there , just a few minutes walk from the harbour . In the 1960s and 1970s spearfishing was big in the club , which hosted the national competition . Some of our veterans remember competing . Attitudes have changed since then , and we are now focused on marine protection .
Martin Jenkin , Chris Lawrence , Edmund ‘ Spud ’ Ulliot , Julie Turner Coates
What else did those early members get up to ?
Like many early divers , they were involved in lots of wreck discovery and recovery of artifacts . These finds were all reported , providing historical information to the Admiralty and leading to adjustment of local charts . Almost all of the local information on the wrecksite . eu database has come from our members .
Where is all that treasure now ?
We still have lots of material from this period at our clubhouse : we had 50 ships ’ bells on display in the clubhouse for our 50th anniversary , and we have wheels and the odd toilet . The club recovered the anti-submarine gun that is displayed on Scarborough ’ s Vincent Pier , and an anchor displayed on the foreshore . Our members continue to be involved in maritime heritage projects . We worked with the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre to prepare a Hotchkiss gun [ Hotchkiss was an arms company dating from the 19th Century ] for display at the 2020 National Armed Forces Day event , which was hosted by Scarborough .
Is it still all about wrecks then ?
Not now , although the good diving round here is mostly wreck diving , as the fine sediment of the east coast doesn ’ t lend itself well to enjoying reefs and reef life . The club takes an interest in lots of local environmental projects , including beach cleans . We ’ ve also had a number of our boat team take part in the national training scheme WiSE , which promotes minimising disturbance to marine wildlife from boat operations . We are listed as a WiSE operator ; clubs can check boat operators that they use on the WiSE website .
How do you implement this interest in the marine environment ?
During Covid , we set up our flagship Snorkel Environmental Adventure project . We decided to run weekly snorkels around Flamborough Head as a way to keep the
Karen Robinson ( front left ), Elaine Jenkin ( back ), Matt Parker ( right )
Elaine and Josie at Plymouth
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