Hello all,

The new committee was voted in at the AGM in October and is listed below. Thanks go to Andrew and last year’s committee for all the work put into running the club. We are already hard at work making sure we continue the great diving and social schedule for the next 12 months. Please come and talk to us at the club nights and help us deliver the kind of activities you want to see.

You’ll notice some doubling up of roles; if you are able to help please contact one of the committee members and we would be more than happy to share the load!

There is a rogue’s gallery on the website if you need to put a face to the names.

Membership Renewals 

If you have not renewed your membership for the coming year this will be the last newsletter you receive and we will remove you from the mailing list. We will not be sending out any more reminders. Please renew now. We’d love to see you again! Contact Keith for details.

Club Dives

The last club dive of the season (so far...?) was from Weymouth on Oct 15/16^th. Wow – what a cracker! The weather was fantastic with warm blue skies and the viz was around 10 – 12m on Saturday and 8 – 10m on Sunday. Loads of marine life on the wrecks and Rich and I had the dive of the decade when, at 6m and with 3 minutes left on our deco stop, we were circled by a shark – a proper one! Teeth and everything!! I can safely say it was a moment of mixed emotion for both of us J

After some ‘research’ we believe it was a 5 – 6ft Porbeagle similar to left and below.

Diving Calendar

We are still building out the 2012 dive schedule with a specific focus on adding some Open Water dives at the beginning of the season. Take a look at the dive calendar for current dives and how to book. If you have questions, please contact Andrew, the club dive organiser, on diveclub@thedivingclub.co.uk or the organiser of the specific dive you are interested in.

If you have ideas for dives and/or can help organise a dive, why not let Andrew know? He can give lots of guidance and will really appreciate the support!

We will look to arrange a few visits to inland sites semi-formally over the winter. If this would interest you, please let Andrew know and we will try and co-ordinate some days to suit as many as possible.

Social And Club Nights

I truly believe Rob has put together the best social calendar I have seen in any club!

Next Meeting

At the next meeting (Weds Nov 2^nd) we have a talk by the RNLI – ‘the guardian angels of the sea’ as Monty Halls refers to them in November’s Dive magazine.  Rodney Britton will enlighten us on the operations of the organisation, it's funding and a general overview of the saviours of our seas!! Bring some spare change for a collection.

Starts at 8:30pm as usual in the Maiden Over. PLEASE NOTE: There will be no buffet at this meeting.

December meeting

A talk by Miranda Krestovnikoff: We will also be having a fantastic December meeting when Miranda Krestovnikoff of The One Show, Coast, Wreck Detectives and other TV programs will be giving a talk:

‘A Diving Tour of the UK Cost; the wonders of our wrecks and wildlife.

Tickets will be available at the club meeting at £3, representing a 50% discount to members. Guests £6.

The venue will be Charvil Village Hall, RG10 9TR. Food will be available to order at the event (details on tickets).

If you will need a ticket on the door please email me (publicity@thedivingclub.co.uk) so that I can track the numbers.

Christmas Party

We will also have our Christmas Party on December 10^th at Zero Degrees, Reading. What a way to round out the year! Please contact Rob for details on social@thedivingclub.co.uk.

See the Social Calendar for more information and the full social calendar.

And finally…

Remember that this is YOUR club. The benefit of belonging to the club is that we can arrange things as a club that individuals can’t – booking speakers, chartering boats, leveraging others’ experience etc. So please make the most of that opportunity by telling us what you think of the planned activities and what else you would like to see. We want to see full dive boats and packed social events!

Nigel Stephenson

Chairman and Publicity Officer, The Diving Club