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By the power of Odin!
WE HAD OUR ANNUAL FOUR-DAY DIVING TRIP TO ST ABBS WITH DIVE ST ABBS AND took the New Asgard approach to costumes, along with donating £ 628 to the St Abbs independent life boat. We raise money from quiz nights and donations, and this is the third year running we have chosen the Lifeboat again. We had a fantastic tour of the Lifeboat house and RIB, and got to watch a‘ shout’ when a pair of paddle boarders needed assistance.
We have donated more than £ 1,500 over the last three years. It’ s great to give something back to a cause close to our hearts, and gets the club together for a social event. We had two divers complete some of their first open water sea dives in the best conditions we had had, which made the trip even more enjoyable Dominic Harvey, Chelmsford BSAC 306
A win on the
Lottery
PONTEFRACT SCUBA CLUB APPLIED this year for funding from the Lottery and Sport England to replace ageing kit and to buy items better suited to the female shape. We also wanted to have equipment that would make our trainees feel valued, rather than thehaving feeling of wearing an older sibling’ s cast-offs. We were successful and received just over £ 10,500! We now have several new BCDs, full regulator sets, dive computers and several new cylinders.
Club memberships are changing and budgets are tighter than they’ ve ever been. Actively listening to these shifting needs has helped us to change declining numbers into an active, inclusive and growing membership. Our members are encouraged to get involved in how our club is shaped. After all, no members, no club! We took into account that asking an Instructor, be they an Assistant Instructor or a full Instructor( the financial ask is the same) can get really expensive. We can’ t give our instructors their time back, but we can cover their expenses. Before the fuel price increase those costs came to approximately £ 230 for a weekend! We didn’ t want our instructors feeling that they had to get up at the crack of dawn after a hard week at work, so we budget for an overnight stay or two if required. Supporting our instructors is our way of valuing their incredible dedication.
Our club is located in a deprived area, so part of our focus was to look at getting local people learning to dive. With this new kit we can now offer to hire out equipment to newly qualified club members as they go through the expensive process of buying their own kit. The small hire costs are put towards servicing our equipment.
Our qualified divers get as much attention for their training requirements as our Ocean Divers. Our membership has more than doubled in the last 2.5 years, but divers’ progression and therefore safety goes hand in hand. Being better informed and keeping up training is equally important. DEBORAH BECKLEY, Chair, Pontefract Scuba Club
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