News

03/04/2024 Make your voice heard regarding the closure of the NHS Recompression Chamber at Dunstaffnage, near Oban.

The closure of this chamber means that decompression incidents on the West Coast will now need helicopter (or Ambulance) transport to Aberdeen increasing delay and risk to affected divers. You can express your views directly to your MSP or MP and by signing the online petition https://www.change.org/p/prevent-the-closure-of-the-nhs-recompression-chamber-at-dunstaffnage-near-oban

29/03/2024 Easter Holidays - HQ closed.

Please note that the office is closed from 29Mar - 10Apr for the Easter Holidays. If you have an urgent query during that time, please contact the relevant member of the Board. Thanks.

25/03/2024 Upcoming Courses

After the successful delivery of courses in Feb/Mar, plans are being progressed for further courses, but we can already confirm the following:

Branch Instructor – 20th April 2024
Deep Dive – 11th / 12th May 2024
Nitrox – 25th May 2024

Courses are only run where there is sufficient interest so…

Please register your interest on JustGo by adding your name to the Waitlist (in JustGo – Click on Events and Courses>>Click on the relevant course>>Click on Add to Waitlist. Note: Club Admins can also do this for members of their Branch).

If you have any questions, please do contact the relevant Course Director and if you have any problems adding yourself to the Waitlist, please contact HQ. Thanks.

19/03/2024 Keep our Pools Open

Scottish Swimming have a petition in the Scottish Parliament at the moment to keep swimming pools open as they are so vital not just for swimmers but for other sports such as our own who use them for techniques, training and safety.

This petition is being considered in Parliament on Wednesday 20^th March and it will be great to get as many signatures on it ahead of this.

The petition link is here. Recognise the value of swimming pools and provide financial relief to help keep pools open - Petitions (parliament.scot)

13/02/2024 Update on upcoming training courses

The significant work to ensure courses are running to meet demand is bearing results with following courses taking place in Feb/Mar:

Thursday 15th Feb – CWPS (Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport)
Sunday 25th Feb – Club Examiner Course
Sunday 10th Mar – First Aid/Heartstart/Oxygen Administration Course
Saturday 16th Mar – ScotSAC Nitrox Course
Saturday 16th Mar / Sunday 17th Mar – Regional Instructor Course

Thank-you to all those involved in arranging and delivering these courses.

9/01/2024

We hope the Christmas and New Year period was good to you and you are all ready to try out any shiny new kit Santa brought!

Membership Fees:

Please note that the updated membership fees as agreed at our AGM are now in operation and you can refer to them in the table on the Join Now page.

Training Courses:

There is significant activity in progress getting courses scheduled to meet demand. The current plans are as follows:

HeartStart / O2. Next course is 14^th January 2024. Course is now full, but planning is underway for the next course (potentially mid February) – please register your interest on JustGo
Deep Diving. Next course 13^th / 14^th January 2024. Course is now full, but planning is underway for the next course – please register your interest on JustGo
CWPS course (essential if you instruct in a branch that has juniors). Next date 15^th February 2024 (Virtual). Spaces available – please register your interest on JustGo. Branch CPOs will be given priority, however future courses will be scheduled to accommodate demand.
Nitrox. Next Course 16^th March 2024 in HQ. Spaces available – please register on JustGo if you want to attend.
Regional Instructor. Date TBC but targeting mid/late March 2024. The course is now full, but please speak to your Regional Coach if you want to take your instructing contribution to this level.
Branch Instructor. Next course TBC but targeting April – Spaces available. Please speak to your BDO and/or Regional Coach if you want to progress to become an instructor in your branch. You can then register your interest by joining the waitlist.

Note that in JustGo, when the course you wish to attend is full, you still have the option to join the waitlist for the course – that gets you into the queue for the next one or onto the scheduled one should a space become available. If you have any problems registering onto the waitlist, please contact HQ.

8/12/2023

Christmas/New Year: Please note that the ScotSAC office will be closed from 22Dec to 7Jan inclusive. Urgent items can be addressed to the Chair or to the NDO by email as appropriate.

7/12/2023

Reminder: Please be aware that there is only one postal collection per week from Caledonia House (on a Wednesday), so please allow for that when expecting qualification logbooks for new members of your branch. Once Kirsty has the logbook packaged up, it can take up to a week for it to actually leave the building.

1/12/2023

Scottish Sub Aqua Club
Please note that our office at Caledonia House | 1 Redheughs Rigg | South Gyle Edinburgh | EH12 9DQ is open:

Monday and Thursday on 0131 625 4404

Also available by phone only on Tuesday on 07543 673 616

Email: hq@scotsac.com | Website: www.scotsac.com | Membership login: scotsac.justgo.com

18/7/2022

New Admin and Finance Officer

After much searching we are delighted to welcome Kirsty Carella as our new Admin Officer. Kirsty comes to us with lengthy experience in administrative roles in various settings.

She started work with us on 18th July 2022.

She will be working 21 hours per week, her working days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

AGENCIES AGAINST MANDATORY ANNUAL CYLINDER TESTS

10/11/2016

On 23 October 2016 the majority of diver training agencies in the UK, including a representative of the Scottish Sub Aqua Club, held a joint meeting at the NEC to discuss ISO/DIS 18119.2, the draft standard for gas cylinders, seamless steel and seamless aluminium-alloy gas cylinders and tubes periodic inspection and testing.

Our initial objections and concerns were a distinct lack of evidence supporting the proposed change, along with an increase in cost for our members and the wider diving community, and its resulting knock on effect in terms of diving tourism and on diving clubs.

Our representative on the committee has attended the appropriate meetings, and ScotSAC have put our full backing behind opposing the proposed changes. We are working both with BSAC and the other representatives, and independently to represent the best interests of our members in this matter.

Read the full press release here.

Cylinder Testing

01/09/2016

You may have read in the diving press about a proposed change in the standards for the periodic testing of gas cylinders from visual testing every 2.5 years and hydraulic testing every 5 years, to visual testing every year and hydraulic testing every 5 years.

This has worrying implications for ScotSAC branches and for individuals. On the cost alone - a considerable rise.

However, the proposed standard BS. EN 18119 failed at the first vote with the UK and several other countries expressing disapproval. The standard will therefore be subject to review. The standard will not be open again to the public consultation which took place last year, but we are delighted to report that ScotSAC now has representation on the appropriate British Standards Committee.

ScotSAC 2016 AGM

19/08/2016

The ScotSAC 2016 AGM will be held at Bannockburn Centre, Glasgow Road, Whins Of Milton, Stirling FK7 0LJ on 11th September 2016 and will begin at 1310hrs.

Members will receive a proxy voting form in the post over the next couple of days. Proxy voting provides full voting ability to all eligible members, whether they are able to attend the AGM or not and you are encourage to use this facility if you're unable to attend the AGM.

This year we have once again reviewed our current Byelaws and have prepared a revised copy of this document which is proposed for approval at the AGM. Further details and an advice note outlining the changes has also been produced.

Nominations have been received, and the following documents are now available for you to download:

Minutes of 2015 AGM
Proposed Byelaws (final version)
Proposed Byelaws (version showing tracked changes)
Advice Note on Proposed Byelaws
Directions to Bannockburn Centre

Hope to see you all there!

ScotSAC HQ Closed

25/07/2016

ScotSAC HQ will be closed from 26th July and will re-open on Wednesday 10th August. During this time, online accounts will not be approved, and memberships will not be processed. In an emergency, please contact NDO@scotsac.com

2016 AGM Nominations

05/07/2016

The 2016 AGM will take place in Bannockburn Centre, Stirling, on Sunday 11th September. Further details, meeting calling notice and proxy forms will be issued to all members with our September issue of Scottish Diver.

Under our current byelaws, nominations for Directors on the Board and Members of the National Diving Council must be submitted by 31st July prior to the AGM.

Nominations are now invited for Directors on the Board to fill the following vacancies:
Director – 5 posts

The following Board members remain in post for the duration of their appointment
Mark Berrie (Director)
Rod Edser (Director)
Edna Ewan (Chair)
Gordon Young (National Diving Officer)

In addition to the above posts, nominations are invited for 6 positions of National Diving Council Members. NDC Members are elected for one year.

Job Descriptions for the posts can be found here and clearly define the duties and requirements of the Directors. This ensures any nominee is aware of their duties prior to nomination and of the skills/experience necessary to fulfil the role.

A nomination form is available here or by contacting ScotSAC Headquarters. All nominations for Directors or NDC Members and any resolutions for changes to the Byelaws must be received at ScotSAC HQ by 31st July 2016. In the event of any multiple nominations, ballot papers and personal statements will be circulated along with the AGM notice. Please refer to the Byelaws and Articles of Association for further information.