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We are a small but active club formed in November 2001 by cavers for cavers and are based in North West England caving mainly in the Yorkshire Dales but occasionally further afield.
We aim to further our members interests in all aspects of the underground world, what we don't do is become bogged down in unnecessary bureaucracy -
we have a constitution to lay down a few simple rules but we do not have a committee as such as we feel there is no need for one to go caving - the club consults all members on any matters arising.
We are a very online based club, most members come to us after having seen the website and most of our news and information is passed to members via the website and the members section (with its own small forum open for all members to use). This allows us to keep costs down and helps keep the club and its running effecient.
When it comes to organising trips we don't stick to the classics or trade routes all the time as we like to explore the less frequented caves and pots out there, we also explore mines occasionally.
If you would like an idea on what we get up to then take a look at the log book for some short notes on every trip we do or visit our dedicated trip reports section for a number of big reports from the past few years.
Apart from the gallery on this website we also maintain a caving-trip photo archive on Flickr and the other activities archive on Photobucket.
Trips are most commonly on Saturdays and very occasionally Sundays and mid-week - we also have a number of weekends away each year to places like South Wales or the Mendips.
Usually after a caving trip we visit a local hostelry to relax and perhaps discuss the days events or even future events and other club matters. The number of trips the Club organises is
somewhere in the region of 20-40 a year!
Some of our members are also interested in other outdoor pursuits - walking, scrambling, climbing, off-roading, mountain biking etc. Whilst the club will not organise trips of this nature we do encourage our members to organise activities such as those and are welcome to promote them via the website - in particular the members section where a mini-forum exists for members use. The same applies to the organisation of any type of social activity.
We organise meets on a reasonable number of weekends throughout the year and we have membership of the BCA which gives us access to
permits for caves and any publications they produce which will be added to the library. Also via the BCA we now have public liability insurance to allow us access to a few caves where proof of this is required.
Membership is open to cavers only (we don't have a social membership option, if you want to know why, ask and we will reveal all) - see the membership pages for more information on the benefits of joining us.
The club believes in promoting conservation and we have joined Descent's "Adopt-a-cave scheme", through which we have adopted Skirwith Cave and the Caves of Storrs Common. The club also believes in promoting responsible open access to caves - we feel that no caves should be gated at all, that we shouldn't have the permit system and public liability insurance should not be asked for or required to gain access to any caves. The club will fight against these infringements of freedom when and where possible.
For some questions and answers about caving and the club, visit out FAQ pages, alternatively try our Search page to look for something specific.
A brief history of the Black Rose name..
The Black Rose Pothole Club was active from 1957 and eventually disbanded on December 10th 1960 when they were taken over by the Northern Speleological Group - back then they even had their own hostel (see pic -») at Scar End Farm (it is now posh housing for rich people only!) but Ged Dodd who left rather than become NSG later reformed the club for 1976-77 and some finds included the Black Rose Tunnel in Kingsdale Master Cave.
Also some caves on Storrs Common were opened up (Long Gour Cave, Lower Arch Cave and a few other minor holes were entered or noted for future reference) before the Club once again disbanded. Thanks to Ged for the information of the old days. In November 2001 the name was resurrected by Pete Dale & Duncan Jones and the Black Rose Caving Club was formed.. The Black Rose (old and new) has once again been active on Storrs Common, extending a cave first entered in the 70s.
>>Check out Ged's website Whos Who of the Black Rose old and new - plenty of information, pictures and history of the Black Rose Pothole Club plus details and pictures from their recent (and now yearly) reunions.