CLUBFOCUS
Neil Price and Mike Baker at Morfa Nefyn, North Wales
Simon Tait, our boat Cox’ n
Where do you go diving?
As a branch with two boats, we prioritise RIB diving with the occasional shore and hard boat trip. RIB season usually starts at Easter. It ends late in October with multiday trips to Inveraray on Loch Fyne, where Stallion Rock is an old favourite.
Tell us more about some favourite places.
North Wales offers many options; with great scenic and wreck dives. It is popular with us for day trips; especially going to Anglesey for diving around Seagull Islands out of Rhoscolyn and Puffin Island; and further west to Morfa Nefyn on the Llyn Peninsula and Pwllheli. There the mussel dredger Segontium( at an average 29m) and the fishing boat Challenger( 20m) are both popular sites covered in plumose anemones, soft corals and shoals of fish. Rhoscolyn Bay is also excellent for first time dives in the ocean.
Where do you go for holiday diving?
Plymouth trips are always popular where the Drop Off, Hand Deeps and the Eddystone are our go-to sites. Most years see a week-long branch holiday. These have included Shetland / Orkney, where we took a RIB for the 100th anniversary of the scuttling of the German fleet, the Scillies and the Outer Hebrides, where we once managed to dive the Flannan Islands 20 miles west of the Isle of Lewis. That was a good day.
Every few years we offer an overseas trip, most recently Croatia for an excellent liveaboard out of Split. We’ ve also travelled to Egypt and Narvik in Norway, very different diving experiences. We may return to Malta and Gozo soon if there is enough interest.
How does the club raise funds?
We have two club draws, one based on lottery numbers, and we have been successful in recent years with grants from our local authority, which helped us buy pool kit for juniors. We have also in the past been successful with a grant from Sport England. We used to produce an annual club calendar( no, not that sort of calendar), now the focus is more on an active social programme that includes BBQs and bowling, plus nights out and the use of local outdoor pools for games of octopush and the like.
What does being part of your club mean to members?
Our members’ willingness to help each other is what defines our club. Whether it’ s towing boats across the country, maintaining equipment, supporting trainees, or organising social events; the club runs on a strong sense of teamwork and friendship. Many members joined to learn to dive but stayed because of the people. �
Helen Nightingale and Michael Ward at Capernwray
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Steve Hopper presents the Rex Challinor Award to Karen Giller, our Membership and Welfare Officer