This longstanding coastal club has reinvented itself, rebuilt membership and even won the Heinke Trophy for its efforts. Interview by Kristina Pedder
CLUBFOCUS
Aberdeen Sub Aqua Club
This longstanding coastal club has reinvented itself, rebuilt membership and even won the Heinke Trophy for its efforts. Interview by Kristina Pedder
LOCATION: Aberdeen, NE Scotland MEMBERSHIP FEE: £ 42- £ 84( plus BSAC)
CONTACT: e Absac67 @ gmail. com! www. aberdeenbsac. uk f Aberdeen Sub Aqua Club BSAC 67 I aberdeensubaquaclub
When was the club formed?
Aberdeen Sub Aqua Club, BSAC branch number 67, was set up in 1958 some five years after BSAC itself.
It’ s good to hear from a club set up in the early years of scuba, how is club life?
Well, we’ ve had to work hard in recent years. Numbers reached a record low of just nine diving members in 2019, with no Training Officer in post and less than £ 1,000 in the bank. If you were at the BSAC Diving
Conference in 2024 you might have heard some of our subsequent story. Chairman Jim Burke went on stage to describe how we were motivated to write a strategy focusing on improving culture and diversity, and then how we implemented it, leading to a more welcoming atmosphere. Now there are more than 100 members, a fresh training offer delivered by a team of more than 20 instructors, and we are financially healthy.
Who are your members now?
We have 130 diving members, three honorary members and three social members. Our members range in age from 12 to 70 +. Around 40 % of our membership and committee are women. Sixty per cent are younger than 39. We have 11 members under 18. We have a growing number of members who are not local to Aberdeen, or even Scotland, but have joined us for the diving and training opportunities we provide and because they like the club vibe.
Did you need to increase your fees in the bad times?
No. We kept our annual club membership fee the same for seven years to keep the cost of diving affordable for members. We offer discounts for students, under- 18s and families. If we need money for big purchases, such as our RIB, we go out and fundraise with second-hand kit sales, cake bakes, and try dives. For example, in the past year we ran 120 individual try dives. The club has more boats, more compressors, more kit and all for the same annual membership fee.
What does the spread of diving experience look like?
Among the divers are three First Class Divers, seven Advanced Divers, 22 Dive Leaders, 26 Sports Divers, 46 Ocean Divers and 20 divers in training.
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