Well whatever did happen to CUCC in 1973-1974? I'm not sure that I really know, but one thing is for certain, it's up to me to summarise in as few words as possible exactly what we have achieved in the previous year as CUCC. It was certainly a year in which we could have achieved great things both at home and abroad as, without a doubt, we had the best line up of cavers and detailed knowledge of caves and areas that we have ever had the good fortune to possess. Why, then, did things go wrong? Why was not 1973-1974 a milestone in the history of CUCC, a year to be looked back upon with satisfaction and pride? Why was this year just another year and not a landmark as it most certainly should have been? Read on, and let us try to discover the truth.

The club returned to Cambridge at the start of the Michaelmas Term 1973 after a very successful long vacation. The Pyrenees Expedition was the most productive expedition that we have had in recent years exploring several new caves, two of large size and important speleological significance. 5 km. of passage was recorded in Betzulako Harpia as a continuation of our work in 1972 on this extensive system. Many enjoyable caving trips were organised by small parties in home areas, the most noteworthy of which were two epic trips excavating a new route through the enormous and frightening Nemesis choke in Langcliffe Pot, which had collapsed since the previous explorers passed through. Subsequent events have proved that this "thin men only" route was somewhat metastable, but nevertheless the hard work expended in exploring the cave serves to typify the zeal with which we were caving at that particular time. The open meeting was an unqualified success. Although many freshmen must have turned up solely with the intention of consuming some of the free beer, their appetites for adventure must surely also have been titillated by Rog Willbourne's very excellent slide show. All seemed to be going well; the P8 trip was more efficient than it usually is since we ran two small day excursions, one on Saturday, one on Sunday, hiring a minibus for the weekend instead of the usual mega coach epic on the Sunday. The trip was enjoyed by all concerned even though P8 was predictably wet and about as crowded as the spy an' cop at Anfield on a Saturday afternoon.

The Yorkshire meet was marred only by an abortive attempt to dive sump two in Yew Cogar cave, and the now traditional end of term Mendip meet was, as it always is, very successful. By that time, however, it was becoming apparent that the oil sheiks were not going to allow these leaps and bounds by CUCC to proceed any further. Seeing that we were on the verge of becoming a successful club they put their collective foot down with alarming consequences. The result was mass panic by those stalwarts of the club who possessed cars and the highly tuned CUCC caving machine spluttered for lack of fuel and began to slow down. The pre-Christmas digging meet fell through completely, and the New Year meet, upon which club morale so heavily depends, was a complete flop. New members thus lost contact with us during the vacation and many were never again to be seen in the Starlight bar at the Granta or in the visitors room at Bracken Bottom.

During this period of winter hibernation a curious metamorphosis took place within the rank and file of the club. The Lent term began under the shadow of the oil crisis with morale and motivation at an all time low. Transport, for a club so remote from the limestone areas, is of critical importance, and the scarcity of petrol put a complete stop to private meets during the Lent term. The first of the club meets was to Derbyshire and probably ranks as the most sordid CUCC meet of all time. The second meet took place in Yorkshire, and was so poorly supported that the traditional Simpson's Swinsto exchange trip became a somewhat laboured Swinsto - valley entrance ordeal. It was only an efficient Sunday morning trip down the very fine and aqueous Outsleets Beck Pot that saved the weekend. The undeniably bad quality of these two meets was sufficient to rid us of all but the hardiest of the first years, and it was at this point that the social strata of the club parted off about half way down resulting in the formation of "the professionals", an elitest drinking partnership of third year members. Most other club members opted out of this social one-upmanship and it was precisely this that prompted Evan's comments upon polarisation of interest in last years Presidentorial. The social atmosphere in the club was, to say the least, strained, and when the minibus broke down half way up the A1 on the way up to do Gaping Gill it seemed that we had a fitting conclusion to a disappointing term.

At the beginning of the Easter term most club members recognised that it was time to pull our collective wet suit socks up and get the club moving again, and as luck would have it a good Easter vacation meet spent in South Wales gave us the motivation to get things going. The transport problems of the Lent term were soon resolved and the remaining new members having survived the storms began to assert themselves. Meets were organised to Mendip and Yorkshire on a private basis and the pre-exam weekend was well supported for a change. After the exams a very productive long weekend was spent in Yorkshire during the dry spell, and the term was well rounded off by a splendid Post Tripos meet, during which many enjoyable trips took place. The summer expedition which again visited the Pyrenees was not as successful as was hoped, but several new caves were explored, and the results are recounted elsewhere in this journal.

That, more or less, is what happened to CUCC during 1973-1974, not a particularly notable year as you can see; or rather should I say, a year notable only in that it was not particularly notable. If Evan's was the year of non-communication; then mine must surely be the year of non-cooperation. This is undeniably true, but the question that remains is, should it have been a notable year considering the circumstances. I think not. Whilst it would be unfair to blame all on the fuel shortage I think that the loss of the New Year meet was the root cause of the trouble. The New Year meet is the first of our vacation meets which lasts for one week and it is upon this meet that new members for the first time really get absorbed into the life of the club both social and speleological. The absence of this meet due to transport difficulties meant that most first years had not the strength of purpose to face a second term of, and I quote, "being systematically ignored for days, and being bawled at by a hungover Talbot in a sleeping bag". In the circumstances I think we did well to do as much caving as we did, and although I can think of no sparkling and deeply philosophical moral to this tale, I think that we are now sufficiently well established that we can look forward to our next year with somewhat less trepidation than in previous years.