Bo'ness Sub Aqua Club members are all at sea

It's even harder still when you don't know where you're moving to and have equipment that needs specialist transport to shift it.

That scenario is exactly what’s facing members of Bo’ness Sub Aqua Club, whose three month rolling lease at the town’s recreation centre comes to an end on March 31.

While the centre will remain open for just over a month thereafter, committee members feel there’s little point doing so.

Headed up by chairman Donald Ralston, the committee and more than 40 members are currently working out their contingency plans.

They are still waiting to hear from Falkirk Council if they can use Denny or Grangemouth Swimming Pools for their weekly training sessions.

While neither of the pools are the three metre depth they currently enjoy at Bo’ness Recreation Centre, at a depth of two metres either would suffice.

However, that’s not the biggest headache facing the club at the moment – moving the gear it stores at the recreation centre and finding a new home for it is a huge concern.

Donald explained: “The recreation centre opened in 1976 and Bo’ness Sub Aqua Club was founded there just two years later.

“It has been our home for 46 years and a lot of our equipment is stored in the centre, which is a huge help.

“We’ve asked numerous people if there is capacity for us at Denny or Grangemouth but we feel like we’re getting stonewalled.

“Every time we ask someone, we’re told to refer our inquiries to the department at the council dealing with the centre’s closure.

“We’ve been on a three month rolling lease for the last ten years in Bo'ness and it’s due up on March 31; we don’t see any point in extending it for a month – it’s like putting an ashtray on a motorbike.

“However, we feel like we’re getting absolutely nowhere fast, which is why we’re busy working on worst case scenario plans just now.”

Those plans include moving the massive compressor the club stores in the centre’s basement, weighing in at over 350 kgs. In addition to a new home, it needs a three phase electricity supply to power it.

Donald said: “Alice Brodie, who is a master diver branch instructor with us, runs her own business in Linlithgow, AB Cylinders. We’re making inquiries just now with Scottish Power about a supply there – whether it’s doable depends if they quote thousands or tens of thousands.”

Specialist transport has already been sourced to move the compressor but it remains to be seen where it will end up.

Storing all the equipment the club uses for its try dives could also be a big issue, unless the club can find a new home willing to store it.

“It’s a logistical nightmare lugging it around as we’re talking about big, heavy gear,” said Donald. “The beauty of Bo’ness is that everything is there on site.”

Another major concern for the club is whether or not it will be able to continue with its youth programme.

An affiliate of the Scottish Sub Aqua Club, the Bo’ness group is one of the few in Scotland to have an active junior programme.

It currently trains teenagers aged from 14 upwards, with juniors travelling from Lanarkshire and Fife to attend Monday training sessions – as it’s the only club in a large geographical area to welcome them.

Without juniors, it is feared the club will also run out of oxygen and die.

Donald explained: “First and foremost, we need a pool that’s deep enough to train beginners. Without that, the club might survive for a while but we have 14 qualified dive instructors who will have no-one to train.

“You can’t train people in open water; current members would continue to dive in open water but the numbers will dwindle if we don’t have the juniors coming up the ranks.

“Our try dives are also a great way of giving youngsters and adults a chance to try scuba diving, without the expense of a full course.

“It only costs beginners a couple hundred pounds to learn with us and we provide the equipment, as it’s expensive gear. A PADI course would cost them much more.”

With more than 40 members, aged 14 to 79, it’s not the first time the club has faced tough times.

During Covid, those numbers dwindled to just 12 but, with support from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, it bounced back and is now in one of the strongest positions its ever been.

Members are supporting the Save Bo’ness Reccy Campaign in the hope they can save their home.

However, they’ve had little option but to prepare for the worst case scenario.

Donald added: “As it stands just now, we don’t have a pool for training and nowhere to house our gear.

“Lugging it around will be a logistical nightmare but without our try dives, which are priced at just £10, the club will eventually fold.

“We can't train beginners in open water and we won’t have a steady flow of new members joining the ranks.”