A photo archive showing scuba divers from the 1950s up to the modern day has been released by one of Britain’s oldest scuba diving clubs, the Bath Sub-Aqua Club, as they celebrate their 60th anniversary.
Bath Sub-Aqua Club was among the first branches of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) to be established, and has been responsible for introducing thousands of people to diving across the south west.
Photographs from the club’s inaugural year in 1956 show old fashioned suits which many divers, known then as “frogmen”, made for themselves out of neoprene.
Now using modern kit, they travel all over the globe diving for fun. As well as hosting regular club nights and try dives for newcomers, Bath SAC members have supported the community over the years with countless charity events.
They have also assisted local police in underwater searches, at one time even rescuing a hotel gate which fell into the River Avon.
The club’s longest-serving member, Advanced Diver Paul Ferguson from Bathampton, is among those who will be attending a 60th anniversary celebration for members, on 29th October.
The 56-year-old electronics engineer joined the club in 1976 at the age of 16 and has many fond memories.
“In those days, when I started, you wore a thin wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins”, said Paul.
“These days we have buoyancy control jackets and drysuits which help you stay a lot warmer.
“There wasn’t too many people diving back then and we’d get lots of people watching us whenever we went to the coast. We’d do a yearly club holiday to the Scilly Isles and would dive at Lyme Regis, Charmouth and Seatown in Dorset.
“When I first started diving, people would often recover trinkets from wrecks like portholes but as time has gone by it has moved away from that and it’s about having a fantastic diving experience and exploring the sea life. Lots of members are now involved in underwater photography.
“The sport is much safer today but the diving can be more adventurous and as a diver you spend longer in the water, the boats are more comfortable and the suits keep you warmer for longer.
“I’m very proud to be a part of the club. We’ve had a very strong membership and over the years the club has made an immense effort to promote the sport. We have lots of young members coming through who are great at organising activities.
“New members are trained very well. If anyone is keen on becoming a diver they couldn’t do any better than our club in my opinion.”
When the club first formed, members trained at a public swimming pool at Beau Street in Bath which is on the site of an original spa. The pool has since been demolished and replaced by the Thermae Bath Spa.
The club originally evolved from a small group of friends in the 1950s called the Reef Raiders who shared an interest in what was at the time the new recreational sport of diving.
Jo Watt, club chairman and Open Water Instructor at Bath SAC, said: “Reaching 60 years is a brilliant achievement. We were one of the very first clubs to form in the country and now there are more than 900 in the UK. It’s brilliant that we’ve managed to keep going.
“There’s a write up of the club’s first meeting in 1956 describing their homemade tubes and how they managed to stay underwater for a full 20 minutes – which we wouldn’t think anything of today,” said Jo, a 34-year-old researcher, from Bath, who works at the University of Bath’s Department of Pharmacy.
“The club featured a lot in the local newspaper when they first formed. It was a new sport and what would be considered now quite mundane was a big deal.
“The club did a lot of charity fundraising in the early days. They used to do a weir to weir swim along a 2.5mile stretch of the River Avon from Bathampton to Pulteney Weir.
“An article from the time talks about how various people got cramp and had to retire and how they were using ‘frogmen flippers’ as if they were from out of space.
“They also used to dress up in their kit and go around Bath collecting money for local charities in tins.”
BSAC is the national governing body for scuba diving and is made up of 120 dive centres and 900 plus family friendly and sociable clubs, run by volunteers, up and down the country and abroad. The Duke of Cambridge is the club’s President.
It represents more than 30,000 scuba divers and snorkellers and welcomes new members from complete beginners upwards including those who have trained with other agencies.
“Mary Tetley, chief executive of BSAC said: “Bath SAC is among the oldest in the UK and it’s a huge achievement to celebrate 60 years of diving.
“It’s been wonderful to hear some of the stories from the club’s history and the photographs offer a lovely insight into diving through six decades.
“We wish all the members the best for the future and hope they will continue to inspire future generations of divers to join the BSAC family.”
Bath SAC trains once a week at Prior Park College in Bath and has around 50 members aged from 16 to 75, all of whom are active divers.
The club is as prolific today about encouraging newcomers into the sport as it was in the 1950s and receives hundreds of enquiries for its try dive programme. It also holds regular diving courses to help members build on their qualifications.
As part of their 60th anniversary celebrations this year they recently hosted a diving introduction event for members of the 31st Bath Senior Section Girl Guides, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Bath SAC members have also recently returned from a weekend diving gala in Porthkerris, Cornwall, in which members completed 120 dives across two days, in recognition of the landmark anniversary.
Jo added: “We are very enthusiastic about what we do and this is reflected in the number of enquiries we receive every month. We have a welcome pack where people can find out about diving and this receives more than 1,000 hits on our website every month.
“We are thriving as a club. We seem to have done a really good job of getting a good balance across the ages and sexes.
“We have a really strong female presence, and when you look back through the archives this wasn’t always the case,” said Jo, who met her husband Angus through the club.
She added: “As an instructor, it’s brilliant to see someone who’s really enthusiastic and willing to learn and watch them become active members of the club.
“There’s a lot investment in teaching people to dive and you really appreciate it when you see the enjoyment they’re getting.
“Our club boat is an expensive asset but it’s a great way of keeping our members’ skills alive. It means we can do more trips and is a vital resource for the club to maintain.”
The club wants as many former members as possible along to its AGM black tie dinner at the Bath Function Rooms on 29th October, where it will showcase the club archives to members past and present.
For more information visit www.bath-divers.co.uk or email [email protected].
