British Sub Aqua Club - Warrington Branch: A brief history

In the autumn of 1972 a group of civilian workers and American servicemen based at Burtonwood air base, got together to form a Sub-Aqua Club. With the help of instructors from the diving club at Chorley, they learned to dive and established a branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club based at Warrington baths. The new club was publicised in the local newspaper, the Warrington Guardian, and membership was opened to the general public. The first applicant in January 1973 was Peter Holbrook. The early days of the club are fondly mentioned as an adventure. Peter recalls that the club did not have the use of a boat, and therefore a great deal of hiking and clambering down cliffs was involved before the diving could even begin. Everyone wished to emulate Jacques Cousteau in those days and we all made our own wet suits with yellow tape on the seams, just like our hero. Over the years membership grew and we acquired our first boat, which enabled us to dive offshore for the first time. Memories include explorations of our first relatively intact shipwrecks, and the wonderful feeling of hovering weightless over huge propellers or anchors. By the early 1980's, the club had begun to organise expeditions to other parts of the country, other than the usual weekend haunts of Anglesey. Trips to Pembroke, Scotland and Devon brought with them greater excitement, bigger wrecks and deeper dives. In the early days, with primitive equipment and smaller air supplies, a dive to 100 feet was considered to be a great achievement. Today, with diving computers, larger air cylinders and more efficient dry suits, dives between 80-120 feet are common, whilst dives to in excess of 150 feet are not unusual for experienced divers. However, primitive equipment did not prevent ambitious diving projects including dives under thick ice in North Wales quarries, although thin wet suits certainly involved more shivering than their modern day thermally efficient counterparts. The Warrington Branch continued to grow and now owns a range of equipment for training plus two rigid hull inflatable boats with full electronic aids and safety features. The expertise within the Club has also increased, with many nationally recognised instructors and a hard core of experienced divers, many of who are veterans of more than 1000 dives each. The Club has adapted with the needs of its members and prospective members, and now offers training to a variety of skill levels, plus "Introduction to Scuba" courses for persons wishing to sample the sport without obligation. Nowadays, in addition to weekend trips to Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula, there are expeditions and trips on "live aboard" diving vessels to the South coast, Farne Islands on the East Coast, Western Isles of Scotland, Orkneys and Shetlands, plus more exotic trips to the Red Sea and Norway. Peter Holbrook December, 2001