Being on call the previous weekend, I had missed the bottoming trip down to the sump of Lost Johns'. The following weekend, Kevin Millington, who had also been unable to make the trip, and I were 'detailed off' to investigate various possible leads before detackling the pot. Andy Walsh said he would bring Jim Newton on a photographing trip, and for a surprise encounter at Groundsheet Junction with the rest of the party of Red Rose members who had refused to indulge Jim's passion for ladders, and were doing Lost Johns' on S.R.T. Jim was planning to jump out from behind a corner waving two fingers at them!

Kev turned up with a friend and we met Jim at Lost Johns' car park. The three of us set off ahead. There was quite a bit more water flowing than on previous occasions when we had broken through, due to rain overnight. As Kevin came down the big pitch last, a stone fell from above, hitting him on the shoulder. Our first objective was an inviting passage across the top of the second pitch. This entailed some pegging across the gap, followed by a fine hands and knees passage, which suddenly turned left and opened out into the N.P.C. aven. As we were depegging, Andy Walsh, Bill Holden and Jim went past. We had all been a bit nervous as we had climbed down past the boulders blocking the top of the first pitch, there was quite a stream trickling through them. Jim expressed his opinion of it in his usual trenchant manner. In fact the noise made by the Red Rose party before they arrived made Kev and I joke weakly whether the head of the pitch was falling in. We little realised how prophetic this would turn out to be.

During our next objective, digging along the sand filled bedding plane underneat the bottom of the second pitch, two more Red Rose members appeared and follwed Jim's party down to Groundsheet Junction. After progress had been halted along the bedding plane, we followed the previous parties down. However, as I couldn't fit through a tight squeeze, I spent a happy timt trying to enlarge it with a lump hammer whilst waiting for their return. As the Red Rose party had persuaded one of their S.R.T. team to join them, they now numbered 6, and would be slow with Jim taking pictures. It was agreed that they would come out last and detackle the pot. As I was having difficulty getting the line back down the big pitch without snagging, I climbed down 15 ft. to a ledge and tied on to the ladder and managed to get the line down to Kevin, who was coming up next, whilst Pete, his friend, life lined him. As I stod there, two stones fell away from the base of the fill in the rift. Despite an urgent 'Below', one hit Kevin on the gead, cutting an ear. As we left the pot, two of the Red Rose team were up. Everyone was made aware of the unstable nature of the fill and a warning was shouted down to the party below. Andy Walsh was with this lower party and recalls the following events vividly.....

We were returning up through Lost Pot when we heard muffled shouts from above the 90 ft. telling us to climb carefully as some rocks were very loose.

Jim Newton climbed up the 15 ft. from the gulley to the foot of the ladder, I followed and joined Jim on the ledge. Jim was abut to ascend the ladder when a stone fell between us, then, within seconds, there was an indescribable roar from 90 ft. above us as what was later estimated as 1½ tons or rocks rained down on us. There was no appreciable cover at all, and I cringed back into a tiny alcove which only just protected my head as Jim tried to get his leg out of the ladder rung as he was almost obliterated by falling rocks - 'it seemed to go black with them'. The bulk of the avalanche just missed Jim, but one large rock hit him on the helmet and Jim fell forward into the main downfall and I was hit on the shoulder and foot. After what seemed an eternity, the avalanche stopped and Jim lay motionless, face down with his feet suspended four rungs up the ladder. 'His major cuts did not even bleed and it was obvious that he had died instantly.......'.

Slowly, after a numbed interval, I realised that he was breathing, but very badly injured and I shouted to the cavers above for a doctor and a stretcher.

Up above the pitch, beyond the precariously balanced remaining wall of fill, the crash of falling debris and half-understood shouting from below, gave a confused but serious picture and two of the Red Rose scrambled out of the cave to inform Frank Walker and Kev who were changing at the car park that 'just as the third man was climbing the pitch, the rift had fallen in, and as far as they could tell only one person was alive at the bottom of the 90 ft.'. Frank made a quick trip home to Westhouse to collect some scaffolding poles and timber and the C.R.O. were called out.

Below the rock fall, a shocked group of Red Rose members did all they could for Jim by making him as comfortable as possible and evacuating him from falling stones. Andy Walsh again relates how 'Bill Holden and Dave Crellin helped untie Jim from the lifeline and free his legs from the ladder. He was placed on his side and his head protected by the alcove, but he was still in a very exposed position. Jim then moved a leg and started to vomit - his back was O.K. so we decided to move him back down the cave away from the loose area. We put him in a sit harness of Dave's and with difficulty lowered him down the 15 ft. climb as Jim was now deeply unconscious. We placed him in a reasonably safe situation at the bottom of the gulley under a 3 ft. overhang - it was not very suitable as the floor consisted of large pointed rocks and it was quite near the 100 ft. waterfall from Lost Pot stream, but we had no other choice. Jim's consciousness by this time had partially returned and he seemed vaguely aware and tried now and again to move his body into a more comfortable position.

The proximity of the waterfall made the place very draughty and cold and after an hour or so it was not only Jim that we needed to keep reasonably warm but ourselves as well. No sign of rescue appeared to come and if we moved away from the overhang in an effort to exercise our bodies, we stood a good chance of having to dodge a falling rock. Cavers were above, but every time we enquired as to what was happening something seemed to fall. The acoustics at the pitch head were also causing difficulty and Frank Walker's laconic account 'that understandably the people below were very reluctant to come anywhere near the bottom of the pitch' would not cause much surprise when further in his account he describes the condition of the rift boulder jam. 'The loose bit at the bottom of the rift had been loosened by the seepage of water and the bottom half had slipped and gone down the pitch, leaving some huge black gritstone boulders laying across the rift. The sides of the rift were parallel and smooth with no obvious lodgement points of any sort. I attempted to get a pole at an angle under a huge gritstone boulder on to a small protrusion, but when a small wedging stone was placed on it, the pole flew down the pitch at frightening speed.'

90 ft. lower Andy Walsh verifies, 'at one point a scaffolding pole fell and the speed it went past had to be seen to be believed'. Andy at this time had also discovered that one of the rocks that had ricocheted down was, in fact, the exposure bag and Jim was placed inside this.

Both parties were now aware that extensive and dangerous shoring would have to be done to make the 90 ft. pitch safe - that four people were trapped below the rock fall and that one, Jim Newton, was seriously injured. Faced with the possibility that Jim may have to be rescued via Lost Johns', Bill Holden and Dave Crellin laddered the final pitch into Lost Johns'.

Whilst these traumatic events were taking place, the C.R.O. call-out was well underway and 'Chester' Shaw now takes up the narrative.

Sunday 28th Feb. 1982 - Rescue at Lost Pot

Arriving home from work about 5.00 pm, I was just walking to the shop where I saw Brian Boardman opening the C.R.O. depot doors. Brian said there was a bad do at Lost Pot, so my tea was immediately forgotten as some of our lads were down, with a few Red Rose. After I had given Steve Webb the news, Ray and Jean Lonsdale arrived. I went up Leck with Jean via Greenclose, while Ray took up a C.R.O. vehicle. At Greenclose we found only a nude Budge taking a shower - he said he'd follow later .....

After negotiating the busy tourist traffic on the A65, we arrived on Leck where there was still confusion. Bill Pybus was there, along with other C.R.O. members. The top of the 90 ft. pitch seemed to have collapsed while people were at the bottom. At this stage we didn't really know how bad things were, so a team set off to tackle Lost Johns' in case Lost Pot was impassable.

Several of us set off for Lost Pot and by this time news had filtered back that Jim Newton of the Red Rose was badly injured. The top of the 90 was supposed to be very loose and nobody dare go near it. Most of us know Jim and I think because of this people were highly motivated on what appeared to be a long rescue. At Lost Pot, Bill went down with Salford Phil, I followed later with Frank Addis and a molefone. Bill and Salford contacted Doc Walker and Kev Millington, who were at the top of the 90 with Kev's mate, Pete. Messages passed up to us for equipment and shoring material wer relayed up to the surface and Alan Steel took charge of sending equipment down the first dig. Glyn and Batty arrived and joined in the fray at the top of the 90. Jim Birkett and Pete the Gob arrived and for the next couple of hours we sent shoring and tools down to the top of the 90 and enlarged critical narrow points.

Eventually, Salford Phil, Pybus and Frank Walker descended the pitch with first aid box, dragon reviver and body harness. Jim Eyre and Harvey Lomas arrived just in time to help the remaining four at the pitch top to haul Jim up, which was quite a struggle in the limited space, and I climbed out of the dig to join Steve and Budge in organising a pull for the top section. It was now raining heavily, and soon we were all wet through. However, coffee and a sandwich made the situation a little easier. The Burnley team arrived and organised themselves into a pulling team for the last section, which Jim came up reasonably well.

Doc Frankland took charge of Jim, who was semi-conscious, and didn't look too well. (This must be the understatement of the year, Ed.). Things moved very quickly after Jim had been transferred to a stretcher and pulled out of the shakehole by willing hands. It had by now stopped raining, and we wasted no time in getting back across the fell. Andy Walsh and Kev Millington were tow of the last out of the hole and looked very tired, having been down all day. It was now 2.30 Monday morning, and Leck Fell had still not finished with us as we discovered Kev's car had a flat tyre which needed changing.

Kev eventually got me home at 3.30 after changing in Doc Walker's garage, very tired and vowing never to go down Lost Pot again.

In spite of this vow, Glyn Edwards persuaded us to yet again pay a visit to Lost Pot. Our purpose was to wall-up and make safe the top of the 90. We had dug it, pushed it and explored it and it was felt that we had some obligation to make it safe.

Glyn picked Steve and myself up. On arriving On Leck we met Doc Walker, Batty had gone across already. Jim Birkett had made an afternoon trip to the hole and dropped off two scaffolding planks for the intended platform at the pitch top. We made our way across carrying bags of cement and other bits of gear. The top section of the pot was negotiated without any trouble, but a lot of water was seeping through, and things looked as loose as ever. Steve and Glyn went down to the top of the pitch and joined Gordon. Steve then managed the life lines as Gordon and Glyn built a platform 20 ft. down the pitch from which to work. Doc Walker went through the squeeze at the top of the climbable rift whilst I was quite happy to stay in the first chamber and pass things through.

I busied myself collecting sand ready for mixing cement and, this done, I made myself comfortable and rolled a fag. Suddenly, the whole place shook as a crashing, rumbling, rending noise came welling up the rift. I should imagine an earthquake above ground must be an awful experience - well I can tell you one underground is worse!

I froze solid for about half a minute. The whole place seemed to tremble, but not as much as my knees. I swear blind adrenaline flowed up my tin leg. I could hear Doc and Steve panting as they scrambled up the rift and the rumbling began to subside from the great crescendo to individual bangs and crashes. By the time a very white and frightened Steve reached me, things had quietened down. Doc elected to go back down and see what had happened to Gordon and Glyn. He soon made voice contact with them. They had managed to escape to the far side of the shaft and the wall they had started held back a lot. Steve said later that one second he had been sitting on a couple of stemples, then the floor had gone and he was staring down a 90 ft. void.

After a period of time to allow settlement, Glyn and Gordon climbed back, and it was decided to give the place up. I, for one, wasn't sorry. We retrieved all the tackle we could and then lodged some big boulders in the entrance dig, blocking the hole.

Jim Newton, in spite of fearsome injuries to his head and left arm is making a good recovery, and should be none the worse for his experience.

One footnote:-
If anyone finds a glass eye rolling towards him at Groundsheet Junction - don't panic, it's Jim's - it was knocked out of its socket by the force of the blow on his head - he'd like it back please.