Horstead Mill cleanup

On Sunday 26th September 2010, 12 divers from BSAC East Anglian Branch 11, logged a total of 18 hours in the water at Horstead Mill Nr Coltishall.  They were supported on the shore by volunteers from the club who braved the wind and rain to assist the divers. 

Their aim was to clear as much rubbish as possible from the river bed that could possibly be a hazard to the children and canoeist who regularly use the mill for swimming, paddling and training. 

Special thanks go to Elaina from the Broads Authority and Phillippa Weightman from the Horstead Parish Council who provided a skip to take the rubbish away. 

An amazing array of items was recovered including the following:-

• Broken Glass/Bottles/Cans             
• Shoes/Socks/Flip Flops/Sunglasses
• Fishing Lines/Lures
• Piping-both Rubber & Metal/Metal Bars
• Trolley Wheels/Skateboard/Cutlery
• Large Brush/Cash Box (empty!) Wallet also empty.
• Saucepans/Dishes/Large Metal Drum
• Car Tyres
• Set of Car Keys & House Keys
• Tennis Racquet/Balls/Car Seat Frame
• Bone (confirmed not Human!)

Of equal importance to the environment was the removal of 7 Signal Crayfish. These are an aggressive non-native species in British waters and are a real threat to the native smaller Crayfish.

Norwich Beer Festival

EAB11 is making is annual pilgrimage to the Norwich Beer Festival on Wednesday 27th October.

Doors open at 5:30pm, and we're meeting in the queue from 5:00pm.

Win tickets to Dive 2010

The club again has two tickets to Dive 2010 at the NEC on  30-31 October.  To be in with a chance of winning, just go to our competition page, and answer a simple question! 

Good luck!

2010 Try Dive

This year's try dive will be held on 16th September, 8:00pm at Norwich High School for Girls.

If you know anyone who's interested in a try dive, please let Richard know as soon as possible.

Richard is also looking for help from instructors and poolside assistants so, again, let him know if you're available.

Men saved after fishing boat sinks off Norfolk

Three people, including one diver, have been rescued from the sea off Norfolk today, after the fishing boat Viking sank in rough weather. 

Full story form The BBC and The Eastern Daily Press.

Clean up at Horstead Mill

Following our yearly dive at Horstead Mill, we are organising a clear up of the river bed on Sunday 26th September 2010 from 9am to 4pm - and need as many members as possible to help.

We plan to spend the day clearing as much rubbish as possible: glass, road signs shoes etc...you never know, you may even find something of value (working watch found last year)!

We need as many Divers as Possible, shore help to load the skip and snorkellers are welcome to clear the shallows.

We are hoping to get media attention (papers & possibly TV), to raise the club profile and promote UK diving.

You’ve all had a good season in the North Sea and this is your chance to give something back to the Club and local Community, so even if you’re a hardened North Sea Diver and never get involved, please spare us one morning, afternoon or all day if you can.

We plan to finish the day off with a few beers at the Recruiting Sergeant!
I need to make a list of people who can Dive or shore help, so please contact me asap if you can help.

We’re also struggling with a skip at the moment so please let me know if anyone has a tame skip company who could help.

Cheers

Garret

North Norfolk diving pictures

Rob Spray, of Sea Search fame, demonstrates what you can achieve with a camera, a bit of talent, and some fantastic viz off the North Norfolk coast.

North Norfolk Pictures

Accelerated Decompression Procedures course

The branch run ADP course will take place during in the Autumn, once the main diving season is over.  If you're interested, please let Richard know as soon as possible, as spaces will be very limited.

Please check the syllabus for the entry requirements. 


ADP course syllabus

Eaten anything bigger?

From the EDP: A 4kg European lobster has been saved from becoming a tasty meal after he was donated to the Sealife Centre in Great Yarmouth. 


Full story here.

BBC diving series focusing on the East of England

Reposted from the BSAC forums: 

"Hello, 

You will know me as the North Scotland Regional Coach, but I have now moved to London to work for BBC on a new series (working title Oceans: UK) about the u/w world around the UK. It will be on BBC2 in a high profile family time slot. 

We are looking for good dives (not just wreck but a good reason its worth us looking into i.e. good history, amazing life etc) or any story/research that relates to the east coast of England, from the cliffs, sea caves, people stories relating to the sea and of course on or in the water. 

We know the East is not great on vis until you go further north, but we are not afraid of a muddy story and can even go into the Thames estuary though we are not coving fresh water just marine. 

East Scotland was covered in the North episode so just east England please. 

Please could you e-mail me personally on sarah.conner@bbc.co.uk as I don't check the forum very often (but I am happy to call you from work if you e-mail me your number and a good time to talk) - but feel free to chat about all the great diving on the East here! We are filming East between early August to early September. 

Thanks for any help and inspiration you may have, it will be greatly appreciated. Look forward to diving with some of you in England! 

Safe & happy diving,
Sarah"

August Dry Night

Hi All,

The Dry Night on Tuesday 3^rd August is now a Wet Night at Horstead Mill, near Coltishall.

Start time will be 18.00 followed afterwards by a beer or two at the Recruiting Sergeant where we also plan to have a meal, please let me know asap if you’d like to eat and I will book you a place.

Its easy diving and we have had some interesting finds on past dives!!!!

My contact numbers are 01603 427011 (work), 07990 587 487 (mobile), or e-mail me via the website

Cheers

Garret

Social Rep

July Dry Night

Don't forget...it's the July Dry Night on Tuesday 13th.  It's a particularly important one, as a representative on Netgain will be talking about The North Sea Marine Conservation Zones Project.


Please come along and find out about this important project...and have your say.

Also, please bring along your old mobile phones and ink cartridges for Val.

Slack Water Times

2010 Slack water predictions for South Haisborough are now available on the Tide and Weather page.

Seasearch Observer course in Sheringham July 10th and 11th

Form Dawn Watson: 

"We still have some spaces left on our Seasearch Observer course in Sheringham, North Norfolk on July 10th (theory day and one dive) and 11th (two dives). 

The theory day will take place at Sheringham YHA, who can also provide B&B at reasonable rates - we were pleasantly surprised by the rooms and breakfast in April! 

The course costs £35, which covers the theory day and course pack; the optional shore dives are free and subject to weather. 

For more information and a booking form, go to www.seasearcheast.org.uk/observerjul10.htm. 

If you just want to know more about Seasearch in general, go to www.seasearch.org.uk

Thanks!

Dawn "

Wednesday diving group

An assorted bunch of part-timers, retirees, slackers, skivers, and the generally work-shy have assembled to go diving on Wednesdays while the rest of us are hard at work. 

If you're interested in joining them, contact Richard - he's looking for a crew for this Wednesday.

Find us on Facebook

Several people in the club have suggested it; even BSAC HQ have done it; and now Anglian Divers have joined the 21st century and we have our own Facebook Group.  

It's an open group with open content, so join, say hi, post your pictures, create events, organise some diving, do whatever you want...it's your group!  

Follow this link, or just search for Anglian Divers on Facebook - and let us know if you're interested in becoming an admin.

Aye Aye cap'n...

...the club has two new Diver Coxswains. 

Under the steely guidance of Paul Dale, both Richard Mann and Neil Cope passed their Diver Coxswain assessment on Saturday. 

As part of the assessment, they organised a dive on the Artemesia which included flat seas, great visibility and a face-to-face bull seal encounter for Andy Bale! 

Congratulations to both of you. 

If you're interested in learning to cox the club boat, please contact Richard Mann for more information

Instructor and ADP courses

Instructor courses

For those of you interested in becoming BSAC instructors, the following courses are being put on within the region: 

Open Water Instructor Course - July 17th 
Practical Instructor Exam - July 18th

If you hold existing instructor qualifications from other agencies please contact BSAC HQ to establish which courses you need to take to convert to BSAC status.

Be aware that courses are usually well spaced out - the next may not be in the region until 2011.

Contact Richard if you want more information.  The courses can be booked here.


Advanced Decompression Procedures

The notes for the Advanced Decompression Procedures course have been obtained by the club.

Those instructors accredited to teach it are now reviewing the content. It should then be possible to issue a summary of candidate requirements to enlist for the course. If you're interested in attending, please contact Richard asap so he can organise the course.

Dry night changes

The July dry night will now be held on Thursday 13th to avoid a clash with dive week, and the August dry night will now be a 'wet night' with our now traditional comedy dip into Horstead Mill. 

In case you're unaware, dive week runs from July 3rd to the 11th. 

Check out the diary page for more details.

Congratulations...

...to Nick Collomb who has qualified as a Sports Diver, and to Kate Risely who has just gained her Open Water Instructor qualification. 


Well done to you both!

Gas Blending course

We're looking to run another Nitrox Gas Blending course in the very near future. 

If you haven't already put your name down for it, send your details to Richard as soon as possible as he'll be ordering the student packs this week.

Getting wet at Gildenburgh

Despite the miserable weather, training went ahead this weekend at Gildenburgh.

Plenty of dives done, and a good time was had by most  :o)

Thanks to Kate Risely for the for first pictures of 2010 - http://www.angliandivers.co.uk/2010.html

Sea diving begins

Anglian Diver was out on the Londoner on Saturday for the inaugural dive of the season.

If you want to go for a dive contact Ady, the DO, and he'll arrange it for you.

Gildenburgh training Saturday 8th May

Get your sunnies out...Richard is planning another trip to Gildenburgh on Saturday 8th May.

If you want to do some training - or just want to go along for a dive - email or call him ASAP with your outstanding training needs.

Club Hut works

Over the last weekend, a happy band of volunteers from the club, under the direction of John Jackson, set about a major clean up of the club hut in Trimmingham.

Apart from a general clean and tidy, they also fitted new fascias and guttering to the whole building;  repainted interior walls, doors and windows frames;  and removed a significant amount (a large skip full!) of rubbish.

On behalf of the committee, many thanks to everyone who helped out.

New parking regulations at Beach Rock

A note from Peter Goreham:

After some discussion about changes to parking at Beach Rock this summer, I thought I'd ring Nick to find out what is actually going on.

He told me that from a financial viewpoint it was beneficial to them to have the car park administered by an external agency and this is what they've done.

The car park is now strictly 'pay & display' and the charge is 90p / hour and is available to be used by anyone.
As before, for those who hold a book of launch vouchers there is ONE free space per boat as long as the voucher is displayed.  Books of launch vouchers are still priced at £275 for 15 vouchers.

Vehicles not displaying a valid ticket / voucher are subject to clamping and a punitive release charge will be applied.

Nick explained that the 'on the day' launch fee has been reduced to £15 to take into account the fact that you would now have to pay for parking.

He also said that if boat users encountered a problem and were going to be unexpectedly late back he would do his best to ensure that they didn't get clamped provided that they contacted him.

The cheaper 'charity' carpark is still available a few minutes walk away.

Plainly, if we organise ourselves and encourage more car sharing etc. these changes shouldn't be too great problem for us.

Peter

Anne's Club Holiday to Malta

As you may have heard, I have been planning a Club trip to Malta this year. The dates have finally been fixed for 7-14 September 2010.

Below you will find the details of flights and accommodation.  I've also attached the price list from Dive Deep Blue, which is the diving outfit I intend to use. If anyone wants to take up more technical diving options then I have a price list for that too - let me know if you want it. Dive Deep Blue usually sort out the best package deal at the end of your diving, based on what you actually did, so you won't be tied to whatever you choose at the beginning of the week.

I am proposing to stay at the Primera Hotel in Bugibba and fly from Norwich to Malta.

The cost of flights, accommodation and transfers is £468.50 pp, based on two sharing a room. Dive costs are on top (see here), and a taste of the dive sites can be seen here.

There are lots of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel (as is Dive Deep Blue) and if anyone fancies some more energetic nightlife I'm told it's a short taxi ride away in Paceville.

In terms of diving itinerary, we can be flexible, but usually we do some diving on Malta, Gozo and Comino. If anyone has any particular preferences, please let me know and I'll ask Dive Deep Blue to build into the schedule.

Let me know if you are interested - I'll need confirmation and deposits very soon, as the flight and hotel prices keep going up!

Anne

The new website is live...

Hi everybody, welcome to the all new bright, shinky, spanky, Anglian Divers website! 

We've not only gone for a visual overhaul, we've done a massive revamp of the functionality to make the site easier to update. 

We're trying out the hosting at Weebly, so we can update the site quickly. 

The news page is now a blog, hosted at blogger.com, so anyone can post news items. 

Also, our calander is run by Google, pictures are now at Picasa, we've got a mashup between mapchannels.com and Google maps to show people where we are, and newsfeeds from Divemagazine and Divernet via feed2js!! Phew! 

We're offically in the 21st century! 

LOTS, more stuff coming soon...but in the meantime I need your pictures, news, articles, links, ideas...

Paul

Pool nights resume

Pool nights resume from this Thursday April 22nd. 

Additional dates are on the calendar. 
Times are 8.30-9.30 p.m. 

PARKING - Please note the following: 

The usual parking area is NOT available from Albermarle Road.
The shortest route to the pool when carrying kit is via the Christchurch Road access.
This puts you just the other side of the Sports Hall and you will need to walk along the coverd way.

The access point is via black metal gates approx 120m along Christchurch Road from the Newmarket Road end.

The gate will be locked approx 10pm - ish!

PLEASE DO NOT PARK ON THE GRASS ANYWHERE ON THE SITE.

You could park at the front of the school, but it's further to walk to the pool.