BSAC Election 2024 :
Candidates announced
THE CANDIDATES FOR THE AVAILABLE Council positions in the BSAC Election 2024 have been announced . This year ’ s election will see two Officer positions , National Diving Officer ( NDO ) and Honorary Treasurer , as well as two ordinary Council member posts all becoming available .
The call to stand for BSAC Council brought a positive response , with a total of 15 members now standing as 2024 election candidates . Voting in this year ’ s election is set to open towards the end of March , when BSAC members will be able to vote for the candidates .
The full list of BSAC Election 2024 candidates is :
National Diving Officer ( one position available )
■ Pete Bicheno
■ Eugene Farrell
■ David George
■ Michelle Kim
■ Sophie Rennie
Honorary Treasurer ( one position available )
■ Richard Pettifer ( unopposed )
Council member ( two positions available )
■ Dai Atkins
■ Lee Bevan
■ Alex Denny
■ Geoff Duggan
■ Gareth Field
■ Thomas Hawksworth
■ Catherine Haworth
■ Paul Tarn
■ Andrew Warren
Details on the candidates and their CVs will be released before voting takes place . The successful election candidates will take up their BSAC Council positions after the 70th BSAC AGM on Saturday , 11 May at 10:00am .
Once again , the 2024 AGM will be held online , and all members are invited to attend . Details on how to pre-register to participate in the online AGM and pre-register any questions members may have for Council will be available on the BSAC Election 2024 website provided by Civica .
How to vote in the BSAC Election 2024
BSAC members with a valid email address and eligible to vote will be emailed full details of the online voting process for the BSAC Election 2024 , including online voting codes and links to the candidate CVs , towards the end of March .
This email will come from Civica . If you do not receive an email from Civica , please contact us at membership @ bsac . com or by calling 0151 350 6201 ( office hours are 09:00-17:00 ). Eligible members will also be able to vote on a special resolution regarding changes to BSAC ’ s Articles of Association . For full details on the special resolution , go to bsac . com / proposedarticles
All voting in the 2024 election will online unless members specifically registered for a postal vote . Please email maryt @ bsac . com with your name and membership number by no later than the 13th April to register for a postal vote .
Make sure we can contact you
You can ensure your email address is correct by checking your details via your MyBSAC account on bsac . com where you can update your email address online if it ’ s out of date .
BSAC is keen that as many members vote as possible so asks all Branch Officers to check that their club members who are eligible to vote have received their voting codes from Civica by the end of March . If not , please email maryt @ bsac . com
BSAC Expeditions Coordinator Andy Hunt looks back at a great project
AT PRECISELY 6.16PM ON MY BIRTHDAY last year , BSAC HQ received an email from the family of the late John Leach . The family had been sorting through the attic and came across a scrapbook of BSAC divers heading off on an expedition to Norway . They thought BSAC might be interested .
A parcel duly arrived , containing a faded and slightly musty expedition report of the 1976 Kaafjord Expedition , a scrapbook of photographs , letters and newspaper cuttings . John Leach had been a member of Peter Cornish ’ s 1976 return expedition to Kaafjord , continuing the search of HM Submarine X5 , lost during the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in the Second World War .
I leafed carefully through the pages of the typewritten report and dive logs . The scrapbook had faded photographs stuck neatly in position and carefully labelled , with things like the expedition camping tents , inflatables ( not RIBs ) and a lifting bag attached to the bow of X7 . Then there was the map – an early CAD drawing titled ‘ SONAR ANOMOLY MAP ’ giving locations of all the dive targets relative to the original location of the Tirpitz .
This expedition was impeccably planned . It involved the Imperial War Museum , the Norwegian Military , major companies like Comex and also BSAC . Its 20 members worked as a team , had a cracking onemonth adventure , contributed to the historical record and left an inspirational and valuable report .
Churchill was quoted as saying : “ The farther backward you can look , the farther forward you can see .” As BSAC ’ s 75th birthday is not far away , maybe we should consider getting reports like this online so we can look back on more of the rich legacy of work undertaken by our members . I ’ m sure there will be ideas to re-learn from historical expedition reports such as this , with power to inspire a new generation of expedition leaders in a digital age .
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