Holborn Diving Records
Click any of the years below to see details of the dives carried out by Holborn members:
And some ancient records ...
We have records going back nearly to the beginning of the club. This is the earliest dive log we have in our archives:
Without the World Wide Web, marshals resorted to more traditional craft skills to make the records a little less boring:
Back in those days, when diving started, there was none of this namby-pamby swanning off to the Red Sea where you could actually see your hand in front of your face and read your gauges. That was Proper Diving back then, to proper sites like the 'Gasworks Rocks' off Shoreham seen in this illustration taken from a log in 1965:
And all for two shillings and sixpence a day parking (they had proper money too).
Men were men, and diving officers were Fierce and Officious. The DO of Holborn in the early 60s was named Tony Flood, who did not suffer fools and used the club records to say so:
29th August 1965: "Diver A and Diver B tend to wander off with lungs, to dive alone, Should be watched"
8th April 1966: "X needs to be watched. He is very unco-operative, does not do
as he is told. Panics very easily. In general he is very slow and selfish"
9th April 1966: "Low visibility dive. Sea rough, Viz about 6inches.
X will not fall into line. Diver C seems to think we are running pleasure cruises."
10th April 1966: "People still tend to turn up late at venue. Will have to tighten up."
11th April 1966: "Diver D! - People must learn to look after their own gear"
One can only speculate on what happened to the hapless X, the lazy Diver D, the undiciplined Divers A and B, and the insouciant Diver C, in their later lives after such a critique of their characters. They probably ended up as diving officers themselves.
One member of the club is still with us from those years: our President Mike Maloney.
First evidence of him bravely defending the club boat from barbarian members comes from tne Dive Committee minutes on 12th April 1967: "Mike Maloney reported the flag-pole from the large boat has been broken. Mike asked for skilled attention to 33hp outboard engine: the spark plugs need attention. Mike promoted a discussion on the care of engines, washing out, etc.". And on 8th August 1967:"Mr Maloney raised the point that a few people were being left to pack the equipment at the conlusion of dives"
He's still doing it to this day. Obviously we never learn.
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