CLUBFOCUS
Archival ice on Lake Windermere
John Parkes, 1979 At a fete in the 1980s
We then made halogen umbilical torches using underground fittings for the battery canisters. They were very good … well, down to 57 metres when they imploded.
Our boat shed was‘ rescued’ from a failing business, dismantled, stored and rebuilt by club members. Our first boat was an ex-combat tin tub assault craft. A member made a trailer for it, another used old inner tubes to improve its buoyancy. Someone else donated a small bottle of champagne and christened her Biddy One. When the club finished with Biddy One she was towed to Scotland to be used on a fish farm. There have been numerous other Biddys over the years and we now have a RIB called Outcast.
It sounds like there was plenty going on.
In its heyday the club was extremely active, diving most weekends, well-known in the local community, putting on displays at events and for schools, winning the Biddulph community sports award several times; we even had our own resident cartoonist [ there’ s an image to go with this fact ]. More than 100 members and their families would attend the annual dinner and award ceremony, often held at Biddulph town hall. Very sadly, a member died in a diving incident at Dorothea 11
32 years ago. This has affected the club’ s confidence and, in many ways, we have never recovered.
What is your focus today?
Simply keeping the club ticking over safely. We have not sought outside opportunities, quite possibly to our detriment. Club members old and new enjoy each other’ s company greatly, and these days are as likely to go camping together, white water rafting or watching the TT races as they are to go on a dive together. Many of us share other active hobbies and a love of the outdoors.
Who are your members?
We have 46 with club and BSAC membership, mainly experienced divers in their 50s and upwards, with some in their 20s and 30s and a few younger people. There is a growing contingent who don’ t dive much or at all anymore – some swim or snorkel in the pool. We have supported 40 try dives in a year, leading to eight new members. One pool night we all played Octopush; it was fun to find out which members have the biggest lung capacity,
What is the spread of diving experience?
There are 15 trainees; nine Ocean Divers; six Sports Divers; 14 Dive Leaders and two Advanced Divers. In the instructor team are: four Open Water Instructors, but only two are active, and nine Assistant Instructors, three qualifying as recently as September 2025. Despite some of our founder members having extensive snorkelling training in the 1980s, we do not have anyone with recent snorkelling instructor qualifications.
How is pool training going?
Pool sessions must be supported by an Open Water Instructor. We only have two available for this and have been highly dependent on them, which is unfair pressure as they rush to the pool from work and family life. They have shown enormous commitment; in the past few years we have only had to cancel one or two sessions because of their absence.
Stalwart Snowy in the 1980s