"The President's bit", what's that supposed to mean you ask yourself? Well apparently it means a rough summary of the events of the club over the last year carefully leaving out anything that might embarrass the author. I will start with the Post-Tripos meet of 1988 which saw a Spectacle-Vesper exchange which I suspect will not be repeated again in the near future except by someone with a death-wish. Other trips induded Grange Rigg Pot, Meregill, Dowbergill Passage, Gaping Gill Main Shaft, Little Hull, Diccan and Cow Pot. The day after the Alternative Dinner we took to throwing ourselves off cliffs into the pools of the Ingleton Waterfalls much to the amazement of the tourists.

The next meet was an extra South Wales trip where Dan-yr-Ogof and Pant Mawr were explored. other Long Vac. trips included Giant's Hole, P8, Swildons, New Rift, Lancaster Hole, Yordas and Pippikin Pot. Then came Austria, with so many members going as to make the Austrians suspicious that we weren't all from CUCC. Much beer was drunk but even so, some very successful caving was done (copious details to be found later in this journal) and we have much to look forward to when we go back this year.

The stall at the Freshers' Fair seemed to generate a lot of interest, the only drawback being that we were opposite the Conservative Association and thus had six pictures of Maggie staring at us for two days, this may have been a significant factor in explaining why the numbers of freshers who turned up at the squash approximately equalled the number of CUCC members who had turned up for the free beer and slide show. Perhaps in the future a smaller number of us might not prove so overwhelming to potential recruits. As a result we had to cancel one of the minibuses for P8 but those who went seemed to enjoy themselves a lot more than I did on my first trip down Carlswark, with the result that we now have a reasonable number of very keen first years.

All the meets during the year have been well attended. However, the booking of accommodation and permits has not always been successful, especially in the case of the Wessex where we have been both double and triple booked. I would recommend to meet leaders that they make sure they have the appropriate booking letter with them on each meet.

The fortnightly meets during term and others during the holidays have included trips to Yorkshire, Mendips, Peak District and South Wales and caves descended include Long Kin, Hurnell Moss Pot, Marble Steps, Mistral Hole, Oxlow-Giants, Meregill Hole, Roaring Hole, Kingsdale Master Cave, Simpsons Pot, Eastwater Cavern, Longwood/August, Swildons, Sunset, Easegill, Peak Cavern, Quaking, Little Neath River Cave, Sell Gill, Daren Cilau and Juniper Gulf. From this it can be seen that although the first years have had the opportunity to do fairly easy trips, especially in the first term, the more experienced members have had ample chance to stretch themselves, as well as helping by leading novice trips.

Just before Christmas, when the British weather was starting to show its true characteristics nineteen of us jetsetted off to Majorca for what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable holiday..., sorry, caving trip.

The social life of the club has been reasonably healthy but limited by the fact that no one has got a house in which we can hold regular parties. We meet in the Granta on Tuesday evenings and have lunches on Thursdays. The Annual Dinner was very successful with about 70 people coming, many more than usual, partly because it was the 40th Dinner (although this has been disputed by some). I am sure that the musical(?) accompaniment to the Wild Caver will not be forgotten for a while and Dave Gibson (ExCS) put together a wonderful display of 40 years of CUCC.

ExCS have been going for 10 years now and this year relations between "us" and "them" have definitely improved, an example being the number of articles written by ExCS members in this journal. It is hoped that with the present third years joining things can only get better.

Thus, the club has had a good year with the only sad point being the death of Professor Adams, a former Senior Treasurer best known for his after dinner climbing activities. Next year however, several of the people who have been with the club for many years as well as all the present third years are leaving and it will be up to those remaining to ensure the club continues to thrive. Finally I would like to thank the committee and all the other members who have worked very hard, ensuring the club has run approximately smoothly in the past year.