1.     

Apologies

Present: Richard Frank, Pete Edwards, Ray Dawson, Richard Robinson, Chris Knight, Kate Falkingham, Matt Corder, Steve Hill, Richard Manning, Helen Briggs

Apologies: Stewart Leahy, Jill Pickup
 

2.     

Matters Arising (Outstanding Actions)

• RD & RR to analyse costs following recent increase in pool fee by the Huddersfield Sports Centre & to identify ways forward given the limited funds we have as a branch.
• PE to contact BSAC HQ to find out how long a lifeguard qualification lasts for, and what the period is between refresher courses.
• T-shirt for our lifeguard given the need to take the role more seriously!
   

3.     

Membership Secretary
Diving members; 55 members to-date, of which there are 19 whose memberships are “due for renewal” (some of which may not renew).

Snorkel members; 30 members to-date with 6 people ‘on trial’ pending joining.

Try-A-Dives (TAD); 11 TAD’s in September/early Oct, of which 3 were via the National BSAC TAD event on 26^th Sept
 

4.     

Diving Officer's Report

I have just had a weekend of diving from Sovereign IV in the Farne islands and then from Billy’s boat, Alikai, in St Abbs. They are really very similar and maybe are the epitome of today’s charter boats in this country. Both have lots of space on the dive deck, both have wonderful lifts to extract from the water, both have skippers who don’t say much but you just know that they know what they are doing. They know the rocks and reefs, the tides and currents, the weather and visibility. The only real difference is that Billy gives you a steaming hot drink and a Mars bar when you get out. Very welcome they are too. I wondered how different the two skippers are as regards watching the divers. In St Abbs we had said that we would have a maximum time to surface of one hour. Give or take a minute (ok, or two), we were all there bobbing about on the surface and well spread out. By the time Billy had trailed about picking pairs up, some divers had been on the surface for quite a while. Would he have known if there had been a pair missing? If the weather had changed and the divers had become difficult to spot in the waves, would Billy have been able to count the heads? We all know and trust Billy and feel instinctively that the answers would be yes. I recently spent a non-diving morning on the boat. He watched bubbles all the time and knew exactly where everyone was. I don’t know whether the same can be said for Andrew and Toby Douglas. I hope so but Andrew and his mate were playing on their PS2 while we were diving. Are there just too many charter boats doing the Farnes now? I know that several of our group felt that it was time to change back to Stan Hall and see whether he gives a better service. It’s not just about the cup of tea. It’s that instinctive feeling that your skipper is interested in your safety and actually cares about you. A group from our club is going out with Sovereign again next weekend so I will look forward to their report.
 

5.     

Training Officers Report

New Ocean Diver (OD) course to start Mon 23^rd Oct but is subject to number of entrants (minimum number is 4) & availability.

• Action: HB to contact TAD’s re: start of new OD course

Sat 14^th Oct – Ray to take Stuart (trainee) & Chris (trainee) to Capernwray to continue their OD Open Water training sessions

Sat 21^st Oct – Pete & Andrew to take Stuart (trainee), Karl (trainee) & Chris (trainee) to Capernwray to continue their OD Open Water training sessions

Regional Courses of interest to club members wanting to progress to Dive Leader qualification;

28^th Oct; Practical Rescue Management course (PRM)

29^th Oct; O₂ Admin course

4^th & 5^th Nov; Dive Planning & Marshalling course (DPM)

These courses are booked via BSAC & would account for 80% of the Dive Leader theory.

• Action: PE to circulate e-mail to SD’s advising of the above courses

James & Scott pending sign off of their OD training but can only go to Capernwray mid-week.

Both Kate & Ray offered the possibility of taking holiday mid week to take James &/or Scott to Capernwray mid week to complete their OD training.

• Action: PE to contact James & Scott to arrange further training days with Kate & Ray

Linda & Sue pending sign off & are on the last steps to getting sign off.

• Action: PE to contact Linda & Sue to make arrangements to complete their OD training
   

6.     

Treasurer's Report

No figures provided

2006 invoices sent to those institutes that rent the club’s garage. Payment due now.

2007 invoices also sent to those institutes that rent the club’s garage, but payment of these has been deferred until March 2007.

Pool paid up until July 2006.

Room hire charges are outstanding and should be checked with Pete & ray before payment to ensure the dates of hire are correct. (We have not hired a room regularly since May)

• Action: RR to provide details of room hire charges & associated dates to Ray & Pete for checking
   

7.     

Equipment Officer's Report

3 Cylinders to be sent for testing however it is anticipated that 2 of these will fail the test. They are; 1*7l cylinder which is ‘beyond it’s serviceable life’ & 1*12l cylinder which has rusted under the cylinder boot & is possibly beyond repair.

It was agreed to postpone the replacement of the potential 2 failures

The filter on the compressor has been changed tonight (9^th Oct) but it was overdue.

There is a ‘date & time log’ by the compressor. This must be completed every time the compressor is running to record the operating time of the filters on the filters so the filters can be replaced at the correct time.

• Action: CK to write some instructions on completing the compressor log, and what to do when the filter reaches the limit by which it should be replaced (which is either 30hours or 6months, whichever is the minimum). CK to also remind those who operate the compressor the need to complete this log.

Masks have gone missing (again!). It was suggested that we should encourage all new trainees to purchase a mask before joining & starting a course. Pool fins are available until the trainee becomes more confident & wishes to purchase their own fins.
 

8.     

Welfare Officer Report

There are several CRB forms outstanding to be completed.

The branch policy is that a CRB check only needs to be actioned once whilst that person is a member of the branch, rather than renewing every year or two. However if a member leaves the branch & then rejoins at a later date, a new CRB check must be completed.
 

9.     

A.O.B

Notification of club diving Trips – it is the wish of the committee to improve the communication with all members to join club trips and encourage, especially all new trainees to go on club trips.

• Action: RD to collate a list of all 2007 dive trips & circulate to club members, ensure the list is made available on the branch webpage, add to the notice board at the pub (The Flyboat Inn) & to leave a list on the members front desk every Monday evening at the Sports Centre.