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Mike Meredith, 79, an enthusiastic caver and former Controller with the Cave Rescue Organisation was discovered useless at his home in Kuching, Sarawak, on the morning of Wednesday eleventh January 2023. Ben Lyon, CRO President, writes about Mike’s outstanding life.
Mike was born on the nineteenth. July 1943 in Hereford. On the age of 11 he obtained a Scholarship to Monmouth Faculty, and went on to Cambridge College, gaining a 2.2 in Pure Sciences in 1965. He then took a 12 months out, first instructing English as a Overseas Language to immigrant kids after which engaged on an meeting line at Cadbury’s, adopted by a 12 months gaining his PGCE, beginning work as Chemistry Grasp at Burnley Grammar Faculty in 1967. Boys within the sixth. type launched him to caving, – his initiation was down Boggarts Roaring Gap – and he quickly turned a number one gentle within the Burnley Caving Membership, together with his Morris Minor Traveller loaded with cavers and tools most weekends.
In 1970, disillusioned by Burnley Grammar Faculty dropping the Nuffield strategy to science instructing, he spent the summer season ‘temping’ at Whernside Manor Scout Caving Exercise Centre in Dentdale, earlier than making use of for the job of Chief Teacher. Throughout his interview there was consternation – The Scout Affiliation couldn’t appoint somebody who didn’t ‘consider in God’! Luckily the difficulty was fudged, and Mike duly appointed! He spent the following 5 years as my Deputy. In addition to doing just about each cave system within the Dales, most of them many occasions, Mike was a really energetic member of the CRO. I bear in mind particularly a time we had been known as over to the Lake District, the place a youth had fallen down a very nasty open mine rift above Coniston. Mike was the volunteer lowered with a stretcher to the jammed boulders 70 ft down, after which hauled again to the floor with the casualty.
In 1973 we organised two caving expeditions to the Vercors and the Chartreuse in France, and en-route known as in on an previous man – Fernand Petzl – making ascenders and descenders in his home storage. Mike returned on his motorcycle and got here again with panniers bulging with them. However by this time he was fed up with the awful pay, and in 1974 stop his job and left for a life in France. Caving continued to be central to his life. He performed a significant half within the tough rescue of the our bodies of two French cavers from the Gouffre Berger in 1975. After studying French at Grenoble College in double fast time – Mike turned an excellent linguist – he began work with Petzl – nonetheless a small, however quickly increasing firm now run by Fernand’s sons, Paul and Pierre. He continued caving, doing a lot exploration with the Furets Jaune de Seyssins. Mike was on the forefront of developments in caving methods and tools, publishing his e book ‘Vertical Caving’, with English, French, Spanish and German editions. In 1978 he moved to Austria, turning into Petzl’s consultant there, and caving with the Salzburg Caving Membership, making some good discoveries, in journeys of a number of days every, notably the connection between Gamsloecher and Kolowratshoehle, with a complete system of horizontal passages on the way in which.
My very own reference to Mike continued, and on annual journeys to France, and later Austria, we had been in a position to name on his native information to make via journeys of the Dent de Crolles system, and plenty of others.
I used to be in a position to repay Mike by inviting him on to the 1980/81 Sarawak Expedition to the caves of Mulu. He made a breakthrough in Benarat Caverns which resulted within the opening up of an enormous system, plus many extra discoveries, nicely documented elsewhere.
Mike was President of the UIS Cave Rescue Fee from 1981-87.
Returning to Europe Mike resumed work with Petzl in France, then in 1984 got here out to Mulu once more. Whereas I floundered round like a purple sizzling beetroot within the tropical warmth, Mike took to it like a duck to water. On the finish of the expedition Mike and I sat down with the Head of Nationwide Parks, Dr. Paul Chai, and requested what the division wished us to do subsequent. Paul replied that they wished one particular person to return for a number of years and assist them develop vacationer amenities in Mulu. Mike jumped on the probability! Funding was difficult because the Sarawak Authorities had no cash for it, however again in France the winter of 1985 was actually chilly, and impelled Mike to go away for Malaysia that March. The following 12 months was spent instructing English as a overseas language at Sekolah Menengah Sains in Raub, Pahang. Lastly, in September 1985, Mike ‘s Mulu job gained the funds required and he set to work. Within the subsequent 5 years, amongst many different tasks, he opened up Deer cave, Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave to guests, and have become the ‘go to’ particular person for any and each expedition planning to go to Sarawak. With Jerry Wooldridge offering the photographs they revealed Big Caves of Borneo in 1990.
In 1990 Mike handed the baton of Mulu Mission Officer over to a different British caver – Dave Gill, and spent a 12 months engaged on a business enterprise with Richard Hii – Tropical Journey – to develop tourism in Mulu, and being Mike he backed this up by engaged on an MBA from Durham College. Nonetheless, his actual expertise lay in conservation work and from 1991 till his demise he labored on a steady succession of tasks for numerous companies, not solely in Borneo but additionally in Laos, Madagascar, and together with a go to to North Korea to advise on the institution of Nationwide Parks. He was particularly pleased with his work in helping aspiring conservationists to realize skilled {qualifications}. On the finish of his life he was engaged on statistical fashions of uncommon animal distributions, notably tigers.
A modest and unassuming man, he can be sadly missed by his many family and friends.
Ben Lyon.
President, CRO
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