Millenium Dive Club


“It’s hard to put into words, the feeling of freedom swimming in exciting and fascinating environments such as the Red Sea, without the constraints of a wheelchair holding you back.”

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The new Millennium saw the birth of a new and exciting venture for BEWSA and its members - The Millennium Dive. This was set up by Nick and Stef Harrington in 1999, to allow all disabled ex-service men and women to learn the art of Scuba diving. There is opportunity to adapt and increase your diving qualifications. This is a first for any Charity whose aim is the rehabilitation through sports, well being and welfare of disabled ex-service personnel. The diving is run with the support of the Defence Diving School, HMS Excellent and the Sub Aqua Club of RAF Cosford, and is itself a registered British Sub Aqua Club (BEWSA Millennium Dive BSAC 2000).
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Millenium Dive Training


“It seems to me that the BEWSA Team will be willing and able to get you diving, regardless not only of the extent of your physical limitations but also irrespective of your experience (or lack of) underwater. Make no mistake - there will be challenges. You will be taken out of your comfort zone. But safety is - and will always be - the number one priority. Is it worth it? That’s a question best left until you complete your first dive in the beautiful, warm, crystal clear waters off the coast of Eygpt. Go for it!”

We are a British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) branch but we run either BSAC, Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) or Disabled Divers International (DDI) courses as needed, dependent on the level of disability that the member has. We aim to teach people, rather than just running courses, so quiet often the training is carried out on a one to one basis. Usually we run PADI courses as these are the most internationally recognised. Starting at the Open Water qualification, it is possible to carry on training and learning right up to Dive Master, but dependent on the members level of disability, we can follow different courses run by DDI or BSAC that are better suited.

PADI Open Water Training

The training involves a series of 5 classroom lessons (as well as home study) on diving theory and a series of Confined (in a pool) and Open Water (In the sea) dives. Confined water training takes place either in the pool at RAF Cosford or Ocean View Diving Services in Lancing, West Sussex. We tend to do this training during the regular training weekends at RAF Cosford, but can run extra days as needed in the week at Ocean View. Open water training takes place at the Defence Diving School on Horsea Island or Vobster Quay in Somerset and is organised to suit the student and on our Bi-Annual Expeditions to the Red Sea.
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We are now diving at Vobster Quay!


Vobster Quay, near Frome in Somerset is a large inland diving centre. Covering 36 acres of fresh water, with a maximum depth of 40 meters, it will allow us to improve and hone our skills. The management there have kindly donated 4 memberships to the club, which enables us to reduced rates on entry, air fill and food. THANK YOU Vobster. We tried it out on the weekend of 16/17 June 2012, Andy Phillips finished off his dry suit course. Everyone had a great time and we are planning to go back in numbers in July, Watch this space.
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Stef all kitted up and ready to go deep... well 5 meters!
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Pre dive checks before final Dry Suit dive and qualification
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24 meters down and only 7C, but feeling great.
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Mick doing some advertising for us!