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We ’ re still looking for a new prize for a Star Letter , so please bear with us for a while longer . It ’ s a difficult time for the diving industry , so sponsorships are a tricky proposition at the moment .
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Training at Eccleston Delph
West Lancashire turns 60
THIS YEAR MARKS THE 60TH anniversary of the founding of West Lancashire Sub Aqua Club , BSAC 153 . We started life in Blackpool and in the last 60 years we have moved all around the Fylde coast , eventually ending up back at Blackpool Light Craft Club .
I ’ ve been a member for 50 years and have seen many changes , from the type of diving equipment we use to the places we have dived over the years .
When I first joined , we would jump in any likely water-filled hole in the ground , which led to us diving all the lakes in the Lake District . We also dived many of the local quarries , Capernwray being one well before it was a dive centre . This then had us move onto UK diving the length and breadth of the country , exploring St Kilda , the Outer Hebrides , Scapa Flow , Ireland , East Coast , the whole of Wales and the South Coast of England . The South West and Cornwall , including the Scilly Isles , was a personal favourite of mine .
We are an active training branch ; for many members , learning to dive opened up opportunities to dive all over the world , with many far-flung locations visited by members over the years . I think our members have probably dived most oceans of the world over the past 60 years . This has covered the very exotic – such as Bikini Atoll , Truk
Lagoon , Papua New Guinea , the Great Barrier Reef – alongside the Maldives and most of the islands of the Caribbean . Australia seems to be a favourite , as quite a few of the founder members ended settling in Australia .
Always up for a challenge we have been involved in many projects , the first of which in the very early days was undertaken by some of our founding members when they travelled to the Norfolk coast to help with the search for crew from the drilling rig Sea Gem , which had collapsed into the sea . Judging by contemporary reports , they spent a few days on a boat being tossed around by the sea , never getting chance to dive ... but at least they tried .
Seasearch training day
At the 2017 Menai boat run
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