CLUBFOCUS
Isn ’ t 2021 a special year for the club ?
Yes , we are very happy to celebrate our 40th anniversary , and we are doing that in print . We have produced a booklet about our story , an illustrated club history that you will be able to read on our new website , and of course we are here in SCUBA mag . We have trained hundreds of divers and snorkellers in all age groups . We have run trips all over the world . Like all clubs , we ’ ve had our ups and downs but predominantly we have a very good safety record and many of our divers have been members for the majority of our 40 years .
What have you done to celebrate ?
It ’ s all been about the number 40 . Some club members have recently completed the 40-mile local national trail , the Lyke Wake Walk , and we plan to run a dive with 40 divers in the water at once ; we will look to other local clubs to support this venture . And , of course , we are having a dinner dance for members past and present .
Robin Hunter , David Cox and Paul Crinnion await divers at St Abbs
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Shore entry at Weasel Loch , Eyemouth
What resources does the club have ?
The club has a considerable amount of pool training kit and general dive safety equipment , as well as first aid and oxygen kits , and a recently acquired defibrillator . We also have a Humber Destroyer RIB that can take 10 divers and their equipment .
Is it easy to look after all this ?
We hold regular maintenance days that are well supported by members , with a wide variety of useful skills , electrical , mechanical and structural , that have allowed us to maintain our equipment and storage container over the years . We also support Thornaby Football Club in the maintenance and development of its site , which is in our mutual interest . We do what we can in-house as members are keen to keep costs down . Our main issue is meeting the rising cost of pool charges without increasing club fees to an unsustainable level , as access to a local pool is one of our most important assets .
Have you always had a club boat ?
We have had club boats for a very long time . The first was the small Plastic Pig , a ridged plastic dingy that carried just four divers . But we needed more capacity , so we bought a second-hand inflatable , followed by a military landing craft with a new outboard . This was a cumbersome boat to use but provided more much-needed additional capacity . All three operated together . Eventually we moved to RIBs , we dived from a Tornado for a while , soon joined by an Osprey . Now we have a three-year-old Humber Destroyer .
What diving goes on ?
In normal times , approximately 35 active divers undertake some 500 individual dives a year . Lockdown has kept us close to home in the past year but we have made the best of a bad job keeping our diving in the north of England . We run plenty of day trips , and around eight club weekends throughout the year further afield , mainly at Eyemouth / St Abbs and the Farne Islands . We also arrange around eight week-long trips a year to places including Mull , Oban , Eyemouth , and Scapa Flow . The northern Red Sea , Malta , Greece and Tenerife are popular with our divers , and we include families on these trips . In September the plan is to visit El Hierro , the smallest island in the Canary Islands .
What type of dives do members like ?
Most diving is done on open-circuit scuba . We have members who prefer a quick trip to the local coast for a shore dive to see the underwater scenery or to participate in hunter-gathering . Others prefer the technical challenge of RIB diving and wreckfinding . Inland sites play a role in training for the up-and-coming divers , skills practice for qualified members and Instructors , or as a meeting place for members who prefer to take their diving activities easy , making the social scene a major part of the day .