Many minutes - Bermondsey BSAC committee meetings

Minutes of meetings of 02/06/2016, 21/04/2016 and 03/03/2016:

Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting, 02/06/2016

Venue: Sally and Clive’s

In attendance: Sally, Clive, Ross, Pat, Lee, Victor

Apologies: Ken, Teresa, Colin

Minutes of 21/04/2016 and matters arising

• These were agreed.
• Kim now has DBS clearance. Sally’s hasn’t arrived yet. Ed has filled in the form. Lee, Pat, Geraint and Jonathan should apply/renew.
• Club clothing order has been received.
• Stall at Dulwich Festival happened. No enquiries subsequently received. Photo has been sent to Scuba magazine. Leaflets ordered by Colin were distributed – leftovers are with Sally and Clive, posters are with Victor.
• Most new kit (funded by Sport England grant) has been received, but we are yet to get some suits, hoods and gloves.
• Weights have been donated to the club.
• The club’s oxygen kit has been found and is now at Amphibian for testing, filling and for a new mask to be fitted.
• Spare carbon copy book of membership forms is now with Sally.

Seven Islands temporary closure

• Closure date still not confirmed. Closure likely to be for 3 months or more.
• Pool at St George’s Leisure Centre (Wapping) is available on Tuesdays (2 lanes, 7pm to 8.30pm) and Thursdays (deep end, 8.30pm to 9.30pm), sharing slot with Docklands Dive School club.
• Wapping pool has a proper deep end, but is less easy to get kit to. Ross is available on Thursdays. Ken willing to move some kit.
• Wapping pool also has a storage room. Agreed not to use this.
• Lee to inform his contacts that we’d like to take up their offer, but not make firm booking until Seven Islands closure date is confirmed.
• Meeting room at Surrey Docks Watersports Centre is available Wednesday evenings for lectures.

Seven Islands redevelopment

• LB Southwark’s consultation has ended. Report regarding location of new pool will go to Cabinet in September. A database of responses to the council’s consultation will be made public alongside the report to Cabinet. Consultation on design and specification of pool will be carried out after the Cabinet meeting.
• Victor to send letter to new Cabinet members, and will draft a further letter.

2016 dive list

• Littlehampton dive has been moved to the Saturday (11/06/2016) and is now full.
• Lee to advertise Weymouth trip on Facebook. Pat has 1 person to add to list.
• There is potential interest in Newquay, but plans for shark dive need clarifying.
• Some newer members have attended or signed up for lake dives.

2017 dives

• Agreed to do Pembrokeshire again, late May bank holiday. Sally to be DM.
• Anglesey trip is currently scheduled for a neap weekend, and may be moved.
• St Kilda dates to be confirmed.
• Iceland dates are flexible and will be confirmed early in the new year, working around whatever other dives are planned for August.
• A possible Maldives trip in February half term was discussed.
• Pat to obtain 2017 tides info.

Club 60^th BBQ

• Victor and Pat to start collecting £15 from members (NB – Victor away from late June).
• Attendee numbers not yet known.
• Pat to bring garden chairs and camping tables.

Training

• Sally to organise training for 8^th and 15^th June at the same time.
• Sally, Lee and Clive are away on 15^th June.
• Kim will be running the June lake dive, and may need assistant instructors.
• George and Milo have joined as snorkel members. Ed, Steve and Frank have been doing most of the recent snorkel training. The club would benefit from having a BSAC Snorkel Instructor. Clive has an SAA snorkel instructor qualification.
• Sally to look into ways other clubs run theory training for younger members, and will run a revision session for Emily.
• Ed has enquired as to the whereabouts of the club’s laptop (donated by Dave to the club some years ago). Current committee unaware of whereabouts. Sally offered use of her laptop for theory training.

Website

• Timescale for completion not known. Pat and Victor to speak with Daniel (currently tied up with exams) about progress.
• Discussed using an off-the-shelf website package and paying a website designer.
• Agreed to decide on options at next meeting.

New equipment

• Sets of new regs to be allocated to committee members to activate warranty. Need product booklets (with serial numbers) from Amphibian.

Rental of club kit

• Agreed to charge £10 per day for a full set of kit (including 1 cylinder), £15 including 2 cylinders. Payments should be made directly to the club, online. Payments will need to be given a clear reference to assist Ken’s accounting.
• DMs will need to keep a record of who is using club kit on dives.

Mayor’s try-dive

• This happened on 25/05/2016 and went well.
• Article appeared in Southwark News, 02/06/2016. Journalist at Southwark News may be interested in a try-dive.

Any other business

• Clive has organised a rod-and-line deep sea fishing trip (boat from Dover), 24/07/2016.
• Committee members to encourage other club members to join next year’s committee.
• Next meeting 14/07/2016.

Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting, 21/04/2016

Venue: Teresa’s

In attendance: Sally, Clive, Ross, Colin, Pat, Teresa, Victor

Apologies: Ken, Lee

Minutes of 03/03/2016 and matters arising

• These were agreed.
• Kim and Sally are awaiting DBS clearance.
• A new club stamp is with Victor.
• Lee has sent off the club clothing order.
• No other matters arising.

Seven Islands temporary closure

• This is happening later this year (possibly June, but date not definite) for 3 months.
•  Lee knows about a pool in Wapping (actually nearer to Shadwell station), where we might temporarily share pool space with swimmers and/or another club. Handy location. A Wednesday night slot would be ideal. Agreed to authorise Lee to investigate further.
• Sharing a pool with swimmers or another dive club may be difficult, given how busy we are with training.
• Agreed to concentrate on pool training for current cohorts, then theory lessons during pool closure.

Seven Islands redevelopment

• LB Southwark’s consultation appears to have been extended to 29/04/2016.
• Club has made representations via letter, members have completed questionnaires, and Ali from BSAC region has emailed.

2016 dive list

•  Lee to look into moving Littlehampton to the Saturday. Sally is aware of interest via Facebook.
• Lack of take-up was discussed. Some members lack transport. Some aren’t aware of how to book themselves onto dives. Agreed to email Ocean and Sport Diver students (and recent qualifiers), encouraging them to come diving. Also agreed to speak with current cohorts directly before/after one of their forthcoming lectures.
• Agreed to add on dive list an indication of who needs, and who can offer, lifts.
• Agreed to add to lecture OT7 information about how the club organises dives.
• Dive Managers should give early consideration to who is on their trips, their needs, and what they might need reminding of.
• When requests re: dive list are received, Victor to reply to check if the diver needs (or can offer) transport, has kit, and has sorted accommodation, and include reminders as to how to pay for dives, and who the DM is for that dive.
• Current Ocean Diver cohort will be given pool lessons until Seven Islands temporarily closes, then theory lessons, so that they are ready to come on the Swanage training weekend in August.

2017 dives

• St Kilda dates are tbc.
• Pat considering a Maldives liveaboard in January or February, possibly Easter. Pat to put feelers out. Not a trip for new divers. Sports Diver minimum.
• Pat to obtain 2017 tides info.

Club 60th

• BBQ invitations have been sent out (by post and email) to almost everyone we have contact details for. Some have replied, confirming they’ll be coming. Victor to send out last few invitations. Agreed to invite Ali and Michelle from BSAC region.
• Agreed to encourage payment in advance.
• Alex has confirmed he’ll do food. Teresa liaising with Alex.
• Sally to sort out birthday cake.
• Tables and chairs needed.
• Final decisions about format and details of BBQ to be agreed at June committee meeting.

Training

• A plan for current cohorts is in place.

Website

• Daniel is progressing this.
• It was suggested that the website include something re: the club’s 60^th. Victor to ask if this is possible.
• Teresa asked for the website’s dive list to be updated.

Dulwich Festival Fair

• Happening on Sunday 08/05/2016, 11am to 4pm.
• Colin is ordering leaflets. These will need to be stamped by the club.
• James (Amphibian) is bringing a brass diving helmet, and mannequin with dive kit. Clive is meeting James on Tuesday to discuss.
• Agreed not to do simulated try-dive with a fish tank.
• Agreed to take photo for Scuba magazine.

New equipment

• New BCDs and regulator sets have been received.
• New cylinders have just arrived at Amphibian. Clive and Ross to mark with BBSAC identification.
• New regulators need registering to individuals as part of the parts/servicing deal.
• Agreed to order hoods, gloves (3mm in S, M and L) wetsuits (XS, S, M and L for females, M, M, L, L, XL and XL for males), and boots (as per suit sizes).
• Weight belts would need paying for by the club (not Sport England).
• The club may need more weights – we almost ran out at the last lake trip. Agreed to appeal for weight donations from members.
• Agreed to discuss charging for post-qualification kit hire at next committee meeting. Given that transfers/payments are so easy by phone nowadays, and that the club now has a lot of kit to maintain, this needs discussing again.

Oxygen kit

• Lee is of the view that the club shouldn’t buy an oxygen kit.
• Clive disagrees. It would be a useful resource for the Oxygen Administration course, and removes the risk of a skipper not having a useable kit.
• Agreed that cost of the kit shouldn’t be relevant to the committee’s decision whether or not to buy a kit.
• Cost would be around £400 or £500 (or less, second hand), plus £25/year maintenance.
• Clive to investigate price of a second hand kit.
• Amphibian can fill oxygen cylinders.
• The alternative would be to keep checking with skippers if they have a useable kit, in test, suitable for an unconscious diver.
• Agreed to defer decision until Lee and Ken are present.

AOB

• Colin will be continuing as Membership Secretary.
• Colin to order spare carbon copy book of membership forms, as he may not be able to attend on some Wednesdays.
•  Next meeting 02/06/2016.

Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting, 03/03/2016

Venue: Victor’s

In attendance: Pat, Clive, Lee, Sally, Ken, Victor, Ross

Apologies: Teresa, Colin

Minutes of 14/01/2016

• These were agreed.
• Club stamp hasn’t been found. Victor to order new one.

Grant funding

• Payment of Sport England grant expected tomorrow or Monday.
• Grant has to be spent on 10 sets of kit as per table (listing kit items) agreed with Sport England, but some can be higher spec, others cheaper.
• Sally, Ross, Clive and Ken to discuss kit purchase further. Sally and Ross to then shop around and make purchases.
• Sport England grant is for new, not replacement kit.

Club kit

• Clive and Ross have sorted the club’s kit and prepared an inventory. Some is close to the end of its life and has no resale value, however part exchange deals are sometimes offered – agreed to keep redundant kit for a year after the end of its life to see if a good deal comes up.
• Club has lots of fins (but needs a few smaller pairs) and masks.
• Agreed to buy 6 storage boxes for existing and new kit.

Seven Islands redevelopment

• Victor to send letter to council after speaking to other clubs/groups.

Cornwall Scubafest

• This is scheduled for 30/04/2016 to 02/05/2016 in Mevagissey (www.cornwallscubafest.co.uk has the wrong dates at the top of the page, but is otherwise up-to-date). Compressor will be on site. Hard boats Woodpecker and Top Gun, and RHIBs, will be there for dives.
• Club has 8 takers, and may yet have more.
• Clive to make enquiries re: dives and accommodation.

2016 dives

• Agreed to tout Pembrokeshire and Littlehampton to divers outside the club. Sally to tout on Facebook.
•  Print-out of dive list to be brought to Sports Diver lectures so students can sign up.

2017 dives

• Ken to collect St Kilda deposits soon.
• Victor will only book 2 dives for Iceland, and will provide advice on (but not book) flights and accommodation.
• Pat to find out neaps and springs for 2017.
• Ken suggested more local 1-day dives.
•  Lee suggested South of France and Spain trips, and shore dives e.g., Selsey Bill.

Club 60th

• Teresa to liaise with Alex re: food.
• Victor to send out invitations.
• Cost to attendees will be £15 per person, covering food and some drink

Training

• Sally has emailed all those who qualified as Ocean Divers last year. Most want to progress to Sports Diver, although some want to do more diving first, or do the Snorkel Diver course.
• 5 try-dives are coming up.
• Some instructors need DBS certification. Website should have link to BSAC’s Buddyguard and whistleblowing policies if Teresa thinks this is appropriate.
• Sally has drawn up and saved the current training plan on Dropbox.

Website

• Daniel now has the graphic components of the new website and will work on it this weekend.
• Clive obtained 3 quotes for a new website, all below £1,000, with ongoing maintenance fees of around £30/year. We may go with one of these quotes if the new website isn’t ready by 01/06/2016.

Publicity

• Sally has posters for Ross to take to Battersea.
• A stand in Surrey Quays Shopping Centre was suggested.
• Agreed to pay £55 for a 3” x 7” stall at the Dulwich Festival Fair on Sunday 08/05/2016, 11am to 4pm. Victor to organise. Stall will need leaflets and items of interest.

Falmouth fills

• All divers have reimbursed the club for Amphibian’s work.
• Ken to send letter to Seaways.

AOB

• Lee to organise a club t-shirt order.
• Next meeting 21/04/2016.