The history of S.O.S.
Divers.
In 1979 five friends, all of who shared a passionate interest in
the sport of Scuba Diving decided to form a club. Of these five,
two had dived with other clubs, two had snorkelled and wanted to
move on to diving and one (George Tombs) just wanted to learn to
snorkel. From this modest wish George went on to become club
Treasurer and then later became club Chairman and retained that
position for many years. Sadly George is no longer with us but the
enthusiasm that he brought to the club is a legacy left behind and
an inspiration to us all.
Soon after formation the club (full title, Stourport On Severn
Divers) started to hire the pool at Stourport in order to train
anyone interested in diving. In those early days the club could
not afford a boat and indeed with a weekly income of £10 from pool
fees and a weekly expenditure of £9.18 for pool hire the idea of
boat ownership seemed just a distant dream.
The first open water club dive was held during Easter 1980. This
was a dive on the wreck of the "Louis Shead" at Thurlestone in
Devon. Dry suits were rare indeed in those days with wet suits
being the order of the day for those hardy souls.
1980 was also the year that the club boasted its first women
members, Kerry Elford joined, shortly to be followed by members
Dave and Joan Lees. Dave was another one who just wanted to 'have
a go at snorkelling' and was later to become a prime mover within
the club.
Dave and Joan were soon followed by Mike Burley who joined in
1981, Little could Mike suspect when being badgered into joining
by Dave that he would go on to become not only club Secretary and
later Chairman but also (in 1989) the SAA Regional Rep, (2008) SAA
Vice Chairman and (in 2009) The SAA Chairman.
By 1982 club membership had swelled to 12 and it was decided to
buy a boat. The club took out a loan with George Tombs as Chairman
standing as personal guarantor and a second hand 'Seacraft' was
purchased for £850. Already families were included in the fun with
water skiing for anyone brave enough after the conclusion of the
day's diving.
The club continued to grow, mainly by word of mouth, Other current
members who helped to form the roots of the club were Paul Curtis
who Joined 1983 and Rob Parkes and Paul Bartle who both joined in
1984. With the increasing membership it was decided to buy a new
boat. The Chinook cost £l,l40 not including the engine! This time
founder member Melvyn Ball and Kerry shared the responsibility of
guarantors. In those days, the boats were kept on member's
driveways, which was also where repairs were carried out.
In 1986 the club won public acclaim when a party of club members
instigated the rescue of a family stranded on rocks and cut off by
the incoming tide with bad weather and difficult sea conditions
The family were eventually rescued intact by the Coast Guard with
the direct assistance of S.O.S. Divers and the other emergency
services.
1987 saw the opening of the Forest Glades leisure centre by the
late Diana Princess of Wales. Diana watched as hundreds of local
children plunged into the new pool. The safety of the children was
also watched over by members of S.O.S. Divers who were in the
background providing safety cover for the event. Also around this
time The Lions Club approached S.O.S. Divers with a request to
provide safety river cover for their annual raft race from Arley
to Stourport. Subsequently, this became a regular requirement for
the club. In addition we have also provided river cover for both
Bewdley Rowing Club and Stourport Rowing Club for their annual
regattas as well as for various other activities on the River
Severn.
In the late 1980's and early 1990's the club developed an active
marine life section with identification and habitats being the
main points of interest. Family weekend camping expeditions were
organized to Shell Island Stackpole Quay and Weymouth. These were
highly successful and popular events.
In 1992, Joan Lees who was at that time the club's Marine Life
Officer was awarded the prestigious S.A.A. George Arnold trophy
for her services to marine life and conservation. As a result of
the activities of this section, the club as a whole has become
more orientated towards conservation and pollution matters.
Under water photography is another field that has been explored by
club members. Two in particular have been notably active in this
area, Dave Lees is still a keen photographer and also produces
excellent videos with suitable music carefully edited, not only
that, he employs his considerable manual skills to craft his own
underwater video housings and George Munro, a former club member,
was joint winner in an underwater photography competition
Organized by a camera manufacturing company Sea & Sea. The prize
was an all expenses paid holiday in Eilat with five days of
intensive tuition from Tony Malmquist a Swedish underwater
photographer then ranked No. 4 in the world.
Although the club retains its status as a family club it has over
more recent years been more and more actively engaged in the
training of prospective divers and the upgrading of existing
members. Training courses are held throughout the year, which
resulted in an ever-increasing club membership, but unfortunately
the increasing membership brought its problems too. In 1995 the
club experienced a major upheaval when around 15 disgruntled
members, some of them officers of the club, decided to leave and
form their own club. This kind of acrimonious split is common
amongst clubs but for S.O.S Divers with its history of happy
family activities the wounds look time to heal. The club shook but
stood firm and many of the surviving members believe that S.O.S.
Divers is a better club because of the experience. Ironically the
previous year had seen the club take delivery of it's new boat, A
"Blue Water Marine" 5.75 metre purpose built rigid inflatable dive
boat (R.I.B.) with twin 40hp engines. In April 1993 the club had
applied to the Foundation for Sports and Art for a grant of
£25.000 and in November of that year the Foundation made us a
conditional offer of £18,000 of which £5.000 would be towards the
cost of a new boat with the remainder to be put towards the cost
of a building to store it in. One of their conditions was that the
shortfall (estimated at £6,000 - £7.000) was to be made up by the
club by means of fundraising or sponsorship. With a reduced
membership there then followed a frenzied period of fund raising
with such events as raffles, quiz nights, Jumble sales and horse
race nights being organized. The members put in a lot of hard work
and eventually the club raised the required amount.
We took delivery of the new boat on May 27 1994, it cost £9,188.00
and this time no one had to stand as guarantor for a loan. At this
time the club still had no permanent place to store the boats but
big plans were afoot. After a lot of negotiations with local
authorities and some more serious fund raising building work was
finally started on the boathouse for which the club had waited so
long. When construction of the building was completed in 1998 it
marked a milestone in the history of the club.
For the first time we had a permanent base which would remain the
focal point of the club for ever more. The boathouse is home not
only for the new R.I.B. but also for the original Chinook and
other club equipment allowing the club to go from strength to
strength, over the years the sport of SCUBA diving has changed
considerably, diving techniques, personal equipment and electronic
satellite wreck finding equipment have extended the range of
diving dramatically.
In 1998 the unreliable twin 40hp outboards on the R.I.B. were
replaced with a 100hp Yamaha four stroke, in 2001 Mike Burley was
rewarded with a gold award for his long services to our governing
body, The Sub Aqua Association and in 2000 a new 40hp outboard was
purchased for the Chinook,
In 2002 the club was awarded a lottery grant of £3500 to purchase
much needed basic SCUBA equipment to allow the club to offer all
new members free loan of equipment as they go through their basic
pool training and thus helping the club continues with its active
SCUBA & snorkel training programs.
The "Try-a-dive" sessions have remained very popular and are
offered to schools, clubs, scouts guides and other organizations
throughout the community as well as to any member of the public,
friends and relations who wish to try the 'Scuba experience".
In past years former local M.P. Anthony Coombs came along to the
pool and had a go, Phil Lewis and other members have spent a lot
of time in the pool with disabled youngsters and adults
introducing them to the delights of snorkeling and Scuba diving,
In 2003 the clubs web site 'www.StourportDivers.com' went on line
and shortly after S.O.S. Divers became the first Duke of Edinburgh
Award Scheme access provider for the Worcestershire area.
This year, as the club celebrates its 25th year and with
recognition of grants, fundraising and hard work from the members
over the years the club is now proud to offer 'Try-a-Dives' &
"Try-a-Dive" gift vouchers, SCUBA training courses to anyone from
age 12 to adult and snorkel courses to anyone from age 8 to adult
with free training & free loan of equipment to all new members.
Utilizing the fully equipped dive R.I.B. and other equipment the
club continues to organize a full calendar of around 12 diving
venues throughout the UK and abroad each year; wherever
practicable these dive trips are family holidays, which help to
maintain the social atmosphere within the club.
Founder Members: -
Melvyn Ball, Werner Newman, Nigel Hill, George Tombs, Nigel Davies
Life Members: -
Kerry Elford, Mike Burley, Dave Lees, Paul Bartle, Paul Curtis,
Rob Parkes, Angie Bartle, Allan Noyes, John Carmichael
