The Council of Higher Education Caving Clubs
CHECC was formed during the UK’s first university caving club forum in 2002, it’s founders were Chris Jewell and Joel Corrigan. CHECC is now an established organisation setup to protect the interests of student caving. We encourage clubs which are having trouble with their unions or just starting out to get in touch for advice and support. As a body of experienced and student/former student cavers, with ties to the BCA and other caving organisations, we are able to offer official representation for your club on a national level. For more general caving related advice feel free to get touch about this too or refer to our caving Wiki.
Our broader aims are to strengthen communication and collaboration between different caving groups, creating new opportunities for caving and exploration. We facilitate this through 3 main annual events the CHECC forum and two smaller regional events: NCHECC and SCHECC. Through these events, we organise peer to peer training in order for you to hone your skills or learn something new and not to mention the best student caving party of the year. CHECC also owns a Disto which we can lend to clubs for surveying projects or expeditions.
CHECC has recently also released a set of caving guidelines for running a student caving club.
The Committee
Chair: Tom Phillips
Pronouns: he/him
Tom Phillips or Big Tom began caving in 2019 with Cardiff University Caving Club. He was asked if he would run for president after a heavy SCHECC. Whether it was a joke, we don’t know. But it solidified it in his mind and now here we are.
Secretary: James Waite
Pronouns: he/him
James started caving with his uncle and soon found a home at the club at Cardiff uni. He enjoys Pina coladas and long crawls in the rain.
Treasurer: Jemma Stephens
Pronouns: she/her
After sporadically caving since 2016, Jemma became president of Cardiff University Caving and Canyoning Club in 2021 with a solid 7 trips under her belt. Since then she has thrown herself into caving, although some may argue she appreciates a good spreadsheet or Google form above actually going underground. After meeting some of her closest friends through CHECC, she is excited to be a part of it.
Training Officer: Kai Trusson
Pronouns: he/they
The previous training officer Mealy told Kai he should be the training officer and pushed this so much that over time he believed this was his idea. Kai was heavily involved in forming Birmingham Student Caving Club and stealing Bangors acronym in 2023 and met many close friends through checc. Passionate about teaching people and good cave snacks.
Welfare Officer: Violet Han
Pronouns: they/them
Hiya! I’m Violet your welfare sec. I’m from Southampton but try to get involved with as many clubs as I can. I’m a big fan of the chaos and shenanigans that happen at checc! I’m here to encourage as much as possible while keeping you safe and cared for aswell.
Sponsorship Officer: Mysti Ommer
Pronouns: she/her
After many years of waiting, Mysti finally got her chance to cave with Plymouth Adventure & Expo during her master’s. If there’s one thing she loves more than crawling around a dark wet hole, it’s caving.
Webmaster: Jasper Crabb
Pronouns: he/him
Being from the Mendips, you would have thought that Jasper was a lifelong caver, but he only started caving in his third year at Aberystwyth. Having graduated from his computer science degree he is happy to finally be using it for a good cause, that’s if he doesn’t spend the entire year underground…