Divers’ Night to mark sub aqua club milestone

 

THE Burren Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) celebrates 20 years in existence later this month. The sports club developed a volunteer search and recovery operation since then and has grown from about a dozen members in 1992 to in the region of 30 now.

When the club started, it was to cater for people living in the North Clare area. Now its members hail from across the county, from Mountshannon to Kilrush and from Shannon to Kinvara.

In the last 20 years, BSAC has trained over 200 people in snorkelling, scuba diving, rescue diving, CPR, boat handling and search and recovery techniques. While primarily a sports club, BSAC also includes an active search and recovery unit, with members trained to support the local authorities when needed.

“It has expanded in that we are doing quite a few different things now. In addition to the search and recovery and boat handling we are also involved in Sea Search, which is trying to log a little bit of what is down at the bottom of the sea and try to list all the various animals and plants we come across when we are diving,” explained Tadhg O’Brien, chairman of the club.

In recent years the club’s involvement in search and recovery has grown significantly. It has been involved in approximately 20 searches in the last five or six years since it has had a group in the club that has been trained in this area.

During the 1990s, BSAC ran a series of traditional concerts in Ennistymon and Liscannor as fundraisers. They starred artists such as Martin Hayes, Miko Russell, Tommy Peoples, Matt Molloy, PJ Crotty and Begley and Cooney and became known as Divers’ Nights.

On October 28, to celebrate the BSAC’s 20th birthday, the RNLI and BSAC are jointly holding the last ever Divers’ Night at the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point.

It will star the Céilí Bandits, Tim Dennehy, Edel Fox and Neill Byrne and special guest and former member, Matt Molloy.

“We used to hold these just for ourselves in the past but as this is our 20th party, we thought we would share with an organisation that has been doing great work. You could also look at it as enlightened self-interest. Hopefully we won’t but some day we might need the RNLI ourselves, as well as other organisations that are involved in search and rescue,” Tadhg explained.

The Burren Sub Aqua Club is also hosting an open night at the Oakwood Arms Hotel, Shannon next Wednesday at 7pm and a Try-a-Dive at Shannon pool at 8pm. Anyone over 16 who can swim is welcome.

“It is free to come along to the open night and the try-a-dive. There is no commitment, you can come along and see if you like the sensation of being under the water.

“It is a little introduction to the variety of activities that we do. We train in the pool over the autumn and winter period. From spring to the beginning of winter, we go out at least once a week and in the summer time at least twice a week, usually on a Sunday and a Wednesday,” Tadhg outlined.