Darwen ’ s evolution
I WOULD LIKE TO REPORT THAT Darwen Sub Aqua Club ran their bi-annual diving and wild camping expedition to Loch Hourn in the middle of September . It was very successful and very enjoyable . Pictured at the start of a dive near Barrisdale Bay are Ian Dearden , his son Keith Dearden and grandson James Dearden . Three generations diving together and having a wonderful experience . Long may it continue . IAN DEARDEN , Diving Officer Darwen Sub Aqua Club Branch 0047
Born to snorkel
PHOTO : DAVE THOMPSON
One for the ages
GREETINGS FROM SOUTHDOWN DIVERS BSAC 1430 ! Having promoted my bucket list to a published ‘ 2023 manifesto ’, item five was to dive with seals , my favourite animal since I was aged eight . I organised a trip to Lundy with one other member , and once we ’ d got the date arranged , we told everyone else in the club and ended up as a group of seven . A couple of the chaps – Dave and Lewis – joined in as well . We had seals tugging our fins , zooming past , sleeping under rocks , then opening an eye to look at the weird ‘ hooman ’ creatures with bubbles and bright fins before nodding off again . It was fantastic . We realised that all of us girls are of different decades . Karen Thomson is her 60s ; I ( Ann ) am in my 50s , Kat Hampson is in her 40s , Emma O ’ Neill in her 30s and Jessie Robbins is twenty-something . We are all from different walks of life , but with a combined love of diving . I can only thank the rest of the team for such a wonderful weekend and making my dream come true . ANN PARKER , Southdown Divers
IN 2015 YOU PUBLISHED A PICTURE IN SCUBA OF myself and my grandson , Leo Bremner , reading SCUBA magazine on a bed . Just recently , Leo , now 8 , completed his Dolphin Snorkeller course . He ’ s looking forward to be able to scuba dive next ! Rob Jackson , VetsSAC
Memories of a diving veteran
IT WAS INTERESTING TO READ THE issue [ SCUBA November 2023 , celebrating 70 years of BSAC ] about diving through the years . I started diving in 1964 with Tyneside Branch , just before I went to university in Bristol . After a short period with the university ’ s club , I transferred to Bristol No . 3 Branch to gain more experience , still diving with Tyneside during the summer vacation . In 1967 , I had a holiday job at Kodak in Harrow and dived with London No . 1 Branch during the summer . After graduating , I moved to Derby and joined Derby Branch , but still dived regularly with friends from Bristol . In August 1973 , on the first day of a two week diving trip to Oban with three friends from Bristol , we discovered the wreck of HMS Dartmouth which sank on October 9 , 1690 . It was the second ship to be scheduled under the Protection of Wrecks Act – but only after a very chilly week long survey in November 1973 . The weather was so cold , we had to thaw out our wetsuits with hot water because they had frozen solid overnight . I ’ ve attached an article from Triton magazine , featuring a picture of me standing up in a boat holding a grenade ( the old Guy Fawkes type bomb , essentially a hollow cannonball ). The diver in the water beside the boat is [ Scillies-based shipwreck expert ] Richard Larn . Since starting diving I have been fortunate to do over 4,000 dives in 52 countries across six continents , including many of the bucket shop destinations such as Socorro ( Mexico ) and Chuuk Lagoon ( Micronesia ) and I ’ m still actively diving and instructing . ALLAN CARR , Diving Officer Bedford Sub-Aqua Club , 0089
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