The Log

The Grampian Speleological Group held their 50^th Anniversary Dinner on 18^th June 2011 at the King's Manor Hotel, Edinburgh. Snab (Pete McNab) wrote and performed this song in honour of the occasion.

Now, I happened to have a new toy, in the shape of a tiny video camera, so I thought that I would try it out and Snab's song seemed an ideal opportunity. The video quality is not great, but considering the size of the camera it is acceptable. However, I think that the audio is really quite strikingly good - or perhaps it is just Snab's voice that wins through.

(Oh and yes, in case you are wondering, I did forget to reset the date on the camera).

Anyway, with thanks to Pete McNab for giving permission to use it, here it is:-

Scots wha hae been underground,
Whaur caverns measureless abound,
We hae dug and we hae found,
Mair nor two or three!
Mighty chambers, tiny crawls,
Roaring rivers, waterfalls,
Pitches, sumps, we've found them all!
We are the G.S.G!

Let's think of how it all begun,
Goon's early antics, done for fun,
Led to the club in 'Sixty One.
He formed the G.S.G!
Inside museum's hidden spines,
Exploring all the local mines,
Then doon the road to the Pennines,
And speleotherapy!

Then onwards, downwards, search for more,
With all of Scotland to explore,
Entrenching tools were our claymores!
We tackled it with glee!
A base with Assynt's wondrous views,
The Inch and Allt with plenty booze,
A mighty list of digging crews,
Found caves, repeatedly!

Then Schiehallion, Appin, Skye,
And Applecross o'er passes high, (*)
The thirst for finds you can't deny,
It's there for all to see!
Now fifty years of finds so rare,
Throughout the world by those that dare,
Not just the caves, think of the bear,
Found by the G.S.G.!

Scots wha hae been underground,
Whaur caverns measureless abound,
We hae dug and we hae found,
Mair nor two or three!
Mighty chambers, tiny crawls,
Roaring rivers, waterfalls,
Pitches, sumps, we've found them all!
We are the G.S.G!

------
(*)NOTE:  Since singing the song at the dinner
Snab has revised this line to:-
"And Applecross o'er pass so high",
as there is only the ONE pass over the hills.

I bought this under the brandname "Mini DV", but it is probably better known as an "MD80 Micro Camcorder". As can be seen from the photograph below the camera is small, the lens is even smaller and I haven't the faintest idea where the microphone is.

Small or not, it will record 40 minutes worth of 720 X 480px 30 FPS video together with 22K mono sound. It's also cheap, so it has to be useful.

The instructions say:-

"Airframe stylish compact design to blend with the unique use of multi-function clip for your portable installation more convenient and can be caught in the backpack, hat, clothing or any other place you want the location of any implementation point of view the whole scene video / monitor."

There, I couldn't have put it better myself.