Urbain, Bernard

BERNARD URBAIN (1952 - 2011) Famous Belgium Caver

From the age of 15 Bernard had a passion for caving and his activities led him first to the caves of Belgium. Besides, with his caving club in Belgium he participated in multiple expeditions in France (since 1969): Pierre St Martin, Lonné Peyret, the Reseau Trombe, Gouffre Berger etc. the list is long. He also participated in exploring the system of Piaggia Bella in Marguareis in Italy.

In 1971 he followed his non-military national service in the Disaster and Emergency Services of Belgium. It is through this opportunity that he gets acquainted to the cave rescue organization. He becomes, in 1973, a team member of the cave rescue team. The same year he met speleo-rescuers in Brussels, managed by Dimitri de Martinoff and André Slagmolen... He joins then the Namur section of cave rescue.

At that time, he invested a lot in the administrative caving, this thankless activity in the service of the whole community. He was in charge of the secretarial department of his caving Club, and administrator on the Committee of Preservation of Caves (from 1979 till 1983), and administrator on the Belgian Committee of Caving (from 1978 till 1984).

In the early 1980s, three Belgian federations (FSB, CBS and FNSA) negotiated for a long time their merger and the creation of the Union Belge de Speleologie (UBS), which becomes a reality at the end of 1984. Bernard Urbain was the first Director of the UBS (from 1989 till 2004), General Secretary (from 1989 till 1995 and from 2003 till 2004), Vice-president in 1996, and President in 1998 …

When in 2004, he leaves the Secretariat and the Board of directors of the UBS, it is not to go away from the federal management, but to remain active with a volunteer's status. He became Administrative Director with the precarious mission to install the UBS in Namur. Bernard was also Secretary of the European Speleologist Federation from 1990 till 1992.

Since 1984, he was the technical adviser in cave rescue, at first CTA (assistant), then (National) CTN from 1996. In this time, he appreciated the trainings which were made between friends, besides the official exercises.

With Gérald Fanuel they formed an efficient team at the head of the cave rescue, which was his little baby. He put in it all his efforts, as much in the organization as in the operations.

Bernard kept on fighting for the values of the Belgian cave locally and internationally. His enthusiasm helped him a lot. On the occasion of 7th international cave rescue congress that was held in Cividale (Italy, 1987) Bernard joined the executive committee of the cave rescue commission of the Union International of Speleology. During this congress, he was marked by the cave rescue exercise which took place underground with the cooperation of all the cavers. He had very precise images of the passages of the stretcher in the pits and the commitment of the Italian cavers to go at the end of the operation. In 1992 he organizes the European Congress of Hélecine in Belgium.

In 2002 he organizes the 50 years anniversary of the Belgian speleologists in Sart Tilman near Liège; with his help Belgian help 14 foreign delegations could attend this event.

For him the cave rescue is serious but it does not take itself seriously. Thus the Belgian cave rescue shirt he put in the back, a drawing showing a stretcher held by two cavers jokers who turn back and go their separate ways.

His name is forever inscribed on the Honour Roll of a club and a federation, as Honorary Secretary General of the Namur Society of Speleology and Honorary Member of the Belgian Union of Speleology.

Beyond these titles, he will remain for those who approached him an unusual caver, active and devoted to the cause which is common to all of us. Bernard was internationally known and appreciated.

This is how we became friends, contributors to the cause of caving. We knew that the fight against the disease was uneven and all our attention and our efforts were going to support him as long as possible:

From projects to achievements we have gone a serious long way with Bernard. The first meeting that I remember took place in the Jura (France) at the rescue at Bief Goudard in Summer 1998. Bernard, then Technical Advisor of the Belgian National Cave Rescue, came with some other Belgian cavers during the search conducted in the siphon to find Freddy Sonck. From that time we met every year at the national gatherings of the French Federation of Speleology.

Bernard had a thorough knowledge of people and international structures and my first steps in this area have been guided by his advice.

From 2006 we became inseparable and in regular contacts. We were both occupied in attending and organizing inter-national seminars, conferences, commission meetings, support for the International Union of Speleology (in Greece, Texas, Puerto Rico, etc..). Meanwhile our round-trips between Belgium and Savoy (France) became common.

When I hoped to contribute in the field of knowledge of bats with Belgian cavers, Bernard organized outings to the remarkable cavities of Belgium with the relevant scientists of the country.

When the disease impeded his physical performance, Bernard launched into the picture with underground shots of a rare definition. His contribution in this area became out-standing and brought in his view of the activities we con-ducted. Finally, we have used and abused his phone number SOS computer to find the right solutions of our computers malfunction or our ignorance in this area.

In the end, we supported each other from project to project through a few moments of life. Bernard found archives at home of Andre Slagmolen which had preceded us in the field of international cave rescue. Thus he was able to make power point in assembling a history of the International Commission of Speleology. I was hoping he presents himself at the 12th Conference of the UIS Cave Rescue Commission in Bulgaria (May 2011), but he did not have the strength to make the trip. It is with some emotion that I presented the history of the commission on his behalf.

For several months, methodically, he kept on distributing to one or the other, folders or boxes to continue caving activities. He knew he was going away, so he wanted to take this last opportunity to organize his departure. He considered himself lucky to be able to prepare for his own death. On our side, friends, family, cavers, we did every-thing to delay the deadline. I got from him the archive of cave rescue international, part of his collection of stickers cave (probably the most extensive in the world) on the theme of rescue. I still have in front of the cards he had printed for this purpose to extend its network. He wrote "enter into the legend ..."

More than a legend, Bernard was a major actor of caving and we were aware that he was inside in the heart of the history of caving.