BSAC 18 - Huddersfield Sub Aqua Club

9th February 2004, 7:30pm Huddersfield Sports Centre

Minutes from Meeting

1.

Apologies

Lee Copley, Dave Colley, Stewart Leahy, Gary Exton

Other members present;

President: Steve Hepworth
Chairman: Pete Edwards
Secretary: Stewart Leahy
Diving Officer: Kate Falkingham
Membership Secretary: Andy Booth
Treasurer: Richard Robinson
Equipment Officer: Andy Briggs
Training Officer: Dave Colley
Ordinary Committee Members: Lee Copely, Andy Warhurst, Andy Waugh, Sarah Churchman
Trustees: (to be confirmed)
Club Members Present: Martin Charlesworth; Steve Hill, Chris Marsden, Chris Hall, Helen Briggs, Helen Rhodes, Diane Hepworth, Jacques Bellon, Neil Thackery, Colin Williams, Richard Manning, Andrew Waugh, Richard Farrier, Janice Blackburn, Chris Knight, Dan Illsley and Moz

2.

Matters Arising

None

3.

Chairman's Report

Members to raise points of interest for the club, mini project team to be set-up for the 50^th anniversary of BSAC. Volunteers Please!!!

Explained garage situation and clarification re deeds and ownership.

Risk assessment project by sports centre involving compressor and equipment regarding usage and numbers of people using equipment.

4.

Membership Secretary

Firstly my thanks to Marilyn for keeping the paperwork up to date over the previous years.

Secondly I’d also like to thank Janice Blackburn for her help with the Octopush members and getting the information needed to get them all up to date with membership. I couldn’t have done it without her.

Having managed now computerise the whole process, it made statistical analysis a lot easier, and I can now give precise figures as follows;

90 Current         28 Octopush      62 Divers
42 New              22 Octopush     20 Divers
48 Renewals      06 Octopush      42 Divers

35 Non renewals for various reasons.

17 Trainees
01 Ocean Divers
20 Sports Divers
14 Dive Leaders
08 Advanced Divers
01 First Class Diver

07 Open Water Instructors
08 Asst. Club Instructors
03 Advanced Instructors

A full membership contact list is available on request.

5.

Diving Officer's Report

I thought when I took on the role of Diving Officer it would be less stressful than being training officer. However, I discovered that it has its own special horrors.

This could have been an annus horribilis for the Club. We were still coming to terms with the second complete change of syllabus, the change to Club Diver having only taken place four years before. Now, the BSAC had introduced Ocean Diver and sweeping changes to all levels of training. As well as this, all diver training schools and clubs were becoming more and more aware of litigation, the ever-present dread of being held responsible for incidents involving club members or trainees. We have read several reports in the diving press regarding schools that have been fined. We hear more and more about risk assessments, responsibilities, liability etc. Our club has been involved in discussions with the Sports Centre regarding our risk assessment forms. Not surprisingly, the Sports Centre is concerned about our compressor and access to the basement area where chemicals are stored. We are doing our utmost to comply with their requests.

When I attended a Dive Planning and Marshalling Course, I was made very aware of my responsibilities as the Club Diving Officer. Our Club is legally responsible for members who are on training dives or dive trips organised by the club and any divers who are using our club equipment. Of course, we take every precaution to ensure the safety of our divers and to ensure that all our equipment is properly serviced and maintained. We give as much Training as we can about diver safety, we give out the BSAC Safe Diving booklet and we use charter boats, which we know are reliable and have experienced skippers. As Diving Officer I will provide any diver or Dive Marshall with as much information as I can about dive sites and possible risks. I can only do this if divers do what they are supposed to do which is let me know where and when they are diving. During the year I have reported on any issues which I have felt related to the safety of our members and these are available on the website committee meeting reports. The rest is up to you all as divers. I will never give awards for the person in our club who has dived the deepest, done the most dives in one day or drunk the most and still managed to dive. I hardly dare mention the fact that I have done the most dives this year, I seem to get withdrawal symptoms if I’m not in some exotic warm-water location or Capernwray.

It seems to be customary to give some statistics, so…according to the Dive Sheets that I have been given…a total of 1133 dives have been completed by club members. This is nearly double last year’s total, partly because more dive sheets from holidays abroad have been handed in. For training we have made use of Stony Cove, Capernwray and Eccleston Delph. Dive trips have included St Abbs, The Farne Islands, the Clyde Estuary, Anglesey, Derwent Water, Oban and Scapa Flow. A hardy few maintained the Club tradition of diving in Redbrook on Boxing Day. There were also trips abroad to the Red Sea and Maldives. I’m sure there are others but these are the ones for which I received dive sheets. St Abbs continues to be our most popular weekend destination, largely thanks to Billy’s skippering and the excellent accommodation. We also were reminded of what fun it can be using a RIB when Mike Cursons took his to Anglesey and we thoroughly enjoyed being able to do more than just shore diving. Thank you to Mike for that.

Finally I would like to thank all the instructors and club members who have put a lot of hard work into making things happen. Despite the worry of the new syllabus and risk assessments, we have had a super year and I’m glad to see such a good proportion of our new trainees completing their pool training going on to Open Water diving and then wanting to do Sports Diver.

So, let’s hope 2004 will be another great, incident-free year for BSAC 18.

6.

Training Officers Report

I thought I’d got out of this one!! On Friday Dave Colley our training officer asked if I could do this on his behalf. I’m afraid I have no statistics available but these are all on the website in the monthly committee meeting minutes. The first half of the year was a lean time with only a trickle of new members. While the water was warm the existing members were able to go and dive without being called upon to do too many trips to Capernwray. However, as soon as the water-cooled down we got a surge of new members!! These hardy souls have gone out and braved the icy conditions. Tricia Holmes, Clare Henderson, Chris Knight, Diane Roberts, Neil Thackeray, Lesley Chambers, Gary Exton, Stewart Leahy and Chris Marsden all completed their qualifications as well as Steve Hill, Lee Copley and Jacques Bellon completing Dive Leader. Andy Briggs and Pete Edwards succeeded in becoming Open Water Instructors and Ray Dawson succeeded with theory Instructor. Andy Briggs has also become an Advanced Nitrox Instructor. Currently we have several members working towards Advanced Diver awards. So despite a seemingly quiet start, the year has seen loads of activity.

Dave has done an excellent job of getting the new syllabus established and encouraging people to continue their training. I’m sure he would want me to thank all the instructors and assistant instructors for all their hard work.

7.

Treasurer's Report

The accounts show that this year our reserves fell by £1695. The main reason for this is that we failed to attract enough new divers and also to retain sufficient of the ones we already had. You will note that this year I have shown the contribution that the Octopush section has made to the club. After several years of diffident attitude, a reluctance to join up and pay subs, and often a reluctance to pay the door fee, Andy Booth, as the new Membership Secretary, has got together with Janice Blackburn to put matters on a more satisfactory footing. This has worked exceptionally well both for the club and for Janice and the Octopush section. So it is only right that their contribution should be seen for the significance it now is. It is true to say that this year without them; the club would have suffered substantial losses on the pool as we had so few trainees in the pool, and a lot less try-a-dives. My approximate estimates are that we retained about 6 or 7 less existing divers than the previous year, and attracted   about 9 less new trainees – after allowing for increased revenue from the host of ‘new’ Octopush members. Other income items more or less stayed the same.

On the expenditure side we paid £200 more for the pool, but this only reflects the fact that we paid for a full 12 months, as against only 11 months rental the previous year. Kit maintenance was slightly up, but this will vary from year to year, not only from different amounts of kit needing testing (statutory), but also variations in unforeseeable repairs/replacements. This last year we had to undertake a ‘one-off expensive repair – namely the comprehensive overhaul of the club’s compressor at a cost of nearly £1000. This expense has largely been offset by a large reduction in kit and compressor insurance as the committee reviewed costs and risks and decided that the only kit to be insured would be the two Oxygen first-aid kits, as we would need to lose quite a few items of kit before the cost of replacement would exceed the outlay of the insurance premiums. Equipment acquisition expenditure has stayed at about the same level, but once again the nature of the expenditure has changed. Two years ago, the money was spent on more BCDs and Regulator sets – particularly open water quality kit. Last year it was spent largely on new storage facilities for the diving kit – better and more secure lockers. This year the money has been spent on training aids – but for the classroom, not the water. With all the constant changes to training titles, schedules, lessons etc., it was decided to become more technologically up-to-date in order to absorb and respond to changes more readily. To this end the club purchased a laptop computer and a projector, the two working in tandem to aid classroom teaching.. Another largish ‘one-off’ expense resulted from the eventual implementation of the changes in the club’s trustees voted for some 2 AGMs previous. The legal fees were for the Deed of Appointment of Trustees and following on from this, changes to the Land Registry Title for the club’s garage, upon which the trustees are named. It had been hoped that the specific names could be kept off the new Title Deeds and a general term such as ‘the current Trustees’ be used – but the solicitors claim that the Land Registry did not do this despite the request being made. We should think long and hard before undertaking changes to the trustees in future, so as not to keep incurring far from cheap legal costs. Whether 1 or all 4 are changed, the cost is the same. Due to less trainees, and also to some carry-over of training packs from the previous year, training costs have reduced by about £500.

In summation it is fair to say that whilst expenditure overall was at the same level as the previous year – income was down by £1,727, and this saw the clubs reserves fall by nearly that amount. The fall in income was largely due to failure to retain diver members, but even more so to failure to recruit new trainees, who of course bring in the biggest contribution to income – rather ironic in the very year in which we invested heavily on training aids. I would say the health of the club is very much dependent on the recruitment of sufficient new trainees to substantiate our investment in training. However it would be wrong to judge this commitment on one year: let’s see if we can pull it back this coming year. Also there should be a substantial reduction in expenditure ahead as I do not believe we have any more ‘one-offs’ to do in the near future.

Best wishes for a happy and good year’s diving to one and all.

8.

Auditors Report

Accounts well kept and very easy to audit. Proposed for next year Andy Waugh and Ray Dawson Proposed by Richard Manning and, seconded Steve Hill and Andy Booth respectively.

9.

Equipment Officer's Report

Thank Phil Laughton for his assistance in rebuilding the compressor. Also thank Martin Charlesworth who assisted.

Compressor. Are now refurbished and ready to resume operations. (When we have permission to put it back) the filter towers are ok for another 25 years.

The gift of an O2 administration and defibrillating machine from Jan

Kit is being serviced annually but with the age of some kit replacement will be the cost effective alternative. All newly purchased equipment is ideally covered by the manufacturers lifetime guarantee.

A large amount of weights have been removed from the storage area and not replaced, this has resulted in the purchase of more lead £75 in total £120 in the last 7 months. Please return any you have borrowed or any you do not require anymore is gratefully accepted.

The cylinders are being replaced as they fail their test, but we have purchased some recently due to the purchase price.

Students are being advised to purchase their own mask and fins when they join Hudds. BSAC as the ones in store are of a poor quality and only ideal for spare in emergencies.

The old filing cabinets and storage cages have been removed from the old kit room as requested by the sports Pool.

Thanks go to Ray for the sterling work he did last year sorting the kit. Without which this year would have been a mess.

Thanks to Lee Copley for organising the compressor rota and to all those on it for their hard work in keeping the training going.

Finally we are slowly renovating some very old twin hose regulators and ABLJ. I will keep the committee informed of the progress. Finding parts is the biggest problem.

9.a Octopush Report

The 2002/03 season was very successful for all players of the Junior Team.   In the Yorkshire Junior League the team (Under 16's) came second.

The Under 16's played in the National Championships at Manchester and came 6th out of 13 which is very reasonable considering that half the team players were Under 13.

The Under 13's played in the National Championships at Loughborough and came out winning out of 15 teams. The team really did play well together.

In November, I had a mini tournament for the Under 16's and they won without conceding any goals.

The Under 13's will be playing a friendly tournament at Huddersfield on the 23rd February against Rochdale, Sheffield and Batley. This would be a new experience for most of the players as not many have had any match experience.

The Under 16's are playing in a friendly tournament on the 21st February at Loughborough to give them some match practice when they play their Nationals in May/June.

The Under 13's will be playing their National Championship probably in June.

Thanks to all at the club for their support and help with the use of the pool etc. The team has really expanded and for the first time I have more Under 13's than ever. Let’s hope this grows to eventually building up another Champion Team.

10.

New Committee Appointment

Stepping Down; Lee Copley, Andy Warhurst
All other Committee Members Standing as they are.
Assistant Training Officer; Chris Hall.
Ordinary Members; Steve Hill, Ray Dawson, Andy Waugh, Trish Holmes.
Octopush Rep; Sarah Churchman.

11.

Presentation of Club Trophies

I am delighted to report that this year it has been very difficult deciding whom to give the trophies to. Amazingly we have quite a few new female members and a barrow-load of possible male nominees. The great thing is they’ve all been busy doing the things we give awards for – furthering qualifications, getting to be instructors, actually taking the trouble to instruct and spending a whole lot of their own time doing jobs behind the scenes.

The first, the Ann Eaves Trophy, is always awarded to a female club member who has made her mark in some way. This year I am awarding it to someone who has learnt to dive despite learning that she has cancer part way through her training. She begged to go to Capernwray before continuing her treatment and has been cheerful and enthusiastic throughout. She managed to complete her Ocean Diver qualification when others might have been moping at home. Congratulations and the clubs best wishes go to Diane Roberts.

The second, the Gary Brook Trophy, is awarded each year to a member who has given of their time as well as achieving things in diving. After much deliberation, I am giving it to someone who learnt to dive despite having me for an instructor in the good old days when we had a diving pool. My trainee stood on the edge with a look of terror, not daring to take that giant stride. He overcame his fear, rapidly moved through the various levels of qualification and before you know it he’s an instructor. Not only that but he is our equipment officer, has had to deal with the moving of the compressor, he’s recently become an Advanced Nitrox instructor and has even managed to persuade his wife to learn to dive and all this while on the Atkins diet. I’m awarding the Gary Brook Trophy to Andy Briggs.

The third, the Naismith Trophy, was originally awarded in 1959 for “baths attendance”. Presumably this meant they were always keen to get wet in a diving sense. I am awarding the trophy to someone who has been doing so for many years and yet still dives and instructs with tremendous enthusiasm. He is always keen to extend his knowledge and was our first member to embark on the use of a re-breather. He goes on every trip and never fails to find all the best critters wherever he goes. And he can find the stern section of the Glanmire. On Boxing Day he achieved a remarkable milestone - his 1000^th dive. Who else could it be but Stephen Hepworth?

12.

President's Address

For those of you that don’t know me, I’d like to introduce myself.

I’m Stephen Hepworth; I joined the branch in 1993 and over the past 11 years have thoroughly enjoyed being part of Huddersfield BSAC 18.

The reason why I’m stood here tonight is that a few months ago the committee asked me to become President as our previous President – Andy Place, had to resign due to health reasons.

When I joined the branch Andy was Diving Officer and so he played a big part in my initial training. My blue qualification book contains many examples of the AD Place signature. After being DO he went on to be Chairman a position that I also followed him in to.

In recent years Andy was seen less on Monday nights and probably not at all on dive sites. But over the years he has made many contributions to the Branch, not least when as DO he had to visit two pubs on a Monday night as the branch was split down the middle and he felt he needed to see both factions.

So I’m sure you will all join me in thanking Andy for his contribution to the branch over the years and sending him and Lesley our best wishes for the future.

The President before Andy was Kevin Fuller he was President when I joined the Branch I believe he did a lot of diving in the 60s & 70s. I didn’t know Kevin as well as Andy, that’s as far back as my History goes.

As I have hinted both previous Presidents were noticeable by their absence on dive sites. So when Pete asked me if I would become President, I at first had reservations – I got the impression that the committee wanted me put out to grass – but I was assured by Pete that the committee wanted an active diving President. So I don’t have to sell my kit at the moment.

Several years ago when I was involved in training we used to visit a lot of the inland water sites, we would try to go somewhere different each week. After doing that for a few years the novelty wore a bit thin and my preference in diving became salty – I would just make the point (no doubt certain folk will sigh not again)   that it is possible to dive our coasts for 12 months of the year.

A couple of weeks ago a few of us went down to Stony, somewhere that I hadn’t been to for a year or two. It was the week before we went to Oban it was an opportunity to test kit before we jumped off Gordon’s boat in anger. It was a lovely sunny day and afterwards I remembered how enjoyable those kinds of days were.( having had a few years away )

In conversation with branch members over the last few months it appears quite a lot of people haven’t dived certain inland sites. Examples being the Lakes or even Kirkby Lonsdale.

So being an active diving President, over the next few months if we can’t get into the sea I intend to visit a few inland sites – not for training purposes, but just to dive, and hope that any members who are interested will come along.

As it’s our 50^th year I would like to suggest the idea of maybe having a tee shirt saying something like “I dived 50 dives in our 50^th year” to be presented to all members who log 50 dives during the year.

Finally I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has helped the branch over the past 12 months and wish the incoming committee all the best for the coming year – our 50^th!!

13.

Any Other Business

Point raised by Helen Briggs as to Trustees whereabouts over the years.

Sports Centre view of the Compressor and Equipment clarified. Martin Charlesworth assured that 3^rd party liability from BS-AC covers compressor anywhere.