Club Notes

The York Hall management have decided to close the pool on Monday 18th December so there will be no pool session on this day.

The next Monday that the pool is open will be on the 8th January 2007. As the building work has now finished we should be back to normal after the xmas break.

The official club XMas (aka holiday season) party will be held in January. Once I have the full details I will post the details here and to the mailing list news@hackneydiving.org (see bottom of main page for details of how to join our mailing list).

In the mean time Julie is arranging an unofficial party to be held on the evening of Friday 15th December. Please call Julie as soon as possible on 07971 449 684, if you want to come along.

The pool closure saga is nearly at an end. Although the pool will probably be open on the 20th, we have decided to play safe and have the first pool session on the 27th November.

Can all those members who were lent club kit over the pool closure period, please bring it back on the 27th.

As per my email of the 6th, the pool will not be open until the 20th. This is the latest news I have and I will keep you updated if I hear any different. Apologies for the uncertainty but we can only go by what York Hall tell us.

York Hall pool will be closed for another 3 weeks. I have spoken with Islington divers and they are happy for us to use their pool for another two weeks (the 24th and 31st of October) . The week after, we are having a get together in the Approach Tavern, on Monday evening (6th November). The week after this (13th November) we should be back at York Hall.

It would be lovely to have a big get-together/pre-holiday drink, so please make an effort to come to the Approach on the 6th November.

Rita has managed to find space at Ironmonger Row baths on Tuesday evenings. We will be sharing the pool with clubs from Islington and Clissold. The details are:

Dates and Times: 8pm to 9:30pm on Tuesday evenings up to and including 17th October.

If you have club kit please bring it along. There should not be a problem parking in the area at that time of night.

The York Hall pool will be closed for two months fro the 23rd of August. We were given very little notice of this closure and are currently trying to find alternative venues. The mailing list will be posted with times and places as soon as we have them (if you are not on the mailing list, then now would be the time to get on it! Click Here). The information will also be posted here.

I have booked a weekend in Salcombe, Devon on 9^th/10^th September, with the possibility of adding an extra day if anyone is interested. This will be RIB diving, 2 dives per day, and is aimed at those who are qualified Ocean Divers/PADI Open Water or above. There is a possibility that some dives may count towards your Sport Diver qualification. First come first served. A non-refundable cheque for £60, made payable to HSAC, will secure a place, subject to a balance of more/less-experienced divers. Cost is likely to be around this price, subject to numbers. Accommodation is available in a shared cottage about 5 miles away. Cost will be about £17.50 per night. There is a double room and four other beds, with floor space going at a cheaper rate. A B & B is the alternative.

Note; There is already a Club weekend booked at Weymouth, 28^th-29^th October, aimed at those with a Sport Diver qualification or equivalent.

It is possible that another dive trip may be organised later in September, but this is subject to the uptake of those already booked.

Rob Wilkins.

The club is holding its Annual General Meeting on the 24 April 2006 at 7.30pm in the bar area at York Hall. The meeting is open to all members and is a good opportunity for everyone to meet and mingle. The meeting usually lasts about half an hour to an hour maximum and is followed by a social at, you've guessed it, The Approach Tavern! It will be good to see all our new members at this meeting.

It is at this meeting that a club committee is elected by the members. The committee has overall responsibility for running the club. If you would like to get involved, please do put your names forward for a committee position. the positions available are: Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Dive Officer, Training Officer, Membership Secretary, Equipment Officer, Expeditions Officer and 3 Voting Members. Each of these positions have specific roles to perform which are extremely important to the smooth running of the club. The committee meets every 8 weeks. We are always looking for new people to join the committee and take part in running the club as the club would not exist if it wasn't for the members doing their part.

Please do consider if you would like a position on the committee. The voting member positions are particularly good for people who are new to the club or have not held a position on a committee before.

In order to put your name forward as a committee member, you need one club member to nominate you for the position you wish to apply for and another member to second this. This can be done at the AGM so don't worry too much about it. All nominations are welcome.

This information was originally sent out by email. If you have not seen or have not replied to that email, please email Rita Parmar [RitaP @ shelter.org.uk] to confirm that you have read the above. All club members who do not reply will get the same message by snail mail (post) which will cost the club money.

York Hall pool is closing for 5 weeks from 3 April 2006. Please note that it is only the pool area that is closing. Lectures will still be running as normal during this time in the bar area. Luckily, the pool closing does not affect us too badly because two of the Mondays when the pool is closed are bank holidays so the club would not have been meeting anyway.

As the bar area will still be available for use, Rob (the training officer) has come up with the ingenious plan of holding catch up lectures for all who need them (lecturers permitting) on the 3 and 10 April. Also, instead of a lecture tomorrow (27 March) for the ocean divers, there will be a pool session.

So, the itinerary is as follows:

27/03/06 - pool session
03/04/06 - ocean diver lecture OT5 and catch up lectures for sport divers
10/04/06 - ocean diver lecture OT6 and catch up lectures for sport divers
17/04/06 - bank holiday
24/04/06 - AGM
01/05/06 - bank holiday
08/05/06 - lecture OT7 and pool re-opens

If anyone wishes to take advantage of the sport diver catch up lectures, they must contact Rob ASAP (07932 663737). They will be given on a first-come first-served basis, subject to the number of lecturers available. This is a great opportunity to get theory sessions completed before the new season.

The committee has decided to increase club membership fees. Club kit will need to be serviced or replaced at some point over the coming year or two and the club needs to build up its resources to meet the cost of this. The fees have stayed at the same level for at least the last 5 years so I guess we were due for an increase.

- Ocean diver from £198 to £220 (including BSAC membership and books)
- Sport diver from £85 to £105 (plus the cost of BSAC membership)
- Dive leader/OWI/Advanced diver/Advanced instructor from £60 to £80 (plus the cost
of BSAC membership.

There will also be swimming membership for those who do not wish to dive but would like to use the pool to swim. This will cost £60 per annum.

The new membership fees will be payable from 1 May 2006 so take this opportunity to renew your membership soon and pay less! Everyone's a winner - Vas doesn't have to chase people for membership fees and you get to save at least £20 which can buy you quite a few pints at the Approach Tavern or, if you're feeling particularly generous, why not spend it on a loved one and win lots of brownie points. These will help you loads when you ditch the said loved one for a weekend to go diving! See, it all makes sense to pay sooner. The AGM will be a perfect opportunity for members to do this as Vas (membership secretary) will be available to renew membership. Do not forget to bring two cheques with you - one payable to HSAC and one for BSAC.

The list of dive trips is available on the Dive Schedule page. Check out the list and book your dives ASAP.

Please check out the new Training Schedule page for the list of Ocean diver lectures.

There will be no pool session on 17 October because we will be holding an informal dive club meeting at the Approach on this date at 8pm. This for all members to discuss with the committee any issues they wish to raise such as:

- how they feel the club is run
- ideas for dive sites in the new year
- ideas for a Christmas party, etc.

We hope to see you all there.

Updated Schedules - 13th July 2005

Now that the Ocean Diver training has been completed, you can take a look at the new Sports Diver schedule on the Training Schedule Page. Can all those new Ocean divers please make sure they are aware of the new schedule. If you have a problem with the dates and cannot attend please let Rob Wilkins no as soon as possible.

An Emergency General Meeting has been called for Monday 25th April 2005, 7:15pm at St. Margaret's House. This has been called in order to change the date of the AGM (which we hope to immediately proceed the EGM).

Make sure you put this date in your diary; not least because there is bound to be free beer!

Both the Training and Dive schedules have been updated. Please take look to ensure that you have the latest information.

FYI An extra Stoney Cove dive in May has been added to the dive schedule and the training schedule has been updated to include most of the club activity including dives from the dive schedule and the EGM/AGM which is on the 25th of April.

The new training schedule is available. Please make sure that you know when your lessons. If you cannot be there for a lesson, please inform your allotted instructor. To print the training schedule out I suggest you use Landscape mode on your printer!

The Dive Schedule for this year has been updated slightly to move the training day from the 1st of June and adding a second Stoney Cove day on the 12th of June. If you haven't booked your dive trips, now would be a good time to do it!

Can all members of the club please fill out the membership questionnaire to ensure that we have your correct details. This will help the expeditions and training officers plan next years training. It is also essential to maintain up-to-date contact and next of kin details.

Please email or post the form to Julie at julie.lintunen @ ubs.com or 20 Picardy Road, Belvedere, Kent, DA17 5QH.

Hackney Diving SCUBA Club

London based branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club

Club Notes and News