Policies & Procedures

As ratified by the Committee on 15th February 2016

A number of operating rules have been agreed by the Committee over the years. These have been summarised below:

Age Limits

Members should be over 16 years old, unless one of their parents/guardians agrees to accompany them into the water for training sessions/trips when the minimum age is 14. The club supports its instructors in exercising their right not to train children.

The club reserves the right to approve club members, who are instructors and wish to train their own children, and are prepared to take full responsibility for this training, to do so, within the auspices of the club, to the minimum age permitted by BSAC (currently 12 years)

There is no upper age limit.

Try Dives

• Minimum age of 16 years old, unless accompanied by a parent/guardian as explained in the previous paragraph
• If under 18 years old, the try dive disclosure must be signed by a parent or guardian
• Cost will be offset against membership fee if the participant joins
• For group bookings such as Venture Scouts, the club will reduce the fee as detailed here
• A group leader (for a group such as the Venture Scouts) may act in lieu of a parent or guardian to accompany try divers
• The group leader will be responsible for obtaining parental/guardians permission for the try dive

Trips

The logistical and financial aspects of a trip are the responsibility of the organiser, but the Diving Officer retains overall responsibility for diving safety.

• All trips should be publicised at club meetings
• Whilst guests are welcome on club trips, club members must be "first refusal" to join the trip
• The club does not subsidise trips or handle cash on behalf of the organiser
• If someone books on a trip & then is unable to attend they should inform the organiser ASAP. It is accepted custom & practice that they should either find a substitute, or pay for their share of the accommodation/boat charter, to avoid the organiser or other trip members incurring additional cost

Equipment Hire

• No charge when being used for training, either in the pool or open water
• A nominal charge will be made to cover maintenance costs when used for normal diving
• The current charges can be found here

Membership Classes

• Honorary life member - This is a rarely awarded accolade given to a member who has provided exceptional services to the club - fees nil
• Ordinary diving member - full fees
• Family member - This is the child of an ordinary diving member who is either under 16yrs old or in full time education - fees 50%
• Distance member - These are members who reside such a distance from the club that it is impractical for them to attend on a regular basis - fees 50%
• Social/Swimming member - fees 50%

NB: anyone undertaking training will be required to reimburse the club for any training packs/manuals required for the course.

Instructor Training

The club will reimburse those who successfully complete instructor training course for 50% of the fees, providing they intend to remain with the club for a minimum of 12 months and to participate in the training of other members

Club Boat

• The club RIB must be under the control of a qualified boat handler when in use
• The boat charge can be found here
• The trip organiser will also recover the cost of the fuel (including oil) from those attending the trip and the cost of transporting the RIB
• The person towing the RIB may claim the additional fuel costs; caused by towing, for the journey to & from the dive site. This cost will be shared between all of the RIB users