Notes and guidelines for organisers of BCRA Field Meetings

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These notes were originally prepared by Vince Simmonds, and edited for this web page by David Gibson. This page is a "work in progress" and may be subject to revision. For the date of the last revision see Document History below. To download this text for editing see Downloading for Editing.

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Headline Notes

A meeting organiser is responsible for all aspects of the organisation of a BCRA meeting, including publicity. You may be able to pass some of these tasks on to others but you should stay in control (e.g. you should not rely on BCRA Council providing publicity unless you discuss it with them)

The organiser of a BCRA meeting must be approved in advance by BCRA Council. For insurance reasons, you must be a member of the British Caving Association. Additionally BCRA Council may require you to be a member of BCRA.

These notes refer, in places, to field meetings but that is just a legacy descriptive term. The notes apply to all meetings, whether 'in the field' or 'classroom' events.

• All correspondence, flyers, social media postings and so on should give your contact name; and BCRA should be mentioned on such material.
• Any advertising material or notice that asks for money must, by law, include the statement BCRA is UK registered charity 267828. You should also give our registered address.
• Rules laid down by HMRC regarding Gift Aid demand that we do not offer our members any discount on an attendance fee
• Keep a record of your plans and arrangements

Advertising the Event

Publicity needs to include details on travel, parking, accommodation, cost, time(s) and date(s), where to meet, etc. Give plenty of time for the word to get around! Places to advertise include...

The list item referring to Twitter has been deleted

• BCRA Facebook — via yourself or the BCRA publicity officer
• Darkness Below — via yourself or the BCRA publicity officer
• BCRA Notices E-List — via yourself or the BCRA Secretary
• BCRA News Forum — you should post to the News Forum yourself
• UKCaving.com and other online forums —you should post to these yourself
• Descent magazine — Note that there is a long lead-time. Descent is published on the first day of even months and news should be supplied by the first of the month preceding publication date — e.g. by 1 March for the April issue, which would been needed to give notice for events at the start of June. That is, the news deadline could be more than three months before the event.
• Posters in caving huts — you should organise these yourself

Also see Info on contacting our members, for BCRA Council. Please contact the secretary for access to that web page.

Who is the Event Aimed At?

Cave science encompasses many disciplines and interests, such as archaeology, geology, geomorphology, speleology.

No under 18s are allowed at a BCRA event unless they are accompanied by a responsible parent or guardian and supervised at all times. This should be made clear in any publicity material.

• Will there be activities for a range of participants?
• How will activities be structured?
• Know your audience
• Activities might include a mix of lectures and practical sessions

Numbers Attending

• How many people are attending (or are anticipated to attend)?
• Keep a list of those that express an interest

Is There a Budget?

Venue, equipment, publicity, refreshments, administrative costs, all these might have some cost implications.

• Make sure that the charge for field trips is made clear
• Keep receipts for all expenditure
• Liaise with the BCRA Treasurer on the best way to collect money
• If collecting cash, have plenty of small change
• Keep good records of who has paid, and for what

Attendance Fee

Meetings must be budgeted to at least break even.

• Any funds loaned by BCRA Council (e.g. for printing flyers) should be recovered by means of an attendance fee unless Council has agree otherwise in advance
• Any advertising material or notice that asks for money must, by law, include the statement BCRA is UK registered charity 267828. You should also give our registered address.
• Rules laid down by HMRC regarding Gift Aid demand that we do not offer our members any discount on an attendance fee
• Is the attendance fee affordable? Although BCRA members cannot receive a discount, students and speakers can do so
• Do not forget to direct people to our donations page, bcra.org.uk/donate

Event Facilities

If facilities are available (e.g. village halls, caving huts), are they suitable for the purpose? The number of participants might have some implications. Check ...

• Kitchen facilities
• Toilet adequacies
• First Aid kit
• Disabled access
• Tables/chairs
• Suitable space for presenters/displays and posters
• Are there projectors, plugs, extension cables? We can use the Hidden Earth technical equipment (which is owned by BCRA), provided you can persuade Hidden Earth technical staff to attend

Accommodation

Contact local caving clubs if they offer accommodation; also campsites and bunkhouses in the immediate area. For large groups, you might need to make a block booking well in advance.

Field Meetings

• How do participants get there?
• Is there adequate and safe parking?
• Be prepared for bad weather
• For field trips, you should write completing a Risk Assessment*, helps to highlight which will help you to identify potential hazards and issues that require actions. BCRA Council might make it a requirement, in the future, that your risk assessment be submitted for approval before your event.
• Consider the environmental impact that the meeting might have
• Consider how local people might be affected by an influx of people
• Consider having a clearly-stated maximum number of particpants
• Consider the worth of having a safety briefing or demonstration before your trip
• Advise participants to bring suitable clothing and footwear. Be aware of any flooding of caves or watercourses
• Make sure everyone is aware of what they need to bring, e.g. full caving kit, SRT kit, waterproofs and walking boots, food and drink for the day
• Check that you know where the nearest hospital or other medical facility is, in case of emergencies
• Is there a phone signal where you will be operating? If not, where is the nearest place that a signal is available?
• Have a Plan B!

* A risk assessment is a careful examination of what could cause harm to people whilst taking part in a project. It aims to identify whether enough precautions or 'control measures' are in place, and whether further action is required to minimize or eliminate a particular risk. The ultimate aim is to prevent accidents and illness.

Access Arrangements

Field Meetings Guidelines

• Do any of the sites have access conditions, or issues that may prevent people from attending?
• Do you have permission to be there or to cross land?

Handouts, Field Guides, Presentations

• If you intend to prepare a handout, make sure that you print spare copies.
• Use the BCRA logo — ask the BCRA secretary
• If you intend to sell BCRA publications, arrange in advance for stock to be delivered to you; and a price list provided
• Copyright. Anyone preparing a presentation, or handout who uses anybody else's material (e.g. photos, surveys, music, video) must a) acknowledge all contributions from other people, and b) obtain the appropriate permission to use the material. This could be personal permission but if commercial music or video material is used, the presenter must obtain clearance from a professional licensing association. The Hidden Earth conference team might be able to offer advice. (This rule does not apply at the Hidden Earth conference, for which BCRA pays a licence fee for use of commercial material, but this licence does not extend to other BCRA meetings).
• Recordings of Presentations. No presentation (whether at avenue, or given online) should be recorded for later broadcast (e.g. on social media) without all appropriate copyright clearances for re-broadcast having been obtained. Additionally, the permission of the presenter should be obtained.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is the protecting of children, young people, and vulnerable adults from harm, abuse, and neglect.

Meetings organisers should ensure that they have read and understood BCRA's policy on Safeguarding and should also be familiar with the guidelines at gov.uk/guidance/safeguarding-for-charities-and-trustees.

• Ensure you have a copy of the reporting forms with you when your trip or event takes place.
• If a disclosure takes place then please fill in the form and return it to BCRA's Safeguarding Officer.
• Please also call the Safeguarding Officer to inform him of the disclosure. See Contact Info for Council Members.

Insurance

Any person who attends a field meeting or classroom event who is not an individual member of BCA must obtain temporary membership of BCA (see next section) for the duration of the meeting, so that they are covered by BCA's third party public liability insurance. ( It can create legal complications It is a bit of a legal minefield if some people are insured and others are not). Temporary membership does not cost anything, but it requires a fee payment to BCA and it requires BCRA to collect, at or before the event, the names and addresses of those who require insurance, and to submit the list to BCA's insurance membership officer immediately after the event. There is a limit to how many days per year times an individual can benefit from temporary membership of BCA.

Please note that this requirement relates to BCA's third party public liability insurance. The policy is expressly not an accident insurance policy.

Temporary Membership of BCA

This section was written in August 2026 to try to clarify the siituation regarding temporary membership of BCA. Text awaiting approval before release.

Covid-19 Guidelines

These notes have been prepared for the BCRA Science Symposium in November 2021 by Jo White.

• Please sanitise your hands regularly. Hand sanitiser will be provided in the hall and hand-washing facilities are available in the hall's toilets.
• We will be ensuring adequate ventilation of the hall, so please dress warmly.
• There is plenty of space in the hall for social distancing, so please respect people's personal space.
• At the time of writing masks are not mandatory, but we politely request that you wear a mask if you are able to do so, as this helps to keep everyone safe.
• At present Covid passports are not required for public events, but please bear in mind that if the Government brings this in as a requirement, we will need to request them.
• Tea, coffee and limited refreshments will be available for a small donation – please bring a small amount of loose change as we have no card facilities. You are welcome to bring your own mug if you would prefer to do so.
• For safety, there will be no 'free-for-all' regarding drinks and refreshments – you will be served by a volunteer over a counter. The volunteers who are serving refreshments will wear a mask and clean their hands regularly. If you would prefer, you are welcome to bring your own flasks and snacks.
• Lunch will not be provided, so please bring some with you. There is a shop in the village about 10 minutes walk away from the hall if you would like to purchase lunch there. There is also a pub nearby.

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Document History

Last major revision date: 26-Oct-2020. Updates and additions: 11‑May‑2021, 20‑Oct‑2021, 03‑May‑2023, 09‑Apr‑2026, 19‑Aug‑2026. Addition of notes on BCA Membership: 23-27‑Aug‑2026. See the page footer for the date and time of the last modification.