October 2000

Editorial, by Allan Bretherton

As the first diving season of the millennium draws to a close we have to ask if this was a good season for Worcester Divers and are we getting what we want from our club?
There was a time, not so very long ago when we were a diving club with some social activities. Do we now want to be a social club that includes diving as one of its activities?
On the diving front, Malcolm and Carol Copson have done some sterling work in organising dives to the Red Sea and 3 hard boat weekends out of Penzance. Robin Johnson organised a wonderful trip to the Channel Isles (see trip report later on) John Kingsley and Charles Erb have organised several soft boat dives but what about the rest? Again, not going back too many years we would conduct over 1200 man dives with the club each year - what have we done this year? The club boat has been out of commission for a good part of the season and what has happened to the second boat to replace the old Tornado that we were supposed to buy this year. To make matters worse, we even cancelled our two standing bookings with 'Skin Deep' out of Weymouth that has been extremely popular with a number of the members for quite some years.

Let's also consider training. We have done some Club Diver training, both pool and classroom work but what about skills development courses? With the exception of Oxygen Administration and VHF courses organised by John Cutherbertson at the beginning of the year what else have we done?
Again, what do we want? Do we want to be an active diving club with all that it entails or a club for social gatherings with some diving thrown in - the choice is yours.

Whilst on the hobby horse, what has happened to our regular communications meetings that used to be held 2 or 3 times each year for the committee to communicate with the members and to present qualifications gained throughout the season.
We are coming up to an AGM. We usually get 30 to 40 members turning up if we are lucky. We should all be there to support the committee that have made the effort over the year but also to steer the club in the direction that we as members wish it to take.

John Graty is stepping down as Diving Officer of the club so clearly, there will be a need to find a suitable replacement but what does this job involve? It is a thankless but also rewarding position. A good branch is the result of a good D.O. However, to be a Diving Officer you must be a BS-AC Advanced Diver - why - because you have the authority of the National Diving Officer delegated to you; you are responsible for all training within the branch (ideally you should be a qualified instructor), all diving related safety matters for the branch and issuing of qualifications whilst maintaining BS-AC standards - not a job for the faint hearted. You will also be responsible for all branch diving and that really means organising the dive programme at the start of the year. Delegating to individual trip organisers (you don't have to do everyone yourself) and making sure that trips are organised fairly and everyone gets an equal chance to book on a trip. We don't want to return to the practice of trips being full before they appear on the notice board or do we?

As a part of the training responsibility you will need to organise one or two novice weekends to ensure that our up and coming divers get a chance to try out their skills in open water under the guidance of an experienced dive leader / instructor. We can even include night diver training as a branch activity at Stoney Cove.

And the rewards? Tremendous satisfaction in seeing your branch regain its position as one of the best in the West Midlands if not the Country. The satisfaction of a successful diving season and the satisfaction of trainees becoming expert divers under your guidance. If you have the qualities and wish to be the Diving Officer for one of the best branches in the Midlands then put your name forward, there will be more than enough people to offer the support that you will need.

Bath Weekend 2000 by: Charles Erb & Malcolm Copson
Does a force 4-5 gusting 6 stop Worcester BSAC doing what comes naturally? NO! It just makes us more determined to find new dive sites. The intellect of the group (sorry, I thought we were talking divers! Ed) rose to the challenge - the Eagan Layne was chosen as our plan B. Braving the rough waters of Rame head, we squeezed our way round to find only two other boats on it.

But then the Bath weekend is not just about diving, so we made the best of unexpectedly high winds. This was eclipsed by the social atmosphere and an excellent barbecue on Saturday night. Continued poor weather on Sunday did not put us off either; the weather forced us to stay very close in, so we dived in the lee of the Mewstone. At first sight an unpromising dive, but which turned out to be very interesting with lots of cracks to explore and crustacea such as squat lobsters and prawns to spot. The highlight though was a sighting of a blue spotted ray (yes, really!) (oh yes! Ed) by Niki and Carol.
In the afternoon, the weather relented enough for another dive on the James Eagan Lane. Hardly pioneering stuff, but this weekend has traditionally been about the social atmosphere, and a fair amount of training was completed too, so all in all an enjoyable weekend.

The McGregor Channel Isles liveaboard trip by: Carol Copson
This trip has a whole section of pages, so Click this link to read this section.

To put the next bit into context you need to know the following about this trip....
Carol writes...."We had some fun on the holiday by looking for a 'plonker' of the day award, and we gave the responsibility for nominating and presenting this award to our branch Chairman, David Petersen. The 'PLONKER' of the week I believe has to go to Phil, for attempting to dive with his PEE ZIP still open. Hence a wet and embarrassed Phil."

Well, we now appear to have two contenders for the plonker of the year award.
For those of you that remember issue 2 (or even read it) we have contender # 1, our intrepid chef in the Red Sea for jumping from the sun deck with his trunks round his ankles showing his naughty bits to a bunch of girlie divers on the next boat and contender #2, Phil on the Channel Isles trip diving with his pee zip open - why is it always the naughty bits that get the attention.
Clearly, the committee only have a small choice (forgive the pun!) unless you know of any other contenders?

Charles, polish that trophy, its going to a new home this year! - Ed

Mandy's bit by: Amanda Fitzgerald
As Treasurer please may I have your assistance.... Can members organising dive trips produce a list of participants and collect all the boat fees in - and pay me in one lump sum (as much as possible). As I know for a fact not all fees are being collected and I don't know who's gone on each trip.

I am trying to organise a Halloween Party (fancy dress) for the end of October - we need suggestions for a suitable location.

A Christmas Party has been booked at the Diglis for 2nd December. Tickets will be £15 and there will be a hot buffet. 80 tickets are available.

West Midlands Coaching Scheme News

Skill Development Courses
Coaching Scheme Courses have continued to be popular with almost all the advertised events running, some with quite big numbers, and several additional events being added to the programme. The most popular courses continue to be Oxygen Administration, Practical Rescue Management and Combined Nitrox.
If you are trying to get your advanced diver qualification, this is a good way to gain the necessary skills and experience.
In Branch Courses are being encouraged by BSAC and are now proving popular. In some cases branches have the Instructors and equipment to run the courses themselves in which case it is simply a matter of registering the course a few weeks before the event.

Hereford branch will be running an Oxygen Administration Course on 26th November and a few places are still available.

YOUR REGIONAL COACHING TEAM
Regional Coach: Mike Crampton, 55 Gilbert Avenue, Bilton, Rugby, Warks CV22 7BZ Tel/Fax: 01788 522338 Mobile: 0411 062215 Email: mike.crampton@dial.pipex.com
Area Coaches: Derek Ainsworth 01666 577176 derek.ainsworth@bsac.com
Adrian Allen 01782 326027 adrian.allen@bsac.com
Phil Atkin 01543 271660 phil.atkin@bsac.com
Allan Bretherton 01905 641079 allan.bretherton@bsac.com
Mark Callaghan 0121 779 3182 mark.callahghan@bsac.com
Roy Chambers 01543 684023
Ian Cheetham 01782 680488 ian.cheetham@bsac.com
Mike Clack 01922 414070 mike.clack@bsac.com
Eugene Farrell 01922 405306 eugene.farrell@bsac.com
John Govier 0121 523 6443 john.govier@bsac.com
Martin Hammond 01384 440112 martin.hammond@bsac.com
Helen Hay 01926 337400 helen.hay@bsac.com
Robert Jackson 01203 779359 robert.jackson@bsac.com
Coaching Team Members: Rachel Baldwin, Steve Bradley, Alex Bullard, Andre Farndon, Tom Grimmett, Robert Marshall, Stan Page, Wilf Tanser, Karen Wentworth.

The BSAC National news can be accessed by clicking this link. Click here for the Regional pages

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