Jim
Puttrell 2
April
2010
Shortly
before Christmas Sandra & Mel asked me to review John Craddock’s biography
of Jim Puttrell. As Jim was both a climber and a
caver (I can still aspire, right?) I accepted the commission with pleasure.
Sadly breaking my shoulder skiing & dealing with the gargantuan workload of
a merger in the office scuppered many of my plans,
not least the task of writing this review having read the book. Craddock’s book
is excellent reading for anyone interested in the genesis of either sport: it
is fabulously well researched, contains many anecdotes of climbing & caving
trips, particularly to anybody active in Derbyshire (Jim lived in
Any
caver/climber reading the book will, I believe, come away with a respect for
Jim’s tenacious problem solving & intrepid hunger to explore. The book is
redolent with anecdotes of caving trips, some comical, others terrifying as Jim
& his colleagues pushed the envelope as they explored. The anecdotes were
as alive to me as the newsletter articles I read from other members of RRCPC.
My only frustration with the book is not a bad one to complain about: in
a sense I felt I could almost reach out & touch him, so close yet so far
away. I frequently found myself wanting to hear him in his own words, maybe
propping up the bar in a hostelry after an exhausting trip, reveling in the
understated humor that was undoubtedly characteristic of the man, maybe even
chat over a burning committee table at Bull Pot Farm! His indomitable spirit
& sense of fun shines through the pages of this book. The table of contents
alone indicates the diversity of Jim’s activities: among others he climbed in
the Lakes & Snowdonia, the Peak,
Jim
lived in the nascent age of climbing & caving in the
I find
myself wanting to write more about Jim, but neither time nor copyright law will
allow me to do him or this book justice. In short, if you are interested in the
history of climbing & caving in this country, read this book. If you want a
right riveting read, with tales of derring do, read
this book. If your life prevents you getting to crag or cave as often as you
like, read this book. Alternatively, read this book. Please note that the
author has kindly donated a copy of this book to the RRCPC library. You could,
of course, consider buying a copy of this excellent book. Apologies
to the author, Sandra and Mel and the long suffering readers of the RRCPC
newsletter for the delay in getting this review out.
2 A review of
“Jim Puttrell: Pioneer Climber & Cave Explorer”
by J. P. Craddock, pub Matador 2009