In Fifty Four a dig was started by some bods from the other club,
In a shakehole by the roadside not so far from the Hunters Pub,
With occasional draughts of cider the diggers soon had piled a heap,
To the envy of the weegees and the puzzlement of the sheep.
CHORUS:
Ain't a gonna dig this cave no longer, ain't a gonna dig this cave no more,
With it's stalagmites from the ceiling and it's stalagmites from the floor,
Ain't a gonna push this squeeze no longer, ain't a gonna bang this choke no more,
For our Tankards Hole is going and its going to beat them all
Well the entrance rift was narrow, so there wasn't much need to shore,
But further down it's ample, twenty feet by sixty four,
It was tedious to climb the pitches, with a rift and a gulf to jump,
So we've got an elevator from the first pitch to the sump.
CHORUS:
(the final verse tempo is speeded up and sung loudly)
You can keep your Tratmans Temple and your Devil's Elbow too,
And your Mortons Pot with stemples and your Cuthberts entrance queue,
For our Tankards hole is going, going steadily down the dip,
Taking Swildons as a feeder and St. Cuthberts as a drip.
A few more verses were written by Mauruce Hewins of the Wessex on the theme of Tankards Hole and sung to the same tune which he called 'The Ballad of Fester Hole' for which he apologises to Bob Lawder.
J-Rat is Tony Jarrat of which much is said and recounted in my memoirs but J-Rats instructed everyone to dig after his death and in 2008 there was a resurgance of the activity. An annual award is now given to the club who finds the most cave by digging.
The Wessex turned their attention to Twin Teens Hole in Burrington Combe which they nicknamed Fester Hole and after 9 years digging finally broke through into 200 feet of new passage with a well decorated rift passage.
The Ballad of Fester Hole
When J-Rat died, he left a hole in caving and the pub.
So our team returned to Fester Hole in search of something big.
To carry out his dying wish and dig and dig and dig.
You can keep your Sidcott Swallet and your Rods and Lionel's too.
Your boy scout crushing tie-press, and your Goatchurch Drainpipe queue.
For our Fester Hole is going: going right along the strike.
Straight into the hillside, proving Andy Farrant right.
Jim Rands, and Co had had a go in nineteen eighty nine.
They downward dug in thick red mud, they really got on fine.
With barbecue to bribe his crew, our Jim just loved to wallow,
But winter came to stop his game. It's up to us to follow.
So we cleared the dig with Mullen and agreed we would not dump,
Our spoil upon the hillside, so we buried every lump.
We back-filled Jim Rand's passage and associated shaft.
At upper Pitts they watched us go; the Wessex thought us daft.
When Jon and Tommo joined the crew, excitement grew and grew.
I thought a breakthrough was quite near. In fact I almost knew.
But when at last the moment came and they entered Valentine'.
I was home with Judy damn it.- Sod it! Never mind.
You can keep your Sidcott Swallet and your Rods and Lionel's too.
Your boy scout crushing tie-press,and your Goatchurch Drainpipe queue
For our Fester Hole is going: going right along the strike.
Straight into the hillside, proving Andy Farrant right.
Maurice Hewins 21/2/15
|
|
