SCUBAHUB
Swindon raises its grant game
A WILTSHIRE CLUB HAS BEEN ABLE TO give both its clubhouse and finances a green boost, thanks to a £ 15,000 grant from Sport England.
Earlier this year Swindon SAC heard that they had been successful in their grant application to Sport England’ s Movement Fund. As a match-funding initiative, the £ 15k grant has since taken Swindon’ s own fundraising efforts to £ 33,000. The funds are now being used to make their clubhouse‘ energy-sustainable’ through the use of solar panels.
Club Chair Paul Dowding said the Sport England grant has had a significant impact on the club, not only in helping to drive down energy bills but also on its ability to invest in its own members.
“ As a recreational club with a commercial responsibility – our clubhouse – the members can see that their membership money isn’ t just being used to pay the utility bills,” Paul said.“ We now have a long-term future for the club, with funds available to invest in our membership with further training and diving opportunities.”
Swindon is also using some of the savings made on its utility bills to offer free try dives to local charities and disadvantaged groups.
Having built their own club premises in 2012, the club is proud of its enviable facilities, which include an on-site pool, gas room, training room, kit store, boat garage and a large function room for events.
However, over recent years the rising cost of its maintenance had started to have an impact on the club’ s training, try dives and community projects. Faced with rising utility bills for their purpose-built clubhouse and pool, Swindon decided to look at raising the money needed to ensure their club’ s sustainability.
“ With our utility bills doubling over the last few years, this painted a very bleak future for the club if things didn’ t improve or change,” Paul explained.
Having already spent three years fundraising, the club was advised by Sport England to apply for their Movement Fund, which provides match-funding for successful applications. Although Swindon had already raised £ 18,000, their application was accepted and the club was awarded the maximum grant of £ 15,000.
The funds have now been used to purchase and fit 46 solar panels to the clubhouse roof.“ All excess electricity will be sold back to the grid which will hopefully go towards offsetting our gas bill,” Paul added.
Paul is now encouraging other clubs facing rising utility bills to consider a similar scheme. And he is happy to discuss Swindon’ s own Sport England grant success with any interested BSAC club. Paul can be contacted at swindive @ hotmail. com
Mary Rose: preserving the footage
A UNIVERSITY PROJECT IS IN A‘ RACE against time’ to preserve rare underwater footage documenting the discovery of the wreck of the Mary Rose.
Students from the University of Portsmouth are currently part of the team digitising more than 600 tapes containing video footage of Henry VIII’ s flagship, the Mary Rose. The students have joined the
8 preservation project from the university’ s Film and TV Production / Post-Production degree courses.
Launched in 1511, the Mary Rose served for 34 years before tragically sinking during the Battle of the Solent in 1545. Her rediscovery in the 1970s and raising in 1982 became one of the most ambitious maritime archaeological projects ever undertaken.
The‘ at risk’ underwater footage captured the moments when historical items such as cannons were discovered and filmed for the first time. However, the 40-year-old tapes have been deteriorating, prompting fears that the video archive could be lost.
Charlie Watts, of the University’ s School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies,
said time was of the essence if the footage is to be saved.
“ They have a very robust outer casing, but inside the tape is very vulnerable and the oxide on the tape is dissolving,” said Mr Watts.“ We have to do this now, otherwise it’ s gone completely.”
Alastair Miles, Collections Manager at The Mary Rose Trust, said the video preservation project would add more layers to the story of the wreck, as well as help bring the details of her excavation to life.
“ We now have the opportunity to preserve and reveal new insights into the Mary Rose’ s excavation through this unseen media for the benefit of future generations,” he added.