporting BCRA.

We are looking for someone to support the BCRA website as one of our volunteers is intending to step down from the role. For more details initially contact the secretary of the BCRA.

Members will note that there has been a paucity of field meetings since the end of Covid restrictions and we encourage anyone willing to organise a meeting to contact the secretary.

The next newsletter will be at the end of May 2024