Who are we?
We are one of the oldest and most active Sub-Aqua Clubs on the South Coast. Our membership is drawn from across all diving organisations (PADI, SAA, BSAC) and all existing qualifications are respected and welcomed. As required, the club’s instructors are able to offer a range of BSAC skill development courses and training. This year, we are celebrating our 70th Anniversary!
Why are we crowdfunding?
Our 25-year old dive boat is essential to the success of our longstanding club. It’s very functional and reliable but the inflatable tubes, which have had several repairs over the years, are coming to the end of their serviceable life and require replacing soon to enable the boat to run for many more years.
We have several fundraising initiatives to raise money towards their replacement. This year alone, we have had 'kit sales', auctions where we gave raised money by offering various 'hand made and home made' items for purchase with the revenue to the re-tubing funds. We auctioned original sculptures, a painting, hand made shoulder bag, a handmade throw and a fire pit- all hand crafted by members of the club and produced to a high standard. We have also had sponsored events (e.g. the underwater crochet- extremely challenging!)- which you can view a video of, above. We are planning to raise more money throughout the remainder of the year, including a treasure hunt and culminating in our Christmas meal, raffle, maybe another auction. If you are able to support us further by donating, we would be very appreciative.
We also applied for (and have been awarded) a Sport England Lottery Award- if we can raise £2,500 through crowdfunding, Sport England will match the amount raised so we can then add £5,000 to the savings we have already accrued and so pay for the works.
How we’ll spend the money raised
We have already committed a non-refundable deposit, to secure a 'slot' with a contractor, who will re-tube the boat at the end of the current diving season. The work is expected to take place December 2024-January 2025.
Please see below, some photos showing the current state of the tubes and previous 'patching':
Community impact
We are a very active club, based in Poole Harbour, diving a stretch of the Jurassic coast from the Isle of Wight in the East to Kimmeridge in the West. We undertake dives for pleasure, monitoring the local flora and fauna for Dorset Seasearch and have several participating,members, some of whom have contributed to Seasearch publications, with photos, data and monitoring undertaken. One of our members, Lin Baldock, is also the co-author of 'Inshore Fishes of Britain and Ireland', and is currently working on a new publication about crustaceans. See below for more details:
https://www.seasearch.org.uk
Through club divers trained by the Nautical Archaeology Society, we also add to the knowledge of the history of our local wrecks, surveying and recording the condition and state of some of the numerous shipwrecks in our 'back yard'. We are an active training club, teaching people to dive; enhancing existing divers' skills (e.g. by teaching boat handling skills on the water as well as diving skills in the water); and introducing new divers to the pleasure of being out on the open sea.
We undertake 250-300 dives per year, from the end of March until the weather defeats us in the autumn!
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!