An appeal for financial assistance has gone out for what is claimed to be the only UK dive-centre offering community scuba clubs and water-skills classes to both children and adults with disabilities.
Viewpoint Diving in Cornwall is an SSI dive-centre that also offers PADI standard and speciality courses. Claire Jones, co-director of a Truro-based PR company, joined Viewpoint as director and assistant instructor last year, and says that she and the team have been working to set up and run regular clubs for people of all ages in the St Austell and Truro areas.
“It’s going so well it’s unreal,” she says. “We have had neurodiverse children totally come out of their shell and go from zero to hero using scuba as their medium for better mental health. It also has a positive effect on the wider family.

“We have a host of fantastic instructors qualified in disability access requirements, and also volunteers who have progressed with us to pro level to assist.”
At present Viewpoint runs a pool group for children from the age of eight on one weekday evening and a main scuba club at weekends for everyone from qualified youngsters up to senior citizens.

Both clubs are run at cost, says Jones, with both professionals and recreational divers volunteering their time. They have set up exercises and lessons covering aspects such as blind diving, cave-diving scenarios, reef protection and snorkelling experience sessions, “all aimed at giving a child or adult the opportunity to build confidence in our waters and seas.
“We participate in Dive Against Debris, teach marine ecology and work towards a better and cleaner marine environment,” says Jones.

To enable the clubs to expand, Viewpoint has been crowdfunding since November in the hope of raising £8,000. The bulk of this would go towards providing a new air compressor. “Since ours has broken, we have struggled with filling the odd cylinder ready for work, and end up doing a 24-mile round trip to get them filled,” says Jones.
The donations would also pay for a small number of additional cylinders, BCs, slates and fish ID cards, she says – as well as covering pool fees and the flexibility to provide concessional memberships for lower-income families. The fund initially raised £1,645 but has gone quiet in recent weeks.
“Our qualified pro divers and disabled volunteers are ready to go,” says Jones. “Anyone can scuba, and we would like to provide the place for them to learn.” The GoFundMe page can be found here.
Also on Divernet: How scuba skills boost Paralympians, Diving blind: How Jess Pita experiences the underwater world, 4 scuba divers who swear by adaptive teaching, Adaptive teaching for scuba diving
Seems like more of a use charity to fund a new compressor for the dive school attempt
I do the same thing in Norfolk!!!!!