Saturday, 29 October 2016

Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting - 12th October 2016

Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting, 12/10/2016
Venue: Ross’s
In attendance: Sally, Victor, Pat, Clive, Ken, Daniel, Ben, Ross, Teresa, Lee
Apologies: none                                                                                      

Minutes of 31/08/2016 and matters arising

- Victor has applied to renew his DBS clearance.
- Underspend of Sport England grant is yet to be used.
- New regs have fragile purge button covers – this has been recognised as a fault by the manufacturer, and new durable covers are now on order.
- Victor to post last minutes online with Lee’s additions.

St George’s and Seven Islands

- Use of St George’s Leisure Centre remains less than ideal. Attendance is continuing to fall, although this is partly because some members have recently come to the end of their training.
- Tower Bridge is now closed. Getting kit to St George’s will be very difficult if there are any problems in, or at either end of, the Rotherhithe or Blackwall tunnels.
- Refresher sessions will be difficult to organise while we are still meeting at St George’s. These will be scheduled for January (when we’re back at Seven Islands), which is a better time to do them anyway, shortly before the dive season starts.
- Some potential try-divers have asked to delay their session until we are back at Seven Islands.
- Ken to check on progress of Seven Islands refurbishment [post-meeting note: Better have announced that the reopening will be delayed until Spring 2017].
- LB Southwark are currently reviewing their preferred option for the location of the replacement leisure centre. The matter will not, therefore, be considered by Cabinet for some time.
- Ken reported that plans for a residential development on the Seven Islands site are already in the public domain.

Xmas social

- Clive is organising this for either Tuesday 13th or Thursday 15th December, and has contacted possible venues. Membership to be advised of potential dates.

2016 dives

- 7 people attended the last lake dive.
- This year’s remaining dives are Brighton (day dive) [post-meeting note: this was blown out], Gildenburgh (extra lake dive), and Lee’s Bruges/Nemo 33 trip (10 people attending).
- Spaces (not entire boats) on day trips on south coast could be added. Sally is willing to run an additional lake dive in November if needed.
- Plymouth weekend cost the club £50. Swanage weekend cost the club £68. Newquay weekend cost the club £400.

2017 dives

- Brighton (23rd April – 6 spaces on Channel Diver) is booked.
- Pembrokeshire (27th-29th May) is booked and doesn’t need a deposit.
- Brighton (23rd July) is booked.
- St Abbs / Farnes (26th-29th August) is booked.
- Lee reported that places are available for Shetland on the Valhalla: 18th June (5 spaces), 25th June and 2nd July.
- Sally to speak with skipper re: Anglesey on 17th and 18th June – if these dates are unavailable, we’ll book Shetland spaces.
- Anglesey Scubafest dates haven’t been announced yet.
- Swanage weekend had been suggested for 15th and 16th July, but this clashes with the jazz festival. Sally to look into 8th and 9th July instead.
- Scimitar (Portland) not available 5th and 6th May. Pat to speak to Woody (Weymouth) re: that weekend.
- Shoreham available 1st April – Pat to book 4 spaces.
- Shoreham also available 16th Sept – Pat to book 8 spaces.
- Day dive on south coast to be pencilled in for 14th or 15th October.
- Red Sea trips were discussed. Teresa had looked into Marsa Alam for February half term, however it would cost the same as a liveaboard, despite being land-based. “Simply the Best” trips are available on 1st and 22nd November, costing £1,250. Agreed to include these on the dive list to gauge interest.
- Maldives trip to also be included on dive list, to gauge interest.

Club website

- This is doing the job.
- Lee suggested short posts on front page of the new website can be about anything club- or dive-related.

Annual General Meeting

- To be held Wednesday 8th February at Cherry Garden school.

Any Other Business

- Daniel noted that 2019 will be 100th anniversary of the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow. The boats Valkyrie and Valhalla will be there all year, but we would need to book soon. Daniel to obtain costs.
- Teresa mentioned the Scilly Isles in 2018 or 2019, but wouldn’t be keen on doing this in the same year as a St Kilda trip. Noted that there is only ever a 1 in 3 chance of getting out to St Kilda, due to the weather, and that neither of the 2 boats that visit St Kilda are as good as the Valkyrie.
- The club has reached its target of visiting 60 dive sites in its 60th year.
- 2017 BBQ date to be set once dive dates are confirmed.
- Next meeting: Tuesday 10th January 2017 (this will be this committee’s 6th meeting) [post-meeting note: this has been moved to Wednesday 11th January].






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