Monty Halls, Steve Backshall and BSAC’ s Katherine Knight add to the club’ s environment-themed Pledge Board
All the fun of the show:
Go Diving 2025
This year’ s Go Diving show took place at the NAEC in Stoneleigh Park, Coventry and was well attended by the diving public, plus a host of industry figures. With stands and stages now spread across two large halls, the event showcased the resilience and creativity of the UK diving scene.
BSAC was well represented, with our friendly stand located close to the main stage, staffed by the familiar blue-shirted staff and volunteers. With the show growing in size steadily since the pandemic it’ s getting harder to find specific stands. But as ever the BSAC flag stood out, ensuring a steady flow of old friends and prospective members.
Among our guys speaking on the stages were BSAC’ s Technical Chief Examiner Alex‘ Woz’ Warzynski; cenotes legend Lanny Vogel; deep wreck diver Jen Smith; author Nick Lyon; photo-pro Jane Morgan and SCUBA Editor Simon Rogerson, while Andy Torbet was master of ceremonies on the Main Stage.
BSAC CEO Mary Tetley said the show seemed busy and was positively received by members.“ We had a lot of interest on the stand from people wanting to learn how to dive, plus crossovers from other agencies who wanted to dive in clubs,” Mary said.“ Our workshops proved successful and we’ re proud to have launched BSAC’ s support for Motion for the Ocean. BSAC’ s Pledge Board was really successful and of course we loved that it was signed by Andy
Torbet, Monty Halls and Steve Backshall, as well as so many other visitors to the stand. It was great to see our local clubs attending, along with local university clubs.”
Workshop wonders
A substantial aspect of BSAC’ s presence was its workshop space, an oasis of learning away from the crowd. Head of
Emily Cunningham presents Motion for the Ocean
Diving and Training Sophie Heptonstall gave an authoritative presentation on practical advice for diver safety, while National Diving Officer Sophie Rennie joined Adrian Collier for a safety skills refresher focussing on use of the automated external defibrillator( AED) and Basic Life Support skills.
Another highlight was a session led by marine biologist Emily Cunningham MBE to launch BSAC’ s collaboration with Motion for the Ocean. This is a nationwide campaign urging local authorities to recognise that the ocean is a fundamental part of climate regulation and must be considered as part of an effective climate emergency response.
Emily is a co-founder of the initiative,
The BSAC team on their stand
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PHOTO: OLLIE VELASCO