I too would like to add my thanks to Ian for his long involvement with the club and his organisation of some excellent trips. The last one to Anglesey was very enjoyable despite the weather. Edith & I and, I'm sure, other club members wish him well - and would be interested in joining any further trips that he may plan. He is quite correct in pointing out that the club does need more actual diving.

How about a club dip in stoney on the weekend of 3/4th Oct? I favour Saturday 3rd since Sunday is often a bit crowded.

I would like to add my personal thanks and those of the rest of the club to Ian Petchey, who has been with this club for many years. Ian has made a significant contribution to the club, with the website facility and the trips that he has organised. Ian has travelled considerably just to get to the meetings, being based in Rutland and I would like to express the appreciation of the whole club and wish him all the very best as he moves on.

The trip to Anglesey is now booked. If anyone else wants to come here’s an update. The boat is fully booked for the Saturday, there is still a chance of dropouts so I can put people on standby, alternatively there is plenty of shore diving to be done around the bay. There are plenty of spaces for Sunday; the diving is £40 for the day. Currently its just me, Paul & Edith and Rod that are diving.

Sorry for the delay on getting anything done with the Anglesey trip, I had a couple of family weddings pop up in August and have been trying to get stuff sorted out. But I have a weekend confirmed, 1st and 2nd August.

I am going to ring Aubrey this week and try and book some places, so if you want to come let me know so I can get an idea of numbers. I seem to remember it was about 15 quid per dive and the B&B prices in the area are pretty standard.

I may or may not be camping on the island (wife allowing) so I will be asking all people coming to arrange their own accommodation. I can provide a list of Ratae approved B&B’s...

The diving will NOT be challenging, this is a fun weekend on the beach with some diving thrown in, bring the family!!

Due to the weather conditions Hind Leys is closed and therfore the try dive is cancelled, which is a shame given the work Helen has put into advertising it.

New year, new hobby! Ratae Sub Aqua club offers the opportunity to get fit for summer and learn a new skill. The diving club has been running for twenty years at Hind Leys College Shepshed and will be running an Ocean Diver course starting with a Try-Dibe on the 5th February for approximately seven weeks. The course is for complete novices, the only requirement is that you are able to swim. The course is the first step on the way to becoming a qualified diver. Additional training is also available from the club from sports diving to instructor level qualifications. The club arranges organised dives to Stoney Cove, weekend trips around the British coastline and even trips further a field such as a holiday diving experience to the Red Sea.

The Ocean Diver course starts at 7.30 pm at Hind Leys College. It consists of a one hour lecture followed by a one hour practical session in the pool. For prices and further information please contact Martyn 07946703725 or Sarah 07899005974.

KEEP MONDAY 29th DECEMBER FREE FOR A DAYS FESTIVE DIVING AT STONEY COVE. MEMBERS TO MEET IN THE BOTTOM CAR PARK AT 10:00AM

I made the mistake on not putting the date on the last note re the AGM. Just for clarity it is this Thursday - the 4th December 2008 at 8.00pm at Hind Leys.

This years AGM is upon us already. It will be at Hind Leys Community college as usual and starts at 8.00pm.

Come along and give us your ideas to kick start the club for 2009.

I am looking to organise a trip to Anglesey in August 2009. Tides and my own personal schedule lead me to the choice of two weekends, 1st/2nd or the 29th/30th. I anyone is interested let me know which weekend you would prefer so that I can determine aproximate numbers and which weekend would be best. I will then give Aubrey a shout and see if we can get spaces on his boat. I will probably be stopping at the camp site but there are plenty of B&B\'s available for the less hardy. Reply to my scubaian@gmail.com account.

The trip is open to all comers, novice upwards. Provided enough instructors come..... I plan to be doing two rib dives a day out of Traedurr bay.

Sorry I will not be making the AGM, but can someone bring this up and pass on to those without email...

After an intensive 3 evening course the club has a further 4 qualified Nitrox divers accredited, as accredited by Area Coach, Steve Dunkley.

Congratulations to Martin Tongue, Paul Lucas, Grant Darby and Mark Hessey.

Please note that there will be no club night this Thursday.

Just a reminder:

Mark Hessey has organised a Nitorx course, open to all levels starting next Thursday 6th November at 7:30pm

Please let me know if you will be attending on 07946703725 or at yingtongue@hotmail.co.uk so that we can arrange the required resources.

If any of you have the Student Notes that were issued last time please bring them along.

Steve Dunkley - our area BSAC instructor is offering to run a Nitrox course starting on 6th November at 7.30. This is an ideal opportunity for people new to Nitrox, such as myself, or a refresher for those already accredited.

I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

We are taking the trainees in Stoney (some for the first time) on Sunday 12th October. Come along and join us and make a day out of it

Anyone wishing to come to the club Christmas dinner, which this year is at a noodle bar in Loughborough at 1930 on 6th Dec, £5 deposit to Sarah by 20th Nov please. Her number is 07899 005974.

we have two club/training dives coming up.

Wednesday 17th September 2008 at Stoney Cove & Sunday 21st September 2008, This is a good chance for trainees to finish any open water dives also Club members to get together and do some club diving.

In preparation for these could all club Members and Trainees please return all kit back to the club prior to these dates.

ALL,

The Ratae SAC will be back at Hind Leys 7:30pm on Thursday 4th September, in the classroom and then in the pool, after the summer break.

I hopr to see you all there

Martyn

All

I received this e-mail from Mark Berry.

Gents, I thought I would drop you a line as I am selling all my SCUBA equipment and thought you may know of some potential buyers.

I have everything a diver would need all in excellent condition.

Items include, Drysuit (Large) Oceanic HD400 + Otter under suit,

Apeks ATX 50 Regs with ATX 40 Octopus

Faber 12ltr dumpy cylinder

Mares Vector Pro BCD.

Fins, Computer, compass, gloves, booties, knife, torch + backup, pool fins, masks, snorkels, weightbelts + soft weights, Camera housing (sony cybershot), DSMB with large and finger reels.

Would split some items but clearly prefer to sell all together. Just listed items on ebay so may go anyway.

If you know of any interested persons, feel free to call me on 07533808716 to arrange a viewing, located in Shepshed.

Nothing wrong with gear, just not getting time to use it due to other commitments.

Thanks in advance, and enjoy your diving,

Mark.

Graham Brookes has organised a Farne Islands dive weekend on 20/21 September 2008 for members of Charnwood Saltz. However there are some spaces left so would like to open up the dive to members of your branch. They are diving off the 10 diver RIB 'Moby'. There are 2 Advanced Divers/CIs supervising, Graham and Leigh George. The cost of diving is £45 per day per person for 2 dives if 2 more divers join us and £40 if 4 divers join. Graham also has some accommodation available at St Ebbas House (Stan and Lee Hall's place) at £16 per person for a dormitory bedroom and £22.50 for a twin bedded room, both types with breakfast. Divers will need 2 cylinders each and should be at least Ocean Diver qualified. Divers should be suitable buddy pairs. We are not planning to dive deeper than 20m.

The following link takes you to the website for the accommodation that also includes directions and other useful information: www.farnedivingservices.co.uk. Details of the boat 'Moby' is on this link: www.nedivecharters.freeuk.com/.

Please give Graham a call if you require further information.

Graham Brookes

Markfield

0784 6060331

The Del-Mar branch (Leicestershire) will be hosting a fundraising event at Stoney Cove on 15th September. I’ve been asked by the Del-Mar Chair (Neil Holden) to publicise this very worthwhile occasion around the region. Tickets for this event are priced at £5, with all proceeds going to the RNLI

For further Information and to buy tickets, please contact

Neil Holden: 0777 1971211 or n.holden@ntlworld.com

Next Wednesday (16th) is a evening dive date at Stoney. Rod suggests we get down there as a club and do some diving!

We decided, on the basis of Fridays BBC weather forcast, to go to Criccieth N Wales. Weather was pretty good - better than forcast - no rain, hardly any wind and the sea like a millpond but, due to an algal bloom (often a problem in June), it was a bit murkey on Saturday. It'd cleared by Sunday & 2nd dive was excellent. Criccieth makes a great shore dive with a large area and plenty of life but it has to be done close to high tide to get any depth.

All in all, a great weekend. Beats visiting the mother-in-law. Will repeat asap. Cheers

All, As planned, Edith, I and, possibly, no 2 daughter are heading for the sea for some camping/shore diving this weekend. After considering weather etc, Torbay area looks best (no rain til Monday & light breeze from the West, high tide about 5pm). Babbacombe, Meadfoot, Brixham & Hall Sands should be good. We'll use the 'Dornafield' campsite as was intended for the May bank holiday weekend. Anyone wishing to come along is more than welcome. Give me a ring on 07796845380.

A big THANK YOU to all those who helped out on Sunday. We were overwhelmed by the numbers that turned up to have a go and had to carry on way beyond our alloted time to cater for them all. There were nine people still waiting at 5 o'clock (finish time).

Has anyone any idea of how many we took in?

Once again THANK YOU to Rachel, Sarah (on the side) and Edith (both in and out of the water!!!)sorting people out in an orderly fashion. To Alex who came from Grantham with the kit and ran himself ragged sorting kit to suit the varying sizes that turned up. To Carol, Paul, David, Rod and Chris in the water.

I believe all (well most) of those that gave it a go enjoyed themselves

Thanks

All, Edith & I are hoping to do a camping/diving (probably mainly shore diving) weekend 14/15th June weather permitting. This will either be to Weymouth, South Devon, North Wales or the N. East coast - depends on the weather, particularly the wind speed & direction. If it's bad everywhere we wont go. We wont make the final decision til the Thursday. Last minute booking of camping (or other) accomodation should be no problem at this time.

Anyone wishing to join us is more than welcome. email me if you are interested on p.d.lucas@lboro.ac.uk.

Cheers

All, dont forget that its next Sunday 3-5pm when we have this. We need as many instructors and helpers as possible. Could people email me on p.d.lucas@lboro.ac.uk to confirm it if they can come.

Thanks

The down south, camping and shore diving trip this weekend turned into a - north Wales, small boat, shore diving and camping trip.

With the weather down south looking poor for this weekend a quick swap around was done and a few frantic telephone calls later we were booked into a campsite near Porthmadog. We luckily also managed to fill up the last four spaces on Aubrey's rib out of Traeardurr Bay on Saturday. Viz was poor, but fun was still had by all.

The intrepid Paul and Edith were however unable to persuade me to trek my kit down the beach at Criccieth today, they did take Rachel in. They tell me they saw Dolphins, a Basking Shark and a number of Mermaids. I am not sure I believe them.

It did look good though.

This will take place again this year on Sunday 8th June. The slot that we have is 3 - 5pm. We never know how many customers we'll get but I'm sure that we'll need as many instructors/ helpers as possible. Could you let me know if you are able to make it?

Thanks

Rod is organising a shore diving/camping trip on the weekend of the 23rd of May down south.

If you wish to go then please go ahead and book the camping yourself and let Rod know your intentions. The campsite is called Dornafield, Google it for reservations.

The site is near Newton Abbott and it gives easy access to site near Torbay amongst which Babbacombe, Meadfoot and Maidencombe all feature. Rod can confirm the ease of access and quality of diving.

This is a great opportunity for those that have yet to do a sea dive to get wet.........

MARY AND MYSELF ARE CELEBRATING OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY ON SATURDAY MARCH 1ST,WE ARE GOING OUT FOR A COUPLE OF DRINKS AND THEN THE CURRY HOUSE,LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO COME ALONG,ITS ALSO MY BIRTHDAY,ALL WELCOME

THE TRIP TO MEVA IS NEARLY FULL,ONLY 2 PLACES LEFT,IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP AS I NEED TO GET THE DEPOSIT TO SAL,NON DIVERS ARE WELCOME.

Don\'t forget!!! There will be a QUARTERLY MEETING to be held at Hind Leys Community College on FEBRUARY 28th 2008, commencing 8:00pm.

This is your club, come along and have your say

Don't forget!!! There will be a QUARTERLY MEETING to be held at Hind Leys Community College on FEBRUARY 28th 2008, commencing 8:00pm.

This is your club, come along and have your say

There will be a QUARTERLY MEETING to be held at Hind Leys Community College on FEBRUARY 28th 2008, commencing 8:00pm.

This is your club, come along and have your say

anyone interested in a weekend in meva give me a call,travel down on friday 25th april,shore dive when we arrive,2 dives on saturday and 2 on sunday,cost to be confirmed,dont miss this it will be a great weekend.

anyone interested in a weekend in meva give me a call,travel down on friday 25th april,shore dive when we arrive,2 dives on saturday and 2 on sunday,cost to be confirmed,dont miss this it will be a great weekend.

Always wanted to try SCUBA DIVING or do you have any family, friends, work colleagues or anyone else who want to have a go at SCUBA Diving then January 17th 2008 is the date for their diary. If you know of anyone interested then please contact Carol Johnson on 07971 417047 or e-mail her at carolj@thomas.co.uk

Start time is 19:30 at Hind Leys Community College in the classroom

Put Friday 28th December in your diary for the Christmas Dive at Stoney Cove. Be there for 10:00am

We normally get a good turn out for this let\'s make it even better this year

Put Friday 28th December in your diary for the Christmas Dive at Stoney Cove. Be there for 10:00am

We normally get a good turn out for this let's make it even better this year

There's a man selling all of his diving kit on ebay - http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmetalman1923 - I'm sure there is something on there that everyone wants! He's got recreational through to technical if thats appealing.

He is also selling a 5.3m RIB and a 35 hr old compressor worth £3,000 and £1,100 respectively - if there are any members of the club who are interested! Would definately be a wise investment!