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The Manchester Diving Group

Dive Club (English)

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Company description Welcome to the Manchester Diving Group (MDG) one of the largest and - we like to think - BEST scuba diving clubs in the North West!
We are located in the leafy South Manchester suburb of Chorlton and are open twice a week: Mondays for Octopush (a sort of underwater hockey) and Fridays for Training and Socials. Most summer weekends are usually spent at the coast.
Formed in 1950 we currently have about 100 members within our ranks. The Manchester Diving Group has won national diving competitions and is affiliated to the internationally-recognised Sub-Aqua Association.
If you`re keen to take up diving, or are an existing diver seeking out a new club, why not spend a few minutes checking us out here on the web? C`mon, click one of the links to the left to see what we`ve got to offer. (especially the FREE Try-Dive offer! )
The history of the Manchester Diving Group can be traced back pretty much to the beginnings of Sport Diving as a leisure activity in this country. What follows is a (very) brief account of the club through all of its various guises.
After the end the end of the Second World War servicemen trained to dive by the military continued to pursue their interest in the sport in civilian life. Interest in the activity grew and dedicated diving clubs began to emerge. In 1950 the first incarnation of the MDG was set up. It was known as ``The Sunlight House Divers``, being named after the workplace of a couple of people who had been allowed to use its pool to conduct diver training. Two years later the name changed to the ``Manchester Tadpoles``, and whilst the origin of this name is not truly known it probably had something to do with those 1.5 cuft cylinders which had been nick-named ``tadpoles``. In 1955 the name changed yet again, this time to the one we still use, the ``Manchester Diving Group.`` A new training schedule was devised and this is pretty much the one still in use today, although there have been slight changes to the wording in recognition of new equipment and techniques.
As the club had been developing, diver related businesses had begun to appear. Oscar Gugen, a Frenchman ran one named Typhoon. He sought to form a national diving organisation, with its centre in London and in 1953 this led to the foundation of the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC). Obviously, their first branch was based down there but he had heard of the MDG which by now was quite large and paid a visit to enquire if we would like to join his organisation. There were members who preferred to remain independent and there were those who wanted to join so a vote was held and the club split. One club started in Oldham known as the BSAC no 2 branch, another was Blackpool (no 4) whilst Macclesfield took up the no 6 slot. Today the number of BSAC branches runs into hundreds.
MDG was often approached by other clubs that were starting up to supply an examining body for their instructors and for permission to use the MDC training schedule. This schedule was later used and printed in the first BSAC manuals.
The only affiliation the MDG had with BSAC was that it became a member of NORFED -The Northern Federation of Diving Clubs - during the 1960`s and 70`s. This organisation was mainly dominated by BSAC branches due to their being so many of them, but it was MDG`s name that was often found on the top of the trophies of NORFED`s annual sports diving competitions!
Over the years the club has gone from strength to strength. We have our own clubhouse, compressor, equipment stock and boat (there`s plenty of diving clubs that simply meet in a pub once a week). Due to the growing popularity of Sport Diving across the world the club joined the Sub Aqua Association (SAA) in 1997. This has allowed the MDG to retain its independent status and high training standards but has given individual members access to an internationally recognised diving certificate.
Location description: The independent MDG went from strength to strength, its fame spread throughout the land. As mentioned in the last issue we won several competitions. One of these, held in the lake district, involved finding a sunken treasure chest (you must have seen the scroll on the club wall). The prize of 100 guineas - a princely sum in those days - was put towards a compressor for the club. The sale of books of advance air tickets helped raise more funds and an old transportable 5cfm compressor purchased. This was `electrified` and installed in Davy Jones` locker, who was the Equipment Officer of the time (actually it was put in his cellar!). We had no clubhouse or storage for equipment back then.
We held meetings in a room over the Trevor Arms and later at the Bowling Green. Friday evening meetings after the baths were just the same as they are today, but Mondays were originally for lectures and, believe it or not, suit making! Yes, most people made their own wet suits in those days. The club bought rubber-sheet (single skin) in bulk and had a stock of several sized patterns. You just bought your sheet of rubber, cut out all the bits required and butt joined the seams with Eveostik, all under the guidance of older members. You then donned your suit and had a fitting. This involved chalking, slitting and resticking any bulging seams. When the fit was satisfactory, the seams were then reinforced with yellow tape. You have probably seen photos of old members in these `wasp` suits. I remember my first suit was not even `single skin` - it was just rubber, no nylon. These suits tore easily, and you had to put them on very carefully.
Equipment was generally pretty basic in those days. The club bottles were 25 or 40 cu. ft. capacity. The bottle most members bought was a 65. This meant you did not have to worry about decompression too often, but it did encourage bad habits: You used to savour each lung-full of air for as long as possible and overdoing this resulted in a splitting headache. I was a great exponent of this technique and managed to stay down longer than most people! If anyone was going to get a bend it was me, so I bought one of the first SOS Decompression Meters. This was non electric and worked using a membrane which was supposed to have the same permeability as body tissue. Trouble was, they soon fell to bits. Mine was held together with insulation tape but is still working and I used it right up to last year. I think it is quite accurate for single dives, but does not have a good enough memory to cope with the multiple dives we are doing in the North Sea.
So, were they really the good old days? Well, we`re warmer in our dry suits and Stab-Jackets make kitting up easier and quicker. But even with all this fancy gear available today you really can`t do any more than we could 30 years ago. It just makes you nesch!

Website: Preview http://www.manchesterdivinggroup.org.uk by Thumbshots.org http://www.manchesterdivinggroup.org.uk
One of the largest and most long-established diving clubs in the UK, open to novice and experienced divers alike.

Contact information:
Phone: 0161 881 9050
Street Address:

England
United Kingdom
Spoken language(s): English
Open: from 08-00 till 20-00
Local time:  Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) London, Edinbourg, Lisboa
Note: No guarantee is made to the accuracy of these details.

If you are a representative of The Manchester Diving Group , you may update your options or details in our scuba diving directory. Please use contact form or email us at info@divingfinder.com.


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