Information Topics
Click/Tap a link or scroll on down.
Database last updated on September 24 2024 17:29:32.
Membership and Subscription Fees
Also see: Membership Benefits and Fees
Membership of BCRA is open to all members of the British Caving Association. This
arrangement ensures that members are covered by BCA's Public Liability Insurance. There is a
substantial discount for student members of BCRA. Membership confers the right to vote at BCRA's
AGM and to nominate and vote for Council members.
You do not have to be a member of the BCRA to take part in its activities or to purchase
its publications. However, if you do want to join BCRA, please note that membership of BCRA
is handled as an 'option' of our parent body, the British Caving Association – See
Why do I need to join BCA as well?. The shortcuts, above,
take you directly to application forms for membership and subscription to BCRA periodicals.
Donations
See our Donation Form
Donations to help us with our projects are always welcome - for example, just a few pounds
can help our library to acquire books. If you are a UK taxpayer we can reclaim income tax on your
donation via the Gift Aid scheme. You can specify where you would prefer your donation to
be used, e.g.
Aims of the Association
The British Cave Research Association is a UK-registered charity that achieves its
objectives by
- supporting cave and karst research
- encouraging original exploration (both in the UK and on expeditions overseas)
- publishing speleological information
- organising educational and scientific conferences and meetings.
BCRA is administered by a Council of trustees and is a constituent body of the British
Caving Association (BCA), with which it cooperates on many projects.
Summary information about BCRA's activities is given below. Many of the entries have links
to pages with more detailed information.
Newsletters
Our "news" is now all published online, either on our News Forum, or at
Facebook or
Twitter. We also circulate information by email
to subscribers to our Notices E-list. For further
information click on the News Menu at the top of this page or go to our News page.
Publications
Also see... Bookshop
Cave and Karst Science (ISSN 1356-191X) is
BCRA's peer-reviewed science journal, published three times a year. Paper subscriptions are
available to members and non-members. It is also available online, free of charge, as part of
BCRA's commitment to open access to scientific research.
The Cave Radio and Electronics Group Journal
(ISSN 1361-4800). CREG is one of BCRA's Special Interest Groups. CREG is probably the leading
organisation of its kind in the world. It produces a quarterly journal, which is available as a
paper or an online subscription. The online content is free to BCRA members.
BCRA Review (ISSN 2516-1423). Until 2014, BCRA's
"bulletin" was BCRA's magazine Speleology (ISSN
1478-999X), but this has now ceased publication. Instead BCRA publishes an Annual Review
shortly before our AGM; usually in October. It contains reports of the previous year's activities,
together with annual reports from BCRA officers and a copy of our annual report and accounts that
we send to the Charity Commission. This Review is primarily an online PDF publication although it
is shipped on paper to our Member Clubs (those that receive C&KS on paper) and to our overseas
Journal Exchange partners. Paper copies may be purchased at our meetings and
ordered online, whilst the limited print stock lasts.
The Cave Studies Series is a set of
introductory booklets on a range of cave-related topics. It provides an introductory text aimed at
the sport caver who has become interested in some other aspect of speleology. We are always
willing to consider possible new titles and to discuss projects with potential authors. There are
plans to make some of the titles available online in the near future.
Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales is a set
of two books from BCRA, which present a comprehensive overview of all aspects of the caves and
karst of the Yorkshire Dales. This set is is the long-awaited successor to the 1974 publication
Limestones and Caves of Northwest England but is a much more comprehensive treatment because of
the many cave discoveries in the last 40 years and the new information that is available on the
underground and surface features.
BCRA published a number of other items, which are described on our
Bookshop page.
Searching Our Website
There are two broad families of "search" that you can use on our web pages...
- To search our pages using Google, type your search string into the search box
that appears at the top of each of our web pages.
- For more advanced search options, click on the pull-down menu "Library and
Search", at the top of each of our web pages.
The advanced search options are ...
- Search the British Caving
Library Catalogue.
- Search the CREG journal Database.
- Search the BCRA Science Index.
The British Caving Library Catalogue allows you to search its catalogue by title and
author. It covers a wide range of caving publications, including BCRA's, and is updated regularly
(but manually) by BCRA volunteers working for the British Caving Library.
The CREG Journal Database is updated automatically whenever a new journal is
placed online. It can be searched by Author and Title and also by any text string that appears in
an abstract. This facility is an ongoing experimental work but may eventually be extended to cover
Cave & Karst Science.
The BCRA Science Index is a "legacy" item and might no longer be actively
maintained. It is being kept online because the information is still of value and it covers a
slightly different range of journals to our other databases. The data is held on a third-party web
site which might no longer be available, although some "pre-searched" lists are still accessible,
but these may be old. For searching C&KS you are advised to use the British Caving Library
catalogue, or to use Google to search BCRA's pages, which you can do by typing your search string
into the search box that appears at the top of each of our web pages.
How do I search BCRA periodicals?
Apart from the CREG Journal Database, BCRA does not have its own
comprehensive search facility that allows you to search for keywords in periodicals, so you
will have to make use of a third-party search facility. The British Caving Library
Catalogue contains its own search engine. Alternatively Google indexes the BCRA pages
just as it does for any other site. To limit your Google searches to BCRA's site, use the search
box we provide, or add site:bcra.org.uk to your search string. As noted above, the BCRA
Science Index is a legacy item and might no longer be actively maintained. However, the
"pre-searched" lists could still be of value to you.
Grant Aid
BCRA Research Fund. BCRA has managed a research fund
for many years. In recent years the fund has been boosted by several bequests. At present, the
fund is issuing grants totalling up to £5000/year. For information please go to the
BCRA Research Fund web page.
The Ghar Parau Foundation (GPF),
now an independent charity, used to be a sub-charity of BCRA. It manages an investment fund to
provide grant aid to assist British caving expeditions to all parts of the world. It focuses on
expeditions that include innovative exploration or scientific study and is keen to encourage young
cavers into expedition caving, in order to maintain an active caving community in the years ahead.
The UK Cave Conservation Emergency Fund (UKCCEF)
is a charitable fund administered by BCRA to support projects that further the conservation of
threatened caves and cave features.
Prizes
For further detail see Caving Awards
The Arthur Butcher Award. This was first awarded in 1988 and is presented for,
broadly speaking, "excellence in cave surveying". This award is usually presented at the
Hidden Earth annual conference.
The E.K. Tratman Award is an annual award for the best contribution to British
speleology in print. This can be in the form of an article, report or book. This award is usually
presented at the Hidden Earth annual conference.
BCRA / Hidden Earth Cave Science Bursaries Please enquire.
The Premier Trophy. This was first awarded in 1975 and is presented to the winner
of BCRA's annual Photo Salon event, which usually takes place at Hidden Earth, the national caving conference. As well as a cash
prize, the winner gets to keep for a year the trophy - an engraved replica of the millionth lamp
manufactured by the Premier Lamp Engineering Co Ltd.
Archives
Historical Caving Material. BCRA owns a large collection of historical caving
material including sketches and notebooks that belonged to some of the pioneers of UK cave
exploration. This material is now stored, under controlled conditions, at the
National Geoscience Data Centre of the British
Geological Survey. An extract of this collection - Eli Simpson's record books - can be viewed,
alongside other items, on our archive web site. We also
have an audio archive, with interesting tales
from well-known cavers, past and present.
Cave Registry Data Archive. This archive is administered by BCRA's Cave Surveying
Group. The archive provides a useful tool for current projects as well as archiving raw data
which, although not required to be published itself, is nevertheless vitally important when it
comes to extending on a previous project - the loss of data has been a major problem historically.
Although it is envisaged that the main use of the archive is for survey data, it is available for
all types of data, including surveys or scientific measurements.
Events and Meetings
For information about our next Cave Science Symposium, and other events,
please go to the Events Calendar on our Home Page. Also see the postings
on our News Forum
and our
Facebook page.
A list of Science Symposium
Abstracts is available.
Symposiums: BCRA currently organises an annual Cave Science symposium and
occasional Cave Technology symposiums. These one-day meetings allow researchers to present
cave science and technology papers, which may appear subsequently in one of our periodicals. They
are friendly events at which academics, students and interested amateur cave scientists attend and
give presentations. They are usually followed by a one-day field meeting in the local area or by
local demonstrations of equipment in use. These events are organised are organised either by local
cavers and members of BCRA or in collaboration with an organisation that has similar interests to
BCRA. See the Events Calendar on our Home Page. Also see the postings on
our News Forum and our
Facebook page.
Field Meetings. Other events and field meetings are organised from time to time.
See the Events Calendar on our Home Page. Also see the postings on our
News Forum and our
Facebook page.
National Caving Conference: Hidden Earth: – see next entry
National Caving Conference: Hidden Earth
Also see Hidden Earth Website
Each year, BCRA organises a national caving conference. The full conference weekend has a
packed programme of presentations on British caving, including expeditions, new discoveries,
technical updates, cave science talks and audio-visual shows. Equipment suppliers and caving clubs
have stands in the exhibition hall, which also features Art, Photo and Video salons and various
competitions. The conference is an ideal place for the exchange of ideas, the planning of new
ventures, and for meeting old friends.
In 1996 the conference was re-branded as Hidden Earth. In 2016 we took a break for BCA's
Eurospeleo event and in 2020–2022 Hidden Earth was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Thus, in 0000 it will be the 00th BCRA
conference and the 00th Hidden Earth event. BCRA used to hold its
AGM at the annual conference but we now hold it at the BCRA Science Symposium in October or
November. For those who like to count these things, this year (0000)
will see the 00th BCRA AGM. Thanks to Alan Jeffreys for
supplying the following list.
List of past
British annual caving conferences
| BSA annual
conferences |
| BCRA annual
conferences |
| BCRA Hidden
Earth |
British Caving Library
The British Caving Library (BCL) is a national research and reference library based in the
Peak District, owned by BCRA and staffed part-time by a librarian. It mostly comprises published
and archived material collected by BCRA and its predecessor organisations, with a minority of the
items on long-term loan from clubs and individuals. The library function with the generous
financial assistance of the British Caving Association, through which the library is able to offer
its services to all cavers and to all those interested in cave science and related topics.
Services and materials include...
- Books; reports; maps, charts and surveys
- Over 150 non-UK journal titles
- Over 300 UK journal titles and club bulletins
- Journal exchanges: foreign and UK organisations
- Photocopying and computer facilities
- Online catalogue
- Audio archive with more than 100 interviews
Enquiries via phone, email or personal visit. See: caving-library.org.uk
Special Interest Groups
BCRA supports a number of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that
allow BCRA members to associate and communicate in a more specialised way than is possible through
the general membership. Some SIGs produce a newsletter or journal and organise regular meetings or
training sessions. Currently active SIGs are...
- Cave Archaeology
- Cave Biology
- Cave Radio & Electronics
- Cave Surveying
- Explosives Users
To visit those pages go to the List of SIGs. BCRA also hosts a
number of SIG-related pages that are not directly maintained by the SIGs themselves. These include
...
Constitution, AGM, Elections
BCRA is UK registered charity number 267828, and a constituent body of the
British Caving Association. It was created on 23 June
1973 and is now in its 00th full year of existence. Some information
(including annual accounts) is available on the
Charity
Commission web site.
The BCRA Constitution was last amended at the
BCRA AGM on 14 November 2020.
BCRA's Annual General Meeting is now usually held at the Cave
Science Symposium in October or November. (It used to be held at the annual caving conference,
Hidden Earth, in September). AGM notices and AGM minutes are posted on the BCRA web site.
This year (0000) will see the 00th AGM.
BCRA is governed by a Council of trustees. BCRA Council comprises
- Three annually elected honorary officers – Chairman, Treasurer and
Secretary
- Up to seven annually elected representatives of the Personal Members
- Optionally, a President, appointed by Council for a three-year term
- Upto three additional members, co-opted by Council as and when required
To see the present list of trustees, please scroll to the bottom of our
Contacts page. You can also
read a brief biography of each of our trustees. To
see the latest list of nominations please go to agm/2024/nominations_for_2025.html. By
tradition, the Chairman of the British Caving Association is one of our co-opted Council members.
The procedure for elections to BCRA Council is described in our constitution. Anyone wishing to
submit a nomination is asked to use the following form:
Word document |
PDF
Sub-Committees
Clause J8 of the BCRA Constitution
states that The Council may appoint one or more sub-committees for the purpose of making any
inquiry or supervising or performing any function or duty which in the opinion of the Council
would be more conveniently undertaken or carried out by a sub-committee; provided that all acts
and proceedings of any such sub-committee shall be fully and promptly reported to all members of
the Council.
Because these are sub-committees, it is clear that they must be governed by the same
rules as the committee from which they are spawned; and so, specifically, voting members of a
sub-committee must be members of BCRA. However, a sub-committee may also include non-voting
observers or advisers.
Members of sub-committees are appointed or approved by Council and are not subject to
election by the members, nor to a fixed period of office. Currently, BCRA has FIVE
sub-committees, as follows.
1) Annual
Conference (Hidden Earth)
The Hidden Earth sub-committee oversees our annual conference – see National Caving Conference: Hidden Earth above. There is a larger informal
steering group that handles the general management of the conference, comprising the heads
of the various teams - admin, lectures, trade hall, technical, web site, competitions, bar and
catering, and so on. The core sub-committee comprises ...
- Les Williams (Conference Manager) – also a BCRA trustee
- Dave Gough (Conference Treasurer) – formerly a BCRA trustee
- David Gibson (Conference Secretary) – also a BCRA trustee
The sub-committee members are chosen by the wider Hidden Earth steering group and subject
to approval by BCRA Council. There is no fixed period of office and the posts are not subject to
election by the BCRA membership. The conference has its own bank account, which is included in
BCRA's annual accounts as submitted to the Charity Commission.
2) Library
Steering Group
The Library Steering Group has a dual status – it reports to BCRA Council as a BCRA
sub-committee, but it also reports to BCA Council, as BCA provides a large fraction of the funding
for the library. The chair of the LSG is – in effect – jointly appointed by both BCRA
and BCA Councils. Volunteer members of the Group are recruited by invitation and, to the extent
that the group reports to BCRA Council, are approved by BCRA Council. In addition to the volunteer
members of the Group, BCRA employs two part-time staff whose posts are funded by BCA.
- Jenny Potts (Chair of the LSG)
- Martin Laverty (IT, online bibliography/catalogue)
- John Gardner (IT, BCRA online archives)
- Chris Hunter (IT, Library webmaster, maintenance and update service)
- Mary Wilde – remunerated librarian (part time)
- Karen Lydon –remunerated library assistant (part time)
3) CSTRF
Awards Panel
The CSTRF Awards Panel deals with applicants to our Research Fund. The panel is formally
constituted as a BCRA Council sub-committee. Its members are listed below. New panel members are
recruited by invitation and approved by BCRA Council.
- Andrew Chamberlain (Chair)
- Andy Farrant
- Rhian Kendall
- Andrew McLeod
- Graham Proudlove
- Paul Wood
4) Cave Radio
& Electronics Special Interest Group
CREG has a higher level of activity than the other SIGs, and is more formally managed,
via a BCRA Council sub-committee, rather than the "at a distance" model used by the other SIGs.
New committee members are recruited by invitation and approved by BCRA Council.
- Rob Gill (CREG editor and secretary to the sub-committee)
- David Gibson (CREG treasurer and BCRA Council's representative to the
sub-committee)
- Mike Bedford (observer; Mike is not currently a BCRA member and so does not have a
formal vote on the sub-committee)
- Tony Haigh (co-opted in November 2022)
5) IT
Sub-committee
This sub-committee was set up in 2022 with its terms of reference being as follows. The
chair of the sub-committee is the BCRA IT Manager who is appointed by BCRA Council. There is no
fixed period of office. Members of the sub-committee are invited to join by the IT manager, and
are subject to approval by BCRA Council. There is no fixed period of office and the posts are not
subject to election by the BCRA membership. Anyone wishing to join the sub-committee is invited to
get in touch with either the IT Manager or BCRA Council.
- David Cooke (IT manager)
- David Gibson (Website editor)
Employees and Associates
BCRA is mostly run by volunteers, including
In addition to those roles, we have ...
Paid administrative roles. BCRA has several officers performing paid administrative
roles. These are actually part-time employees of BCA, not BCRA. Their line manager (at the time of
writing) is the BCA Treasurer. BCRA reimburses BCA for the cost of their time when an employee of
BCA is working on administrative matters concerned with BCRA. The reason for this arrangement is
that BCA has the structure in place to deal with employees (including the handling of sick pay,
personal pension and so on) which BCRA does not have. The remuneration and hours worked for BCRA,
as well as the exact tasks, are decided by BCRA Council in consultation with the BCA Treasurer.
Those BCA employees who undertake duties for BCRA are listed in the table below.
Paid associates. In addition to the BCA employees, BCRA engages a small number of
'associates', who might also be described as contractors or consultants. These are not employees,
but are designated by HMRC as 'self-employed for tax purposes' according to the tool at
gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax.
They are paid a fixed honorarium for a task, rather than an hourly rate. The remuneration
is 'nominal' and is below the commercial rate that would apply to such work. Our associates are
listed in the table below.
Table of
Employees and Associates
Display=none.
During development of this section, the table is not available for viewing. BCRA staff can gain
access by adding a particular token to the query string
Last amended
30-Jan-2023 at 18:25
| Name |
Job Function |
Engaged as |
Hours charged to BCRA |
Comments |
| Katie Eavis |
BCRA Membership & Sales Administration |
Employee of BCA |
None (see right) |
By long-standing agreement with BCA, BCRA membership is handled by BCA. Katie is
therefore remunerated by BCA for this work, which is only a small part of the BCA membership work.
(BCRA members are all BCA members).
Katie handle sales administration for BCRA, but this is also only a small
proportion of her work, and is currently not charged to BCRA.
Katie has also worked as an assistant in the British Caving Library, which is
managed by BCRA. However, Katie's library work was remunerated directly by BCA with no charge to
BCRA.
|
| Karen Lydon |
BCRA Clerical Assistant |
Employee of BCA |
Only approx 1h/week at the moment |
This table row is hidden at the moment, as Karen is currently not engaged in any
BCRA activities
Karen performs admin roles for BCRA including the recording and issuing of the
minutes of Council meetings, working closely with the BCRA Secretary. She is paid by BCA for the
time spent on this activity; and BCA then makes a 'cross-charge' to BCRA to recover the cost.
Karen also works as an assistant in the British Caving Library, which is managed
by BCRA. However, Karen's library work is remunerated directly by BCA with no charge to BCRA.
|
| Mary Wilde |
BCRA Librarian |
Employee of BCA |
To be advised |
Mary Wilde is the librarian at the British Caving Library, which is managed by
BCRA. She works closely with BCRA's Library Coordinator. Mary is paid by BCA for the time she
spends on this activity; and BCA then makes a 'cross-charge' to BCRA to recover the cost.
Separately, BCA provides a grant to BCRA for the running of the library and this grant includes an
element for the employment of a librarian. The reason behind this procedure is 'historical'.
Mary also works as the BCA Training Officer and is remunerated directly by BCA for
this activity.
|
| David Lowe |
Editor of Cave & Karst Science |
Associate of BCRA |
Fixed price contracts |
David Lowe is paid a nominal fee per issue of C&KS in a contract re-negotiated
annually.
|
| Phil Wolstenholme |
Editor of the BCRA Review and selected other publications. |
Associate of BCRA |
Fixed price contracts |
Phil Wolstenholme is paid a nominal fee per issue of the BCRA Review in a contract
re-negotiated annually.
In 2022, In a separate contract with BCRA, Phil also worked on Exploring the
Karst and Caves of the Gower Peninsula.
|
Honorary Members
Clause E/1/a/ii of BCRA's constitution says: Honorary Membership may be granted by the
Council to anyone who has given outstanding service to speleology; Honorary Membership shall
confer all benefits of Individual Membership without payment of subscription and shall be
conferred for life.
Past Honorary Life Members
Jerry Wooldridge, Trevor Ford, Pauline Ellis, Bob Picknett, Peter Harvey, Alexander
Klimchouk
Current Honorary Life Members
John Frankland, David Brook, Trevor Shaw, Tony Waltham, David Judson, David Lowe. (6)
Further history, and a description of procedures regarding awards of Honorary Life
Membership is given in the private Manual of Operations document for Council
Members.
Safeguarding
Organisers of BCRA Events and Meetings will take
note of BCRA's policy on Safeguarding. BCRA's trustees are
also expected to be familiar with the guidelines at
gov.uk/guidance/safeguarding-for-charities-and-trustees
Structure and History
BCRA is responsible for two restricted funds (the BCRA Research Fund and the UK Cave
Conservation Emergency Fund). See Grant Aid, above. BCRA's sub-charity,
the BCRA Library and Heritage Fund, has now been dissolved. The Ghar Parau Foundation, which used to be subsidiary charity
267828/1, is now operating as an independent charity.
The BCRA was formed in June 1973 from a merger of the BSA and the CRG. When the NCA was
formed, BCRA became one of its constituent bodies. (See Origins of
BCRA and A description of the NCA). In 2005 NCA was dissolved
and the new British Caving Association took over the
'national body' services from NCA and BCRA. A BCRA/BCA 'Road Map', as envisaged back in 2005, is
described in Speleology 5 pp42-43. At the start of
2006, we announced a new membership structure for BCRA, which limited BCRA membership to BCA
members. At the time, the reason for restricting BCRA membership to BCA members was explained
largely as a demonstration of BCRA's support for the new structure, and to avoid there being two
national bodies in conflict over the recruitment of members. However, an important underlying
reason was that the public liability insurance that BCA was to offer to its members required that
all members of BCA member clubs be individual members of BCA.
BCRA now focuses on cave science, technology, speleological publishing and speleological
heritage; the latter involving the cataloguing of the vast amount of library and archive material
that BCRA has collected over the years. The BCRA Library, which used to be located in the Local
Studies department of Matlock Council offices now has its own premises at Glutton Bridge, near
Buxton. The material in the library is largely owned by BCRA or on long-term loan to BCRA. BCA
contributes a sum of money that covers the employment of a part-time librarian and the library is
now known as the British Caving Library.
The BCRA Logo
The BCRA logo is a silhouette of a caver bridging across a cave passage that has a
cross-section in the shape of the British Isles. It was originally used for the 1977 International
Congress of Speleology, hosted by BCRA, which then adopted the logo for its own use. It was
designed by Mike Cowlishaw who was chair of the NCA Equipment Committee at the time, and
who responded to a request for ideas for a logo for the Congress.
In 1993 the logo was traced and digitised as a vector graphics file in WMF format by
Mike Bedford. Since then a number of minor variations in bit-mapped formats have been
created for different uses, including one in full colour designed by the printers of our Cave
& Karst Science journal, Pagefast (now trading as MTP Media).
If you are working on a BCRA project, please contact the secretary for information about
the logo files that we have available, and for information about the font used for BCRA
titling.
BCRA's 25th Anniversary logo was a modification of the basic logo created by David
Gibson in 1998.
Our 50th Anniversary logo was designed by Jo White
in 2023. It is a circular badge, with octants containing a representation of seven aspects of
speleological studies, plus the original BCRA logo.
Staff Info
You can amend this page as follows. 1) Download a plain-text
version, which contains an HTML-style markup – see Making
Amendments with a Markup Language. 2) Make your changes, taking care not to include any
incorrect mark-up, as far as you are able. 3) Email the file to the website editor who will run it
through a verification program and then upload it.
Using Hashtags with this page: You can refer to sections of this page using
hashtags, but you should not use the hashtags listed in the Information
Topics section above, as those are generated dynamically and are subject to change. Instead,
use one of the permanent hashtag links from the list below. If the tag you require is not present,
please ask IT to generate it for you. These are used in URLs as, for example,
http://bcra.org.uk/info.html#agm.
JS inserts list here
