A CAVING club which for many years held the record for discovering the deepest cave in northern Europe, is celebrating its 60th birthday.

Kendal Caving Club will mark the milestone with a nostalgic trip down Sell Gill Holes on ladders - the first official meeting of the club on Sunday, August 18, 1957.

The celebrations will take place over the Bank Holiday weekend August 26 and 27 at Settle Rugby Club, the special caving trip down Sell Gill on the Saturday.

Potholers at that very first meet included Dave Heap, Alan Campbell, Jenny Bowman, Fred Underhill, David (Tom) Holden, Martin Hutchinson, Reg Parrington, Gerald Williams and John Mansfield.

And after all these years, two of those original cavers – Fred Underhill and ‘Tom’ Holden - are both still members of the club.

During the 1960s and 1970s the KCC was involved in major caving discoveries in Arctic Norway, under the leadership of Dave Heap. Many of these were made in conjunction with pupils from Ermysted’s Grammar School in Skipton, where Dave was headmaster.

The most significant find was the now famous Raggejavreraige system, which was discovered and named in Lappish by the KCC in 1968.

At a depth of around 600 meters this was, for a long time, the deepest cave in northern Europe and one of the deepest through-trips in the world.

During the 1970s and 1980s, KCC divers were instrumental in making great advances in the arena of cave diving within the Yorkshire Dales.

Former Craven Herald editor, Ian Plant, was also deeply involved in the club’s cave diving activities until his untimely death in 1980 while diving in Bull Pot of the Witches.

The most significant achievements were the discovery of the China Shop in Boreham Cave in 1974 by Geoff Yeadon and the first through-trip from Kingsdale Master Cave to Keld Head, Kingsdale, in January 1979 – a distance of almost 3.5 km – by Geoff Yeadon and Oliver ‘Bear’ Statham.

The through Kingsdale trip was filmed and later shown on national television as The Underground Eiger.

The club’s involvement in non-diving exploration, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, was also significant with the finding of Grey Wife Hole, Haytime Hole and extensions to Long Kin West and the Lost John’s Cave systems, alongside a re-surveying of the extensive Gaping Gill system.

The publication "Kendal Caving Club: the first 50 years" will be re-issued alongside the CD of old KCC publications – both items were originally released to mark the 50th milestone in 2007.

The book will be available through on-line, on-demand printing from Lulu.com. More information on obtaining the publications is available from the editor, Elaine Hill, on 01729 825765 or by contacting us through the club website at http://kendalcaving.org.uk/

People wishing to join club members for the weekend should make contact using the form on the club’s website at: http://kendalcaving.org.uk/contact

There will be space for camping - tents and vans - at the rugby club and there is indoor accommodation in Settle. There are also a number of caving clubs with huts in the vicinity.