Clubs merge, romance blooms
A BSAC COUPLE HAVE WALKED DOWN THE aisle underwater to renew their wedding vows.
Members of West Midlands-based Sandwell SAC, Adam and Amy Harper met by chance on a training event at a swimming pool shared by their BSAC clubs. With the two clubs merging to eventually become Sandwell SAC, romance blossomed and three years later, Amy proposed to Adam in 2024 – a leap year.
Earlier this year the couple got married in a quiet registry office service in West Bromwich in front of two witnesses. Wanting to find a fun way to celebrate their marriage with family and friends, they hit on the idea of getting‘ married’ again, but this time underwater.
The venue for their sub-aqua nuptials was their club’ s pool, the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, formerly the swimming venue for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. With its Olympic sized swimming and diving pools, the centre was the perfect location for a truly immersive vow confirmation service. The ceremony included underwater guests, Amy’ s parents watching on the poolside and Adam’ s parents snorkelling above. The bride, resplendent in a white wedding dress, also managed to‘ walk’ down the aisle by her‘ dive dad’, fellow club member Andrew Bessant, thanks to strategically placed weights.
Another club member, Scott Wonfor, officiated the underwater ceremony dressed as a sea captain, in scenes which have since featured on the couple’ s local BBC news.
Currently on honeymoon in the Red Sea, with 10 other Sandwell SAC members, the newlyweds said that everyone getting involved with their idea made the day really special.
“ We had the best of times,” said Adam.“ It started as a small idea and we are both humbled by everyone who got onboard. We were just having fun in the pool but if we have bought a smile to a few people in times of such uncertainty then that’ s great by us!”
New study on women in diving
LONDON-BASED BSAC BRANCH HOLBORN 130 HAS LAUNCHED A NEW PILOT STUDY TO understand how scuba diving impacts on women. Looking at both the physiological impact and equipment design, they hope to identify trends that can be addressed for women divers.
Holborn’ s Diving Officer, Mia Scaggiante explained:“ We were inspired by the excellent book‘ Invisible Women’ that laid out the problem of data largely ignoring women in all areas of their lives – everything from product design to health. We thought it was time to do something that could better understand that impact in scuba.”
Called Invisible Divers, the project asks everyone, regardless of their gender, to complete two online questionnaires. The general questionnaire looks at equipment, whereas the second one focussing on physiology, is designed to be completed after every dive. Both surveys are anonymous, and the aim is to publish any trends towards the end of the year, with the help of academic researchers who are branch members. At the same time, Holborn hopes to raise awareness and understanding of women’ s needs in the sport.
Zoé Diderich, who co-developed the study added:“ As a club, Holborn is all about inclusivity, so we thought, let’ s do something to support women in the sport. We don’ t know what the final outcome will be, but if we are creating more of a discussion then that’ s great.”
For information and to complete the two surveys, go to holbornscubalondon. co. uk / invisible-divers
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