SCUBACHAT
65 years of‘ The Bankies’
2026 WAS A BIG YEAR FOR CLYDEBANK Sub-Aqua Club, with a number of celebratory events held throughout the year, this culminating with the attendance of present and past members, family and friends to our 65-year anniversary dinner held at the Clydebank Golf Course, Saturday 3 October.
More than 50 attendees shared many stories of our club’ s diving adventures over the past decades. We displayed a gallery of photographs dating back to the club’ s founding members in the 1960s, with background music from the years of our lives. And there was an Italian buffet!
The advances in the diving equipment over the decades prompted questions from our younger members, in particular the move from wetsuits to drysuits.
From our beginnings in 1961, the club has grown from a small group with very little equipment into a thriving BSAC branch, with regular training, weekend trips, boat diving and adventures all over Scotland and beyond.
2026 was no exception, with regular weekend dives at our local sites around Loch Fyne / Loch Long and our annual pilgrimage for the weekend’ s diving on the Sound of Mull.
We use our own RIB for day and weekend trips to Little Cumbrae, Portavadie, Oban, the Summer Isles, Campbeltown and the Garvellachs Islands. And there was our Summer Solstice barbecue: we launched the boat from Minard, with dives at Seil Island and Black Lass Cove. This took place on one of the sunniest days of the year here on the west coast of Scotland.
2026 also saw successful training progression for both new and existing members, and the continued growth of our membership
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the club over the years, in particular to our Treasurer, who has been in that role for the past 27 years. That’ s what you call commitment to the cause.
Here’ s to the next 65 years, continuing to dive with friends and enjoying our fantastic sport. JOHN KERR, Chair, Clydebank Sub Aqua Club
Hooper paints the clubhouse
I WANTED TO SHOW OFF THE beautiful mural that Exeter BSAC member Chris Hooper has just finished on our
clubhouse. We’ ve had this project in the pipeline for nearly a year now, and it has been worth the wait. One of our members,
Gemma, sourced some good designs from Exeter College and elsewhere, but nothing quite hit the spot. A nondiving friend of mine then sketched an underwater scene which the committee really liked. Chris took the concept and has brought it to vivid life over the past five days. Our boatshed wall was slightly grubby, bland, tired and entirely unremarkable. Now it’ s the most inspiring sight for miles around.
There was a good reason I asked Chris to do the work for us. Check out his paintings on Instagram, at cmhooper70. You won’ t be sorry you did!
I’ d like to put on record my thanks to everyone involved in this, from start to finish. Nicolette Macve, Exeter SAC
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