It is highly probable that I am the only editor of a caving club journal who has only caved twice with his club. I am by no means proud of this (although it is probably a record) but it does mean that I know very little about the expertise and experience of the club. On the other hand I would say that I am an accentuated case of the Experienced Caver (7½ years under the earth) who finds the many and varied facets of Cambridge life, especially the weekend, too much of an attraction to undertake the tedious and tiring slog up to Yorkshire or across to Somerset. For this reason I am continually impressed by the dedicated hard core who do go grovelling every fortnight in those far-distant counties, and I especially hope that this year's influx of new members will have gained enough enthusiasm and experience to keep up the regular meets next year.

As this journal goes to press it looks as though there is less than the usual amount of interest being expressed in the, by now, traditional expedition to the French Pyrenees in the Summer Vacation. This is a great pity because the foreign expedition is in many ways that for which the club has been training new members during the year. In the clichéd words of the Varsity Handbook (A guide, among other things, to University Societies) the expedition "aims more scientifically at the finding and surveying of caves and with the occaisional discovery offers a genuine chance to explore the unknown." For the latter reason, if nothing else, it is important that C.U.C.C. continues to mount an expedition abroad each Summer Vacation and also because it is our main contribution towards national and international speleology, albeit in a minor way. As many of the resident members know, my main interest lies in Irish caving, so I have no concern whether or not the expedition is specifically to the French Pyrenees - indeed I am very pleased that CUCC members have been underground in Ireland during both last Easter and summer vacations but a lengthy foreign expedition is, I believe necessary for the continued well-being of the club; the present new members should give serious consideration to joining the expedition.

You may ask why such a non-active club caver as myself is editor of this journal, and the reason is that I am one of the few literate Arts students in a club composed mainly of illiterate engineers. However, I am a student of Early Irish so all spelling errors are merely the Hibernian way of spelling the word, and all typing errors were typed by someone else. The financial and business affairs of the journal were managed by William Taylor and Phil Dennis without whom this journal would never have appeared: while Greene King provided the inspiration and willpower. I doubt whether this journal is any more erudite or interesting than last year's; nonetheless, with inflation running at the rate it is, the C.U.C.C. journal is STILL better value than ever ... see last year's editorial.

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