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JOINING THE DCC

joining the Club  |  subscriptions  |  aims of the Club  |  the Committee  |  caving and mining trips  |  the social side  |  some more information

ABOUT JOINING

The DCC is always open to new members with a genuine interest in its aims and objectives. These could be in caving, mining or Alderley Edge. If you want to join the DCC,  a good starting point is to read the other pages on this website and then download a fact sheet about the club. (This is a PDF file and requires Acrobat reader.) 

In particular, you should read down this page which contains a lot more information about the Club that is useful to know before you join and when you have become a probationary member.

New and old members pose for the camera in Peak Cavern, DerbyshireWe like to meet potential members before we take them caving to make sure they are fit enough and the right age to undertake caving as a sport.  This doesn't mean there is no place for the youngest or the oldest, just that we can save you and ourselves a lot of time if we get to know you before you try a challenging trip.  There are also plenty of other things to do that are less strenuous such as helping with open days, archiving, and even maintaining this website.  Keep in mind that most Club members live in the south of Lancashire, Manchester and Cheshire so that if you live further afield, it may be difficult to involve you in regular trips to caves outside our patch.

Here is a list of a few future activities that might interest new members to the Club. The abbreviations indicate whether the event is caving (CAV), mining (MIN), other undergound trips (OTH), Alderley (ALD) or a club meeting of some sort (CLU).

Date Event Organiser Comments Cav Min Oth Ald Clu
Tuesday 17/12/2024Evening trip for the publicWood Miney
Friday 27/12/2024Christmas Trip down Wood MineNigelBring a bit of food - not too much!! Maybe a low alcohol drink as well.y
Saturday 26/04/2025DCC Open weekend - Engine VeinAlderley: Engine Vein toursyyyy
Friday 20/06/2025 to Sunday 22/06/202565th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONSGina, Yvonne, and thersTo be held at Edale Village Hall with camping etc. DON'T MISS IT!y

If you want to take this further, send an e-mail to the Secretary or complete the form below which does not require you to have an email address.  You can even download and complete an Application Form to send to the Secretary but we do not advise doing this without getting to know Club members first.  Applications have to be proposed and seconded by members who have met you and will support your membership.  Special conditions apply for those under 18 and the adult form cannot be used for them: contact the Secretary. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS

The current rules are that a subscription must be paid when you apply for membership.  If you do not get accepted for membership (which is extremely rare), your payment will be refunded in full.  To calculate the subscription, fill in these details.  Note that insurance through the British Caving Association is mandatory but does not have to be paid twice if you are already an insured member of another club.  The figures in brackets apply to a full year; part-year rates reduce by a quarter for each 3 months that have elapsed.  Existing members can also use this calculator to work out their subs and go directly to the payment page.

For membership, have you applied for full (£13), associate (£8) or family associate membership (under-18) (£8)?    Full:    Associate:    Family-associate:

For insurance, are you looking to be a caving member (£24), non-caving (£8), student (£10) or under-18 (£0)?    Caving:    Non-caving:    Student:    Under-18:

Click this button if you are already insured through another club and enter your BCA membership number:

Which quarter have you joined in?    January-March:    April-June:    July-September:    October-December:                                         

When you click Calculate, your subscription will be shown here: £37.   This link will take you direct to the payment page on this site.

SEND EMAIL

E-mail to: Treasurer@derbyscc.org.uk

Sender's full name
  

Sender's e-mail address
      Copy to self?
(This form does not require you to have an email address but it would be easier for us to reply if you enter one)

Sender's telephone
 

Please explain why you want to join the DCC

Date of birth if under 18

To show that you're a person and not a computer using our email system to spam others, please solve the simple addition below:

five + 7 =

In the sections below, there are some links (shown like this) which require you to put in a password to read the private Club pages.  If you are not yet a member, then we regret that you will have to wait until you have joined to get access to these.

AIMS OF THE CLUB Tom and Colin in Lancaster Hole in 2011 while they were still relative novices

Without getting too formal from the start, you need to know the basic aims of the Club which are stated in the Club constitution as follows:

    2.1 To provide the facilities (including information and records) and organisation to enable members safely to participate in caving and in mine exploration and, where appropriate, to pursue specialist interests.

    2.2 To encourage responsible exploration of caves and mines, the recording of discoveries and artefacts, and specialist activities including photography, surveying and historical research.

    2.3 To support through membership as a Club the activities of the British Caving Association and National Association of Mining History Organisations and to encourage adherence to relevant guidelines of these and other appropriate organisations.

    2.4 To lease the Alderley Edge Copper Mines from the National Trust and to manage the mines for the long term benefit of members, other caving and mining clubs, the National Trust, other organisations and the general public.

    2.5 To foster a general interest in caving by lectures, publications and exhibitions, and co-operation with other organisations and individuals and by any other means deemed fit by the Club.

Summarised, the Club could be said to be here to help people go caving through encouragement, training, provision of equipment and guidance on issues such as safety.

Alderley Edge is a particular interest of the Club and our members because of where most of us live but it is certainly not the only interest.  Club members get involved in a variety of activities including:

and in addition to all of these, members have strong social ties with events such as an Annual Dinner, stomps and generally meeting up with each other and members of other clubs.

THE COMMITTEE

The Club is run by its members through general meetings held six times a year.  At the annual meeting in December, a committee is appointed to look after particular jobs or to agree actions where the whole Club does not need to be involved.  The current committee has nine members with Tom Howard as Chairman, Ed Coghlan as Secretary and Nigel Dibben as Treasurer.  These are the three main 'officer' positions on the committee.

TRIPS Members on a trip into a slate mine in North Wales

By far the best way to get involved with members is to go on caving or mining trips with others, preferably with a range of different people in different areas of the country.  This way you will be able to understand caving and mining better and also, if you are still a probationary member, to stand up at a General Meeting and tell the other members where you have been before you become a full member. 

Trips are often publicised on Facebook and the calendar (click HERE for a fuller members' version) on this website.  If you can read this, then you already have a club website password but you will need to ask to join the Facebook and Yahoo groups.

SOCIAL EVENTS Andy gets an award at the Annual Dinner in 2011

The social life of the Club ebbs and flows but usually the year is marked by the two Open Weekends at Alderley Edge that attract cavers and miners alike and the Annual Dinner.  Make sure you get along to these and the relaxed atmosphere will help you to get to know other members as well as their partners.

MORE INFORMATION

To help you understand the Club better, you can read or download the latest newsletter and a bit of general information about the Club.  Older newsletters going back to 1961 are available for Club members to read..  Even without being a member, you can also read some of the members' caving and mining log entries.  There are also albums of trip photos.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Get yourself known to two or three members to start with and ask them to help you find your way around.  If they are all Alderley diggers or all cavers or all miners, get them to introduce you to other friends in the Club with different interests so that your choices are widened.

Happy caving!!!!