OUCC Proceedings 6 (1974)

Neil Boulton

The editor of Proceedings No. 5 expressed the hope that the next number would not be forthcoming for some time. A combination of circumstances has ensured that this has in fact been the case: over four years have elapsed since the previous issue.

Less desirable perhaps is the change of contents reflected in this edition, which is devoted entirely to the report of the 1971 Oxford University Gave Club expedition to Northern Spain. Editorial difficulties and lack of money have precluded an earlier publication of the report. The first editor had hoped to include material on other subjects. Two reasons have prompted the decision to confine this issue to the expedition. First, the report contains much in the way of original material about an area on which the Club has concentrated for a number of years, and hopefully adds to the sum of speleological knowledge in an important limestone area. The second reason is less pious. The Club cannot pretend, for geographical reasons in the main, to be involved in original work at home, and therefore supplementary articles would be, at best, of transitory importance.

It may be that this situation will alter in the future and the editor of Proceedings 7 will have more of substance than he can hope to publish. For the present, I hope that the reputation of the Club will rest firmly on the work it has carried out in Spain, and that these Proceedings may help to maintain it.