About The Club
Formed in 1968, Canterbury Caving Group has 50 members, whose activities are focussed on the Punakaiki-Charleston area of the West Coast, as well as the marble areas of Nelson. Meetings are on the second Tuesday of the month at the St Marks Scout Den on Centaurus Rd, Christchurch.
History
Canterbury Caving Club History
by Bud Chapman, CCG Club Member since 16th July 1968.
The Canterbury Caving Club has just passed its 29th birthday on 16th July 1998. It was officially formed at a meeting held in the then traffic Department Lecture Room on Manchester Street, Christchurch. For the first official meeting, the club had been conceived on the 19th June 1968 by an interested group of people, including Sue Watson and Graham Wilson. Over the 29 years the membership and enthusiasm of club members has ebbed and flowed, membership has at times fallen to as low as 5 people and, at its strongest, had well over 50 active cavers.
The first official club trip is recorded in the club trip book as occurring on the 29th June when a small group of people visited Broken river Cave. Over the years members have been involved in the exploration of most of the major systems found in the South Island. In those halcyon days NZSS annual subs were $2.50 and $1.00 went to the CCG (they are now $55, of which only $10 goes to CCG).
The earliest days of the club were carried out through affiliation to the Canterbury Universities Students Association and a room was provided for meetings. Many a late night caving trip was carried out through the "service tunnels" that were exposed during the building of many of the university buildings. Wire rope ladders were constructed in the airforce workshops at Wigram and were hung from the balcony of the Students association to allow members to practice.
They were the days filled with internal politics, groups formed and failed internally within the club, votes of 'no confidence" were held, meetings ran along the lines of very correct meeting procedures. Oh, what interesting days they were!!!! So here the club is, almost 30 years on and we have survived, strong and active, carrying out exploration as we always have, anywhere that there are caves to be found.
For anyone interested, the CCG archives are held by me. I have a full set of caving club newsletters, some of the earlier Meeting minute books and the trip books.
May the club be active for many more years...