ROYAL AIR FORCE SUB-AQUA ASSOCIATION SO3 Infra 2a, AIR SPP Infrastructure, Spitfire Block, RAF High Wycombe, BUCKS HP14 4UE Tel: (01494) 496088 Mil: 95221 Ext 6088 Fax: 01494 496433 Mil Fax: 95221 Ext 6433 Email: Joanna.chubb928@mod.uk AF/1036/79 See Distribution 15 Oct 09 MINUTES OF A RAF SUB-AQUA ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD AT RAF HALTON ON WED 14 OCT 09 Present Gp Capt R J C Powell Sqn Ldr J Davies Sqn Ldr P Maskell Sgt R Marshall Sgt A Murray Flt Lt J Chubb In attendance Sqn Ldr M Shuttleworth HQ 22 (Trg) Gp Diving Officer Expeds & Special Projects Officer Equipment Officer Training Officer Secretary Apologies Air Cdre P Colley Gp Capt (Retd) D Ray Sqn Ldr T Edge Sqn Ldr G Ellis Sqn Ldr K O Neill Sqn Ldr S Maskell Cpl M McCarthy President Vice-President Assistant Training Officer Treasurer Awards Officer Publicity and Webmaster Membership Officer ITEM 1 - RECORD OF LAST MEETING ACTION 1. The Minutes of the last meeting were accepted. ITEM 2 - MATTERS ARISING FROM LAST MEETING 2. Classification of Sub-Aqua as AT not Sport. The way diving is conducted should not be affected by its re classification as solely an AT activity. Personnel conducing RAF sub-aqua activities are classified as being on-duty while conducting AT; however, personnel carrying out sports, in general, are not. Sport activities receive no public funding whereas AT does. 3. RAFSAA AGM and Jt Services Sub-Aqua Diving Annual Conference. The RAFSAA AGM and Jt Services Sub-Aqua Diving Annual Conference would be held at RAF Halton from Sun 6 - Mon 7 Dec 09. All divers, irrespective of rank or experience are welcome and are encouraged to attend. The DIN and Proforma is copied at Enclosure 1. 4. Ascension Island - Future of Expedition Centre. The future of the Ascension Island Expedition Centre still remained uncertain. Contingency plans for the closure of the Ascension Island Expedition Centre were under investigation. ITEM 3 - CHAIRMAN'S REPORT 5. Civilian Club Members. A proposal to amend AP3342 regarding the eligibility of civilian members of RAF sub-aqua clubs to participate in open water diving activities, to ensure the long-term sustainability and viability of sub-aqua diving within the RAF and to simplify the authorisation of civilians to take part in RAF sub-aqua club diving would be sought. 1
6. Decision. The would write to HQ 22 (Trg) Gp to clarify the position on civilian membership in Service sub-aqua clubs and participation in minor Station UK-based expeds. Enclosure 2 gives further details. ITEM 4 - TREASURER'S REPORT 7. The Treasurer's Report is at Enclosure 3. 8. Despite RAFSAA being classified as an Adventurous Trg activity and not being recognised as a Sport the Sports Board continues to fund Sub Aqua as normal. However, Sub Aqua equipment should now be be publicly funded and therefore all equipment should be held on a Property Book owned by the Gym. This arrangement was agreed by the Sports Board earlier in the year. A potential issue of the PEdOs not having the funds to maintain and replace the equipment was highlighted. ITEM 5 - EQUIPMENT OFFR'S REPORT 9. Report. The equipment was in an excellent condition. The next working party to the island would be from 29 Nov 5 Dec 09. 10. Air Purity Testing. No further information regarding the new air purity policy had been published. The Superintendant of Diving s Diving Standards Officer (AT) (DSO(AT)), Mr Harrington, was aware of the situation. Exped OICs ITEM 6 - DIVING OFFR'S REPORT 11. Report. The Superintendant of Diving s Diving Standards Officer (AT) (DSO(AT)), Mr Harrington, had requested diving statistics from all Clubs. The DO would collate the consolidated RAFSAA return once the exact requirement had been determined. 12. Decision. The DO would coordinate the RAFSAA diving statistics for DSO(AT). DO ITEM 7 - PUBLICITY OFFR'S AND WEBMASTER S REPORT 13. Dive Magazine. The President would submit an article to Dive Magazine covering the Malta Exped in Oct 09. The article would contain information about the Exped, including how the exped included an element of FD trg, how it fulfilled the AT criteria, the dive sites that were visited, including the World War 2 aircraft wrecks as well as putting an emphasis on AT as a decompression activity. The chances of getting an article about the Expedition into Dive Magazine are now increased as an indirect link to influence the Editor has been established. 14. RAFSAA Internet and Intranet. The new RAFSAA Internet and Intranet site had not yet gone live. As RAFSAA was no longer a sport the RAFSAA website was not regarded as a high priority by the RAF Sports Board. The Padre at RAF Waddington had established a number of websites and has volunteered his services if the Committee is unsuccessful with the Sports Board. 15. Decision. The would liaise with Steve Parlor from the Sports Board regarding the website s priority listing. ITEM 8 - TRAINING OFFR'S REPORT President 16. Tri Service Instructor Training. Any Tri-Service instructor training needed to be advertised. 17. Decision. The would investigate the situation regarding Tri-Service instructor training. 18. ASI Advance Instructor (AI) and Open Water Instructor (OWI) - 2010. An AI and OWI course and exam will be taking place at Ascension in 2010. It had been suggested that it would be run as a general exped but including the BSAC NIs. Contact the Assistant Training Offr, Sqn Ldr Edge, for more details. His contact details were 95221 6059 or email tony.edge715@mod.uk. ITEM 9 - EXPEDITIONS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS OFFR'S REPORT 2
19. Report. The Expeds and Special Projects Offr produced a report, copied at Enclosure 4. 20. Ascension Island. Clubs were to be aware that despite being allocated an exped slot to the Island depending on the future of the Island the exped may not happen. A decision regarding the Island s future was expected in Apr 10. ITEM 10 - MEMBERSHIP OFFR'S REPORT 21. Report. The Membership Offr produced a report, copied at Enclosure 5. There was now a membership database for the following Stations: a. Akrotiri. b. Benson. c. Cottesmore. d. Cranwell. e. Halton. f. High Wycombe. g. Leuchars. h. Lossiemouth. i. Lyneham. j. Kinloss. k. Odiham. l. St Athan. 22. Clubs are to advise the Membership Offr of any changes and those Clubs outstanding their database information are to contact the Membership Offr. 23. Vote of Thanks. The committee thanked the Membership Offr for the hard work he had put in to get the Membership Database up and running. ITEM 11 - TECHICAL DIVING OFFR S REPORT 24. The Technical Diving Offr had nothing to report. ITEM 12 - AWARDS OFFR S REPORT 25. The Competitions post had been renamed to Awards Offr as diving, as an AT activity, should not be a competitive discipline. The Awards Offr has received entries for all of the categories apart from the Asi Conservation or PXR. The cut off date was 30 Sep 09 and the awards were to be judged by the RAFSAA committee on 6 Dec 09. 26. Clubs were to note that BSAC also had awards. More information was available at www.bsac.com a. The Heinke Trophy was the Club's premier award. It was awarded to the Branch judged to have done the most to further the interests of its members and of the Scathe Award for presentation in any given year will consider the Branch's achievements from 1 Jan to 31 Dec in the previous calendar year. b. Branch of the Year aims to recognise and reward our branches in terms of diving training and member recruitment throughout the year. The award was open to all BSAC branches 3
and was based on participating clubs diving, training, recruitment, instructor training and skill development activities from 1 Nov 08 31 Oct 09. 27. The Awards Offr was to liaise with the Treasurer to purchase something that the main prizewinners would retain after handing back their trophy. Financial approval was granted from the Committee members for up to 40 per prize. ITEM 13 - ANY OTHER BUSINESS 28. RAF sub-aqua t-shirts, approx 10, are available from Gilmour Sports, colin@gilmourscholwear.com. Interested Clubs and personnel were to contact Mr Colin Hill. 29. All sub-aqua exped information should be included in Station F540s. 30. Committee members were to prepare notes/slides for the Agenda for the AGM and were to send them to Sqn Ldr P Maskell by cop 23 Nov 09. 31. Election of RAFSAA Committee. At the AGM the current RAFSAA Committee Members would step down from their positions. An election would take place to vote new members on to the Committee. Anyone unable to attend the AGM but would like to be considered for a position was to send their justification and position choice to the Sec by cop 23 Nov 09. 32. The following ex-officio members will serve the Association for the following year: President: Air Cdre P Colley Vice-President Gp Capt (Retd) D Ray 33. The following positions would be voted for: Vice- Secretary Treasurer Diving Officer Expeditions and Special Projects Officer Training Officer Assistant Training Officer Equipment Officer Deputy Equipment Officer Membership Officer Technical Diving Officer Awards Officer Publicity Officer Medical Officer Website Manager ITEM 14 - ARRANGEMENTS FOR NEXT MEETING 34. The Sec would make arrangements for the next meeting to take place on Sun 6 Dec 09 at RAF Halton. Sec (original-copy signed) J CHUBB Flt Lt Sec 4
Enclosures: 1. Jt Services Sub-Aqua Diving Annual Conference DIN and Proforma. 2. Proposal to HQ 22 (Trg) Gp 3. Treasurer s Report. 4. Expeds and Special Projects Offr s Report including the Application Proforma for Overseas Expeds 10. 5. Membership Offr s Report. 6. RAFSAA Committee Contact Details. Distribution: RAFSAA Committee Members All RAFSAA Clubs HQ22 (Trg) Gp WO FD AT RM/RN SAC ( & Sec) ASADA ( & Sec) RAF Sports Board Flt Lt Parlor OC JSSADC, Fort Bovisand SoD DSO (AT) 5