Oxford University Cave Club
1963 - Rescue from Bar Pot
Graham Stevens
Logbook 1 p55 briefly mentions the need for a Mountain
Rescue call-out during the Vacation Meet to Yorkshire in March 1963.
Six members gathered at the Yorkshire Ramblers Club Hut ‘Lowstern’,
in Clapham on the evening of 18 March, some arriving quite late.
The next morning I roused them for a trip to Bar Pot, but as we
walked through the village, I felt ill and went back to bed in the hut. The
others entered Bar Pot about 2 pm.
About 3 am on the 20th, Tim Cooke came
rushing into the hut and roused me.
There had been some trouble getting Ron Cooper up the 45 ft entrance
pitch. He had blacked out and
fallen off the ladder, hanging upside down on the lifeline.
They had managed to haul him up the pitch to the surface but he was
too exhausted to move any further.
Tim wanted me to drive up the farm and mountain tracks to the
pothole, but I was in a borrowed car and doubted this would be possible.
We could end up stuck causing delays and needing rescue ourselves
So at about 4 am we roused P.C. Peckham of Clapham for
a Mountain Rescue call-out. He
summoned a Police Mountain Rescue Ambulance from Settle which arrived about
5 am. The day in bed had
revived me so I accompanied Tim on the walk back up to the Pot.
The ambulance waited for daylight before driving up onto the fell via
Clapdale Farm to within 100 ft of the entrance and by 6 am Ron was off to
hospital in Skipton. The rest
of us returned to the hut and were in bed by 8 am.
Rest was interrupted in less than an hour by a knock on
the door – the Press had arrived!
It seems they monitored the police radio frequencies and knew about
the call-out and had all our names.
They wanted to meet us in the pub for free drinks and to listen to
our story. No-one was
interested, everyone was exhausted.
We prevaricated and only gave them yes/no answers.
To avoid parental alarm, I was keen to have my name excluded as I
wasn’t even on the trip. The
Press did their best to sensationalise the story.
The Mail had the Police driver as the hero, whilst the Express had
the Students saving their friend as heroes.
The underground trip had not been particularly
strenuous and Ron had climbed the 100 ft pitch without difficulty.
The cause of his black out was put down to carbon monoxide poisoning
from his long drive the day before, travelling non-stop from Oxford to
Clapham via home in Somerset in a van with a leaking exhaust pipe! He
recovered after rest in Hospital.
