Chair: David Cooke chair@cscc.org.uk

Secretary: Frank Tully secretary@cscc.org.uk

Treasurer (inc. Membership): Tom Harrison treasurer@cscc.org.uk

Conservation & Access: Wayne Starsmorecanda@cscc.org.uk

Equipment & Techniques: Andrew Atkinson. equipment@cscc.org.uk

Training: Dave Keegan. training@cscc.org.uk

BCA Rep: Linda Wilson. bcarep@cscc.org.uk

Communications Officer: Peter Burgess. comms@cscc.org.uk

Webmaster: David Cooke it@cscc.org.uk

The CSCC Chair is the external figurehead of the CSCC and provides leadership for the other officers and members. To carry out this role effectively, the chair must:

• have a good understanding of how both CSCC and BCA function
• impartially chair CSCC general meetings and officers’ meetings and deliver a casting vote at these meetings if necessary.
• foster a positive and respectful culture for all council general meetings, officer meetings and interaction with external bodies.
• support other CSCC officers in their roles when required, and to arrange cover for their roles if they unable to do so.
• be able to work effectively with and motivate other officers when needed to ensure the timely performance of their roles and responsibilities

• Time taken for familiarisation with the work of CSCC and ideally the chair should have been a regular attendee of general meetings prior to taking on the role.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration usually two hours. These are likely to be mostly online but will probably include the need to travel to physical meetings on occasion.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of CSCC and enhance communications between officers. There is likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings. Duration approximately one hour.
• Occasional attendance at BCA council meetings to support the BCA representative in the case of controversial or difficult issues. Frequency varies but one or two every year is likely. Duration two – three hours. Usually held by Zoom in the evening.
• Reading papers for each meeting. Minimum one hour.
• Reporting to CSCC in writing. Minimum one hour.
• General emails and phone calls with CSCC Officers, members and external bodies. Approximately two – four hours per month.

The secretary primarily records the proceedings of CSCC. To carry out this role effectively, the secretary must:

• produce an agenda for each meeting; publish this on the website and notify CSCC members that the agenda has been published utilising the email list.
• post notifications and paperwork for the AGM and the election of officers in accordance with the timescales given in the constitution.
• record the CSCC meetings using paper or other media, and from this produce minutes of the meeting; publish the draft minutes on the website and notify CSCC members that the draft minutes have been published utilising the email list
• assess any suggested corrections to the minutes against the recording and apply to the draft minutes if deemed necessary for approval at the following full meeting.
• make an initial selection of the dates and times of CSCC meetings; generally these are suggested and ratified at the AGM, however they can be changed and additional meetings can be added when needed.
• act as the formal communications hub between CSCC and others.

• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration usually two hours. These are likely to be mostly online but will probably include the need to travel to physical meetings on occasion.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of CSCC and enhance communications between officers. There is likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings. Duration approximately one hour.
• Production of the minutes of meetings takes approximately twice the duration of the meetings. However, for contentious issues where careful transcription from the recording is required this can take much longer.
• Production of the agenda, approximately one hour per meeting.
• Managing formal communications between CSCC and others, generally under two hours a month.

The CSCC Treasurer looks after the financial interests of the CSCC. The Treasure also administers membership. To carry out this role effectively, the treasurer must:

• make sure CSCC doesn't run out of money.
• produce the annual accounts and arrange for them to be independently scrutinised ahead of the AGM.
• pay the bills and officer expenses as they are presented.
• update the bank mandate, generally when there is a change of officers.
• handle the annual BCA grant claim, which funds most of CSCC's expenditure.
• maintain close liaison and significant involvement with the C&A Officer (both CSCC & BCA) as C&A is CSCC's largest expenditure.
• maintain the membership list.
• present any membership applications to the first meeting following application.
• liaise with the BCA Membership Administrator on both the membership list and any membership applications as nearly all renewals and applications come via the BCA.
• collect the membership fees.
• have a good understanding of simple bookkeeping (there is a template to follow).
• have some understanding of accounting for voluntary organisations.

• Time taken for familiarisation with the work of CSCC and BCA's financial processes. Will depend on prior knowledge.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC general meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration is usually around two hours. Currently these are held online but in the future some may revert to face to face meetings.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. Meeting duration is usually around one hour, held online. Generally an officers' meeting is called ahead of each general meeting. Extra meetings may be called should an urgent issue arise.
• Attendance at BCA Finance Committee meetings. These are rare, maybe once per year. Duration around two hours, held online.
• Reading papers and writing a report for each meeting. Approximately one hour.
• Preparing the accounts. Approximately one day per year.
• Handle the annual BCA Claims. Approximately two hours per quarter.
• Processing payments and receipts. Approximately one hour per month.
• Maintaining membership list. Approximately one hour per quarter.
• General emails and phone calls. Approximately one hour per month.

The Conservation and Access Officer’s primary role is to act on behalf of CSCC and member clubs and individuals regarding any matters relating to conservation and access to caves within the CSCC area. Conservation should always be the prime consideration when dealing with access issues. Cave(s) is/are taken to include mine(s) and other underground sites of interest to cavers. To carry out this role effectively, the Conservation and Access Officer must:

• attend and represent the CSCC at meetings of the BCA Conservation & Access Committee
• liaise with BCA Officers and Committees on cave conservation and cave access matters relevant to CSCC
• liaise with statutory and non-statutory bodies on matters relating to conservation and access to caves
• represent CSCC on any external committees or groups which may have similar or sympathetic objectives to CSCC
• liaise with landowners and negotiate access to caves where necessary
• maintain and operate the CSCC standard locking system
• maintain and keep updated the CSCC online access guide
• maintain and keep updated the conservation and assess pages on the CSCC website
• publish on the CSCC Facebook page any items relevant to conservation or access
• administer any access agreements operated by CSCC
• comment on national and local government consultations
• comment on planning applications which may affect caves or access to caves
• proactively seek to gain access to any closed caves and/or improve existing access where possible

• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration usually two hours. These are likely to be mostly online but will probably include the need to travel to physical meetings on occasion.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of CSCC and enhance communications between officers. There is likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings. Duration approximately one hour.
• Attendance at BCA C&A Group meetings. Frequency varies but one or two every year is likely. Duration two – three hours. Usually held by Zoom.
• Reading papers for each meeting. Minimum one hour.
• Reporting to CSCC in writing. Minimum one hour.
• General emails and phone calls with CSCC Officers, members and external bodies. Approximately two – four hours per month.
• Practical conservation work and maintenance of locks and gates is variable but at times can take as much as six – ten hours per week

The role of the Equipment and Techniques Officer is oversee the installation and maintenance of the numerous items of fixed equipment in the CSCC area. CSCC maintains these for caver safety and to facilitate trips that would otherwise be more difficult. Most of this equipment is anchors. To carry out this role effectively the Equipment and Techniques Officer must:

• maintain a publicly accessible list of equipment that CSCC maintains,
• maintain a publicly accessible list of known or reported problems.
• maintain records on the CSCC document area of information that relate to safety, now and in the future, for example the resin used to place an anchor, in case a batch of resin is identified as faulty.
• be the first point of contact for new equipment requests, usually anchors
• record work or checks undertaken on equipment.
• provide a system for cavers to report suspect or dangerous equipment.
• co-ordinate the maintenance/replacement of equipment.
• keep up to date the guides on the maintenance of equipment and anchors
• review, and in consultation with CSCC officers produce and amend any procedures relating to equipment eg new anchor requests.
• evaluate new equipment and techniques in conjunction with BCA and where needed develop revised policies and guidelines at both local and national level.
• provide a point of contact for reports of safety concerns in caves
• liaise with Training Officer about training for equipment and safety

• Time taken to familiarise with the role of the CSCC and BCA Equipment and Techniques Committee. Will depend on prior knowledge, however prior knowledge of these organisations, while useful, is not required.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration usually two hours. These are likely to be mostly online but will probably include the need to travel to physical meetings on occasion.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of CSCC and enhance communications between officers. There is likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings. Duration approximately one hour.
• Attendance at BCA Equipment and Techniques meetings. Frequency varies but one or two every year is likely. Duration two – three hours.
• Reading papers for each meeting. Minimum one hour.
• Reporting to CSCC in writing. Minimum one hour.
• General emails and phone calls with CSCC Officers, members and external bodies. Approximately two – four hours per month.
• Practical work will vary but approximately two – four hours per month

The role of the Webmaster is to maintain and develop the information technology and communication (ITC) requirements of CSCC.

ITC has largely replaced printed media as the means of communicating the work of the CSCC to its members and the wider caving community. ITC is the primary means of recording the work of the CSCC, providing curated sets of documents and information available to the caving community, Club Reps. and Officers. To carry out this role effectively the Webmaster must:

• provide and maintain the following ITC services:
  • Website.
    • Uses a cPanel control panel.
    • The main website uses Dokuwiki as a content management system.
    • The Access Guide is a bespoke program written using the cakePHP framework.
  • Facebook Page
  • Two Mailman mailing lists (General and Officials)
  • Email Accounts and Forwarders
  • Zoom for remote meetings.
• Train Officers to make effective use of the ITC services.
• Ideally the Officers and Reps will provide content for the website, Facebook and the mailing lists but in reality the Webmaster will also need to source and create content.
• propose and implement new technologies where they can enhance the working of CSCC as ITC is constantly evolving.
• if needed, help with the BCA IT working group, although there is no formal requirement to assist with this any help would be appreciated.
• have a working knowledge of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented in UK law as the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.

• Time taken for familiarisation with the work of CSCC. Will depend on prior knowledge.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC general meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration is usually around two hours. Currently these are held online but in the future some may revert to face to face meetings.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. Meeting duration is usually around one hour, held online. Generally an officers' meeting is called ahead of each general meeting. Extra meetings may be called should an urgent issue arise.
• Reading papers and writing a report for each meeting. Approx one hour.
• General emails and phone calls. Approximately one hour per month.
• Maintaining the ITC services. Approximately two hours per month.
• Updating website content. Approximately two hours per month.
• Developing and enhancing the ITC services. Depending upon the degree of ambition, the sky is the limit.

The role of the BCA representative is to represent the views and interest of the Council of Southern Caving Clubs on BCA Council. To carry out this role effectively, the representative must:

• have a good understanding of how both CSCC and BCA function
• participate in CSCC meetings and BCA council meetings and engage constructively with both organisations
• engage with other officers in CSCC and participate in officers’ meetings when needed
• read the papers for each meeting and pass these to CSCC club representatives with, if necessary, a short pointer to any matters that might be of particular relevance or concern
• report to CSCC meetings on BCA council/AGM meetings/discussions and answer any questions raised

• Time taken for familiarisation with the work of both organisations will depend on prior knowledge. To put it mildly, the BCA constitution and its various working groups and their terms of reference are complicated and lengthy. By comparison, CSCC is relatively simple and easy to navigate.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting duration usually two hours. Currently held by zoom.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of CSCC and enhance communications between officers. Likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings. Duration probably one hour.
• Attendance at BCA council meetings. Frequency varies but one every six weeks is likely. Duration two – three hours. Usually held by Zoom in the evening.
• Occasional participation in additional BCA working groups if needed/relevant
• Reading papers for each meeting. Minimum one hour.
• Reporting to CSCC in writing. Minimum one hour.
• General emails and phone calls. Approximately one – two hours per month.

The role of the CSCC Training Officer is primarily to organise training events on behalf of CSCC. To carry out this role effectively, the Training Officer must:

• organise training events on the behalf of the CSCC.
• attend CSCC Committee meetings and provide updates on training activities.
• attend BCA Training Committee Meetings on behalf of the CSCC.
• assist clubs within the CSCC in organising training events.
• advertise training events within the CSCC.
• act as a focal point for questions and queries regarding training within the CSCC.
• disseminate advice and actions from the BCA Training Committee Meetings.

• Time taken to familiarise with the role of the CSCC and BCA Training Committee. Will depend on prior knowledge, however prior knowledge of these organisations, while useful, is not required.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting Duration normally two hours, meetings currently held via zoom.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of the CSCC and enhance communications between Officers. Likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings, duration one hour.
• Participation in the BCA Training Committee meetings. Duration normally two hours, held quarterly.
• Organising training events for the CSCC and attending such events as required. Duration dependant on frequency of training events.
• Reading papers for meetings, approximately one hour.
• Reporting to CSCC in writing, minimum 30 minutes a quarter.
• General emails and phone calls, approximately one hour a month.

The communications officer is responsible for ensuring effective and engaging communications between CSCC and its members and CSCC and the wider caving community. To do this the Communications officer must:

• be familiar with the work of CSCC. This will depend on prior knowledge, however, while useful, this is not essential.
• produce a quarterly electronic newsletter to CSCC members giving news of CSCC’s work in all its areas
• liaise with officers and members to generate content for the newsletter and social media outlets.
• be responsible for CSCC’s existing social media channels
• develop new social media channels if required
• liaise with relevant media outlets to advertise CSCC’s work

• Time taken to familiarise with the role of the CSCC. This will depend on prior knowledge, however prior knowledge of these organisations, while useful, is not required.
• Attendance of up to four CSCC meetings annually (including the AGM). Meeting Duration normally two hours, meetings currently held via zoom.
• Attendance at CSCC officers’ meetings. These are a recent development to better facilitate the work of the CSCC and enhance communications between Officers. Likely to be one in conjunction with general meetings, duration one hour.
• Production of a quarterly digital newsletter, approximately four hours per quarter
• Reporting to CSCC in writing, minimum 30 minutes a quarter.
• Publicising CSCC’s work in its various areas when needed, approximately one hour per month
• General emails and phone calls, approximately an hour a month.