Jubilee Trust funding supports dive projects
THE BRITISH SUB-AQUA JUBILEE TRUST( BSAJT) has awarded grants totalling £ 6,000 in support of UK diving projects.
Over the summer, the charitable arm of BSAC awarded grants to fund four UKbased diving projects, with an emphasis on projects that are looking into aspects of the underwater environment.
An award of £ 2,000 was made to Marine Champion Kerry Robinson and Corby & District Sub Aqua Club( CADSAC) to undertake ecological monitoring of a defined stretch of the River Nene. Divers from the club will observe and record freshwater invertebrate communities from the riverbed, something that cannot be done from the bank alone.
A 13-YEAR-OLD BSAC DIVER HAS HER sights set on logging her 50th dive, one year on from qualifying as an Ocean Diver.
Isla Robinson, who is autistic, learned to dive with East Midlands-based BSAC centre Diverstime, where she had the opportunity to develop her skills and experience, building an impressive record of 38 dives in a variety of environments. She most recently had her first experience of diving in the sea during a club trip to Porthkerris.
Isla’ s instructor, Diverstime’ s Mark‘ Scoob’ Griffin said the trip was a significant step in her development as a diver.
“ She completed four challenging boat dives and, on three of them, dived without a parent alongside her. She approached the experience with confidence and maturity, demonstrating just how far she has progressed since taking her first steps into scuba diving.”
With ambitions to become a marine biologist specialising in sharks, the Porthkerris trip gave Isla one of her most memorable moments to-date – an encounter with a nursehound shark. She is now hoping to log her 50th dive on a Red Sea dive trip later this year.
For Isla scuba diving means much more than qualifications and logged dives. As an autistic young person, she has worked hard to overcome challenges in everyday life, and diving has become an environment in which she can flourish.
The underwater world has become, said Isla, her‘ happy place’.
Marine Champion Mel Hough and Flintshire SAC have been awarded a £ 2,000 grant to establish a club-focused citizen science project researching sponge species in the Menai Strait.
Additional grants of £ 1,000 have been made for development of previous projects- Andy Hunt for the Mull Oyster Expedition as a development of Operation Oyster and Mark Beattie-Edwards / Nautical Archaeology Sub-Aqua Club( NASAC) for a project to document the Klein Hollandia shipwreck off Eastbourne.
Chair of the BSAJT, Gavin Anthony welcomed the Trust’ s opportunity to support these projects, particularly that many applications this year have been environmentally based and in part an outcome of establishing the Marine Champions.
For more information how to apply for BSAJT grants and take a look at reports from previous BSAJT grant funded projects, go to bsac. com / jubileetrust
How training builds confidence
“ Diving is a way to see a different world full of amazing creatures and habitats like shipwrecks and coral reefs, she explained.“ It is also where I feel happy and most at home.
“ Scuba has helped me to gain confidence and learn new skills that has opened up many opportunities to me, that I can use to help me achieve my goals.”
Benefit of the Month
BSAC Travel Partners
STAVE OFF THE WINTER BLUES BY planning your next warm water dive trip – and grab yourself a BSAC Travel Partners discount at the same time!
As a BSAC member, you can claim at least 5 % off your next overseas diving holiday if booked with one of our Travel Partners. From a Red Sea liveaboard or Malta trip to something more long-haul, such as Truk Lagoon, there are some fantastic deals to choose from. If that’ s not enough, immediate family members can benefit from your BSAC Travel Partner discount too! And the BSAC discount can also be an extra sweetener when booking a club trip.
Here are current discounts offered by BSAC’ s four Travel Partners to whet your dive holiday appetite:
■ Diverse- 6 % off all worldwide resort and liveaboard diving holidays, including special offers. Plus, there’ s 5 % back to your club on group booking of six or more.
■ KM Malta Airlines – save up to 40 % on flights to Malta from Heathrow and Gatwick, with generous luggage allowance.
■ Regaldive- BSAC members can save 6 % on Regaldive resorts and liveaboard holidays worldwide( 10 % during promotional periods).
■ Scuba Travel- 6 % off all Scuba Travel’ s Egyptian liveaboard and resort holidays and 5 % off worldwide holidays.
■ ZuBlu- 5 % off all worldwide travel packages( resorts and liveaboards), including those already discounted.
For more information on the latest dive travel savings for members and to claim your discount, go to bsac. com / travelpartners
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