FREE WiFi now available to all members and guests staying at Bullpot Farm. The password is displayed on the noticeboard in the Members room and Guests kitchen. Its use restricted to bedrooms and upper floors.

The Recent Past:

Another nine year lease with the landlord was signed in July 2017. More information and photos on the Farm page

2017 and the Future

In December 2016 we were formally notified from the Yorkshire Dales National Park that we have been given £8,000 SDF grant for Environmental Improvements to Bullpot Farm. This money is available for a year from the start of the project on 1st February 2017 and relied on us getting planning permission from the National Park and the club also obtaining a new lease from the Whelprigg estate, when it ran out in January.
The three parts of the project are to provide assistance for improvements to our grey water system, a new tackle store and new library facilities upstairs. The planning application for the external work has gone in and approved in the middle of January 2017. Work started at the end of February.

November Update The three parts of the project are now complete. We have also fitted a pump to the upstairs toilets so that they fill up quicker. A bit of fine tuning over the winter will tidy things up a bit. We finally signed our new lease as well. We have also installed a backup pump to top up the four IBC tanks from the stream at the side of the Farm.

What is an SDF Grant

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund is open to individuals, businesses, community groups or voluntary sector bodies. It provides an accessible source of money for a range of projects that result in positive benefits for the National Park’s environment, economy and communities, while enhancing and conserving local culture, wildlife and landscape.

http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/living-and-working/sdf

We have plans to improve facilities over the next couple of years including more bed space, seating, improvements to the rear garden and another toilet.

Our Appeal:

The club has already allocated a amount of its reserves to various projects but to carry out our plans, we need to raise more funds.  To ensure the project is completed we are appealing for donations from members  and others.

Advertising sponsored by Descent Magazine

How you can help?

We have various schemes in the pipeline; Raffles, Sponsorship events, 2018 calendar, Auctions etc.

The Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club was formed in 1946 and is based around the town of Lancaster in the North of England. Since then it has become one of the country’s leading caving clubs with a growing membership of over 200 living all over Britain, as well as a number of overseas members. Membership is open to anyone with a genuine interest in caving.

The RRCPC holds regular caving meets at weekends and organises expeditions to other caving regions in Britain and abroad. For example since 2000 members of the Club have been active in expeditions to Sardinia, Spain, France, Borneo, China, India and Crete. As well as the normal club caving, we have a wide cross section of members interested in all other aspects of caving.

The Farm:

Most of the Red Rose’s activities are based around Bullpot Farm situated near Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria. This remote farmhouse has been the headquarters of the club since 1966 when it first took up a lease on the premises. And its members are present most weekends. The farm is also available for use by visiting groups or clubs. It is located above Ease Gill Caverns, part of the Three Counties System, Britain’s longest cave system which boasts over 90 Km of passages. The Red Rose have always been actively involved with the continued exploration and scientific study of this cave system. At present the whole system is being resurveyed and the data put on to computer. This data has recently been published in the form of four A1 size surveys with companion guides. Sheet 5 will follow as surveying is completed.

Members of the Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club may use the building at any time as part of their annual membership. Other groups and individuals may request to visit by arrangement. See link on how to book Bullpot Farm

Other users of Bullpot Farm: The clubs facilities at Bullpot Farm enables university groups, school groups and other sports units to participate in caving and other outdoor pursuits by sharing its facilities with them whilst they are visiting caves in the area. The headquarters of the club is also used to facilitate visits from scientific groups from the British Cave Research Association, British Caving Association and the Council of Northern Caving Clubs at nominal cost, to undertake study sessions. These subjects include Cave Surveying, Cave Radio & Electronics, Hydrology, Geomorphology etc.

Sporting:

The main purpose and use of the building is as a centre for members of the Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club to stay overnight, and make use of the building on a day basis whilst carrying out sporting activities in the area.

Scientific:

The club has an active programme of educational activities related to caving and potholing. The science of speleology includes all aspects of cave study from Surveying to Hydrology, Geomorphology, biology to Underground Radio Communications.

Club Library:

The club has a vast collection of scientific books, magazines and periodicals dating back over 100 years for the use of members and other interested parties. We hope to make this available to the wider community in the near future as part of a National Park SDF grant.

Conservation Work:

The Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club have a Conservation Officer and regularly we have major clean ups of the local cave system and surface features. The club actively encourages all cavers to remove used carbide from the cave and take it home with them. Cleanups will continue to be held in the future and we continue to tape off formations and clean stalagmites and stalactites. Surface conservation work is also carried out including the replacing of stiles and footpath erosion repairs and protection or rare floral habitats.

Social Activities:

The club also holds regular social events at its Headquarters, both as fund raising events to help in the running costs of the farm but as an benefit to members and other like minded people to socialise, discuss their sport and initiate or debate current scientific work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3JnVGmp-kM&feature=player_embedded