7.30pm Crawley Green Club
- Chairman’s Report
- Accept previous meeting minutes.
- Diving Officer Report
- Training Officer report
- Equipment Officer Report
- Treasurer Report
- Membership Officer Report
- Welfare Officer Report
- Publicity & Marketing Officer Report
- Election of Committee Members
- AOB
In Attendance: Chris Ware, Rachel Slater, Vicky Mallows, Phil Murdoch, Phil Wells, Karen Wells, Mark
Hobbs, Trevor Canavan, Mike Batham, Natan Rybacki, Phil Hamilton, Simon McDowell, Dave
Brogan, Sergej Ščepak, Tillt Slater-Clasper, Kevin Wileman, Roger Nichols, Colin Clasper, Phil
Murdoch, Andrew Dore, Kevin Henman.
Apologies: Rachel Rushton
Chairman’s Welcome – Chris Ware
Welcome everyone, thank you all for coming, and appreciate you making the effort to come out tonight. I would like to see the social side of the club increase, we used to be a drinking club with a serious diving problem but that seems to have fallen by the wayside.
So as a membership, please let the committee know what you would like out of your club, and we will make it happen. I would like to thank this current committee for their efforts and hard work behind the scenes, lets have a round of applause for them all.
We have a number of committee positions to fill tonight, it would be nice to have some new faces on the
team. Please let us also have a round of applause for the instructor team, Colin has been helping Karen out a lot with the training and try dives.
I’ll hand over now to Phil for the DO and TO report.
Matters Arising: Acceptance of last year’s meeting minutes:
Proposed: Kevin Wileman
Seconded: Simon McDowell
DO and TO Report – Phil Wells and Karen Wells
Dives Recorded on the LSAC Dive Log:
The LSAC online Dive Log has been out of action for the majority of the last year.
This year I have not been able to get info on any dives from the LSAC Dive Log.
A reasonable estimate would appear to be that we did about 500 dives last year.
“Unrecorded” Dives
A lot of people don’t actually tell the DO about trips that they are running, although this is actually a requirement for branch dives.
Trips that I am aware of;-
Portland – April and August – RHIB
Portland – Hardboat – Cancelled because of bad
weather.
Mull – Hardboat
Lowestoft – Hardboat
Normandy – Hardboat
Eastbourne – Cancelled due to bad weather.
Individual Holiday Dives – Galapagus, Red Sea
“Adventurous” dives outside of the branch conducted by branch members
Training Dives:
There have been 27 recorded training trips to Stoney Cove during the past year.
Karen and myself have been on 25 of them
Approximately 210 Training dives were completed at
Stoney Cove.
Training Courses:
Three Ocean Diver Courses
Two Sports Diver Courses
One Dive Leader Course
Skill Development Courses
I’m not aware of any SDCs being carried out within the branch. This is unusual.
I know that some have been taken outside of the branch.
We do have the ability to do a wide variety of SDCs within the branch. If there is an SDC that you want to do please ask.
The BSAC planned to release a Deep Module in 2024 which will allow Sports Divers and newly qualified Dive Leaders to go to 50m on air.
So far it has still not appeared.
We are also, for the first time, teaching the Discovery Diver Course within the branch which is an introductory course.
Incidents:
No incidents have been reported to me in the past 12 months.
With the lack of information coming back to the DO from Diving Trips I would not be surprised if there were other, minor, incidents that were not reported to me.
Please let me know if an incident occurs. This information may help us, and the BSAC, improve their
training.
Note that any such reports to either the DO or the BSAC are treated in strictest confidence.
Qualifications Awarded:
Ocean Diver – 8
Advanced Ocean Diver – 4
Sports Diver – 3
Dive Leader – 2
BSAC Open Water Instructor – 1
BSAC Theory Instructor – 2
Membership:
We have 93 Members according to the BSAC Database. 27 of our members are female. About half of our membership dive, with a significant number only diving abroad or not with the branch.
We have 20 members listed as either “Nationally Qualified” or “Assistant” Instructors.
Only about 10 of these are active and we have a core Instructor Group of around 6.
All of our Pool Training, Lectures, Open Water Training and most of our Try Dives are conducted by 6 – 10
people.
This is a lot of work and a big commitment for the active Instructors.
We really do need more members to go down the Instructor Route.
If anyone wants to become an Instructor I can offer help and advice. and mentoring if that would be useful Colin Clasper has taken over the role of running Try Dives from November 2024
We had 58 Try Dives this year, up from 50 last year.
This included 12 from a school in Hitchin in September. 10 have joined to start OD Training which is now run on an “as required” basis.
We have also had a number of Crossovers and Scuba Refresher Courses.
We have had about 8 new members join the branch in the last year.
Most of these required Training or “Check Out” dives. All of the Try Dives, Refresher Course and Crossovers are dealt with by the DO, TO and members of the
Training Team.
Trips for next year
There are three weekend trips on a hardboat planned for Portland next year
These are in May, June and August
There is also a trip to Scapa Flow in June next year.
Contact Colin Clasper for details of the above.
It is also likely that there will be a RHIB Trip to Portland in April 2026.
Further trips to Eastbourne are also in the pipeline.
If anyone wants to organise a trip next year, with help if necessary, or has ideas for where they want to dive
please contact Phil.
For the club to grow and develop we need more people to become active within the branch
This is not just in teaching, being on Committee etc.
For a diving club to be successful we need the members to actually go diving.
So please, join us on some trips next year and be part of something amazing.
Equipment Officer – Trevor Canavan
Equipment Summary
Buoyancy Compensation Devices
12 Buddy Commando Explorer BCD’s.
1 x X-large, 3 x Large, 5 x Medium 3 x Small
1 x X-large Buddy Commando
1 x medium Light Buddy
3 x Medium Aqua lung
Gas Station Equipment
COLTRI SUB MCH-16/ET Compressor
Air Storage Bank – 3 X 600Lt
Air Distribution – 5 Whips @ 240bar
Gas Blending Nitrox/Trimix – 3 Whips @ 240bar
Pneumatic Booster Pump
Nitrox/Trimix Analyser
Gas station:
Few issues with leaks
Bank cylinders have been serviced –tested for next 9
years
Oxygen – cylinders sourced by us
Helium – can be available if enough interest
Club RHIB is in good working order
We have purchased a new club vehicle – a Vauxhall
Vivaro
Q: Andrew Dore: how much did the van cost?
A: £5500
Q Kevin Henman – has the old boat engine been sold?
A: No, we need a video of it up and running for advertising.
Treasurer’s Report
BRITISH SUB-AQUA CLUB (LUTON BRANCH)
TREASURER’S REPORT
YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2025
This is a summary of the main points from the accounts
for the year ended 30 September 2025.
Income from members’ subscriptions, that’s your
monthly standing orders, was in line with last year.
The net cost of hiring the pool was £2171, compared to
£2,231 for the previous year.
The sundry income consisted of receipts from
merchandise and Easy Fundraising.
Trips this year again showed a modest deficit,
representing the cost of training trips to Stoney Cove
£380 less boat fees from the Portland trip of £140.
Any monies received or expended for trips after the
accounting date are carried forward as a creditor or
debtor, respectively in these accounts.
Repairs include service items for the boat, the
compressor and the pool equipment. The main costs
this year were £1,455 for the testing of the storage
cylinders, £921 for the servicing of the club’s regulators
and £790 for the servicing of the boat engine.
Repairs to the club vehicle are included in the category
of Club vehicle costs.
Thank you to those members who gave their time to
carry out repairs and maintenance on the boat, the
vehicle and the equipment.
The club spent £775 on two new AP Explorer BCDs
during the year. The equipment has once again been
written down by 12.5% in accordance with the club’s
normal depreciation policy.
The bank and cash balances decreased from £40,117 to
£38,467, mainly due to the club having paid a deposit of
£4,600
on next year’s Scapa Flow trip and the next quarter’s
rent having been paid in advance.
Overall, the club made a surplus for the year of £2,304.
The club’s finances are still reasonably secure and we
shall
continue to watch the cash flow carefully to ensure that
they remain so.
Easy fundraising – Vicky Mallows:
We have been a part of Easy Fundraising over the past
few years and in this time we have managed to raise
£324.84 in free money for the club, just by downloading
an app and browser extension. This works over the
majority of shops online and also can now be used to
claim in store if you choose to.
This money has predominantly been raised by just 7
members, and of a club of over 93, these numbers are
quite poor, we can do better than this.
With Christmas around the corner im sure many of us
will be shopping online and this is a chance for us to
claim some extra money for the club, this money is put
towards covering costs for social events where
necessary and is really useful for the club, so please get
involved.
Membership Secretary’s Report:
93 total members
We have 91 full members and 2 Junior members
Welfare Officer’s Report
Role of Club Welfare Officer
Policy and procedures · To assist the club to ensure the
BSAC Child Safeguarding, Adult Safeguarding and
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies and
procedures are in place, where appropriate. · To
promote awareness of the BSAC Code of Conduct policy
for instructors, volunteers, members (juniors and
adults) and parents.
· To ensure that appropriate appointment procedures
for volunteers are followed, when for example a
member is appointed by a branch to become a Snorkel
Instructor teaching under 18s. · To ensure that all
appropriate existing instructors or volunteers in a
regulated activity have an up-to-date EDBS (Enhanced
Disclosure Barring Service) check. These should be
updated every three years.
Summary Report
My predecessor works for the NHS where there have
highly publicised issues with both child and adult abuse.
In the NHS there is a culture of carrying out risk
assessments for safeguarding. Contact was made,
BSAC’s safeguarding officer and senior persons
regarding risk assessments for child safeguarding. I
continued the discussions within the club and also
liaised with the Diving Officer and Club Chairman.
There has been a trend over the past few years (in both
BSAC and PADI) to train younger persons to scuba dive.
This is defined as persons being under 18 years old.
Now I accept that not all instructors wish to train under
18’s and that is their choice.
If you are an Assistant Instructor then you should be
supervised in the pool at all times by a Nationally
Qualified Instructor.
(Supervision doesn’t have to be by someone who is
EDBS checked. The fact that they are being supervised is
all that is required).
We currently have have six instructors plus the welfare
Officer who have been EDBS checked and two
instructors with a pending EDBS check.
Photography / Videography at the Inspire Pool
I just want to remind people that photography is
forbidden in the reception, changing areas and the pool.
An exception can be made if you wish to test out new
underwater photography / video equipment. Contact
the Welfare Officer or Diving Officer to arrange this.
Please set up your equipment discretely and be careful
who you photograph or film. It is essential that have the
parent or guardian’s permission for any photos /videos
of
children. Do not share photos/video on social media
without express permission of those involved.
Social Media
Be careful what you post on the club social media sites
WhatsApp, Facebook.
There should be no racist, sexist , personal attacks or
political posts or any authorised shared sites.
Conclusion:
If anyone has any safeguarding concerns, please contact
me all discussions will be confidential
mikebatham50@yahoo.co.uk and WhatsApp
Publicity and Communications officer – Mark Hobbs
I have been mostly out of action this year but hoping to get back into the swing of things next year.
We had a few issues with the website with the members section being totally disconnected and this will be replaced with a dive logging feature early next year. If anyone has any photos or media they wish to upload to the the website and club socials please send them to me and ill have it done for you.
We need to think about other avenues for advertising if any one has ideas, please let us know. We may have a chance to have some sort of notice at the pool entrance. The club merch needs to be run again, hopefully we can make it happen before Christmas. The usual shirts, hoodies fleeces and hats will be available.
Electing new officers for the committee:
Not many people have put themselves forward for
committee roles this year, therefore each position has
been uncontested and all votes are unanimous for the
individuals who have selected a post to stand for:
Chairman – Kevin Henman
Club Secretary – Natan
Treasurer – Rachel Slater
Membership Secretary – Colin Clasper
General Member x 3 –
- Tilly
- Kevin Wileman
- Phil Hamilton
AOB
Phil W: – the stoney Christmas dive and dinner has 22 people attending, if you would like to join then please let me know asap and before Thursday this week.
A sports Diver Course is to start this Thursday Roger: Has the committee confirmed the lease for the
boathouse with the council?
Chris – not yet, we proposed a counteroffer as the council wanted to double our annual rent immediately,
and we proposed an incremental increase over a number of years. they have neither accepted or rejected
this counteroffer and I will make sure to close this out.
Kev W: be cautious as a previous club I was in were in this situation and when a new councillor caught on he came down on the club like a ton of bricks.