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Lie back and think of England call for cave 'rescue' reporter

Somerset Guardian and Standard chief reporter Wendy Walker was bound up like a mummy when she played the part of a stranded caver in a Mendip cave rescue drill.

From about 80ft beneath Somerset, Wendy was hauled to the surface through a series of passages, waterfalls and climbs by a team of rescuers.

Wendy said: “The cave rescue team got in touch and asked if I wanted to volunteer to be ‘rescued’.

“I thought I would just be going down a pot hole but instead we went down into the black depths of the Mendip cave system near Wells.

“It’s a vast cave system and when we climbed down I had to pretend to be injured.

“It was terrifying but at the same time I felt safe as I couldn’t move.

“I was being dragged through gaps where my nose would be a quarter of an inch from the rock.

“I’m not a huge person but there were some big blokes down there and I don’t know how they got through. But they are a very sophisticated unit.

“Nothing prepares you for the darkness and it feels very isolated but I was in good company.”

Photographer Will Nicol joined Wendy in the cave to capture the drill for paper’s feature on cave and cliff rescues and the Mendip environment centre.

Wendy said: “Will had the worse job having to take his camera down, whereas I was just instructed to lie there and think of England!”

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