Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting - 31st August 2016

Bermondsey BSAC committee meeting, 31/08/2016

Venue: Victor’s

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

Apologies: Sally, Colin, Daniel

Minutes of 02/06/2016 and matters arising

- These were agreed.

- Ed now has DBS clearance. Sally’s is awaited. Lee has re-applied. Pat is to apply. Victor needs to renew.

- The club is still waiting for some items of new kit (a suit, and hoods and gloves) paid for by the Sport England grant. The club has underspent and may need to offer to return £200 or £300 of the grant to Sport England. Ross has allocated the new regulator sets to committee members for the warrantee.

- The club’s oxygen kit is now in use. Amphibian have been paid £50 for its refurbishment.

- Use of St George’s Leisure Centre is continuing. Things are working out OK, but aren’t ideal – attendance is down, and getting people and kit to and from St George’s has proved difficult on some occasions. Tower Bridge will be closed from 1st October for the rest of the year, which will make kit movement even more difficult. Alternative arrangements were discussed.

- Regarding the replacement of Seven Islands Leisure Centre, Victor is yet to write a follow-up letter to councillors, and has tried to find out if the matter is being discussed at the council’s Cabinet meeting of 20th September [post-meeting note: it isn’t]. Agreed to encourage Southwark-resident members to lobby councillors. Ken has seen Sport England pool specifications, none of which combine a proper deep end with a shallow end – if the council follow these specifications, the new pool will be far less suitable for training and try-dives.

- Hire charges for club kit have been applied for the Swanage and Plymouth trips.

- Daniel has taken over from Colin as Membership Secretary.

Website

- Lee has worked on a draft Wordpress site. Agreed to go live. Victor to look into a non-blog home page.

- Using existing website’s URL for the Wordpress site doesn’t appear to be possible, but a redirect could work [post-meeting note: Daniel has done this].

- Pat suggested more details of the Ocean Diver course (duration, number of lectures etc) be added.

- Victor to notify members of new website, and request feedback.

Training

- Daniel will act as Training Officer for 2 weeks, and has a training plan.

- Recent Sports Diver exam results were discussed. There were no common areas of failure. Instructors will ask more questions during lectures to gauge level of understanding before exams are organised.

- Ocean Diver students passed their exams last night. A mock exam will be organised for Emily.

- Agreed to run refresher evenings for qualified Ocean Divers on Thursday nights.

- Agreed to organise an additional lake dive. Date tbc.

2016 dives

- The next Shoreham dive has 5 people signed up, with more likely. Suitable for Ocean Divers [post-meeting note: dive was blown out].

- The next Brighton dive has spaces available.

- Cyprus trip is not happening. Replacement trips (suitable for Ocean Divers) were discussed – Sardinia (not cheap, and dive centres may have shut down by November), Malta, NE Spain, Madeira. Marsa Alam would be suitable for shore dives to reefs.

2017 dives

- Pat suggested a Maldives trip in February half term.

- Agreed not to attend Mevagissey Scubafest next year, however same skipper could be used.

- St Kilda trip has been postponed to 2018.

- Pembrokeshire date is fixed (27th-29th May). Sally is organising.

- Portland possible for 6th and 7th May, possibly using Scimitar shuttle boat. Suitable trip for training. Ken to book.

- Anglesey trip needs a date – possibly 17th and 18th June. Needs to be done on neaps. Sally was to organise.

- Oban trip in August was discussed, possibly with St Abbs and the Farnes added on the way back. Victor has emailed St Abbs skipper.

- Iceland trip date is tbc, and can be fitted in around other dives.

- Swanage trip suggested for 15th and 16th July. Organisation to be delegated to a Dive Leader or Advanced Diver student.

- Shoreham day dive agreed for 1st April.

- Brighton day dive agreed for 16th or 17th September.

- Shoreham day dive agreed for 14th or 15th October.

- Lee also mentioned a possible Brighton dive on 22nd or 23rd April, Dover day dives, and joining Docklands Dive School’s Scilly Isles trip (dates tbc).

- A trip to Nemo 33 in December was suggested.

- A date for the summer BBQ should be chosen once dive dates are fixed.

2018 dives

- New date for St Kilda tbc.

- Teresa interested in organising a Scilly Isles trip.

Other business

- Clive to organise xmas social, for a Thursday evening in December.

- Next meeting 12th October.