The National Diving & Activity Centre (C) Andy Purcell www.focusonwildlife.org.uk

E-Shot Issue 2 April 2006

Welcome to the second issue of the National Diving & Activity Centre E-Shot. A massive amount has been happening at the site over the last month and now the weather is getting a little better we're looking forward to seeing more of you in the water.

If you haven't been to visit us in the last few weeks hopefully this e-shot will get you up to speed with the latest developments on the site and some of our exciting plans for the future.

Easter
ndac
Extravaganza
for all the family
16 april 2006 5-8pm
The Easter Bunny is paying a visit to the National Diving & Activity Centre and he invites divers and families to participate in our very first Easter Egg hunt.

Whilst the divers are scouring our underwater world to find eggs there will also be an ‘above ground’ egg hunt for the kids. Also if you are lucky the Easter Bunny may invite you in for tea and cake!

There will also be the opportunity for children to display their artistic talents by designing their own Easter eggs with prizes for the events being presented at the end of the evening.

The price of the Easter Extravaganza is £10 for divers and £5 for visitors/children. However if you book in advance there is a 10% reduction on the entrance price.

To participate in our Easter activities, please email the centre on info@ndac.co.uk stating the names of any divers and the number of accompanying family members. Alternatively contact us via the website or phone the centre on 01291 630046.
For more information on the event please click here>.

We look forward to seeing you

In this Issue

The Easter Bunny has lost his eggs, can you help him find them?

Dive shop discounts for NDAC members

The future's bright, the future's...

New and improved site rules & regulations

RoSPA Membership

New Training Platforms and swim throughs

Make your entry and exit from the water faster and easier

Tired of carrying your heavy kit around? Let us help

Oops I forgot my fins

Look after your equipment and it’ll look after you

Stuck for Easter gift ideas?

shipping container

New Attractions Coming Soon . . .

Recent visitors may have noticed the arrival of three 40ft x 20ft Shipping Containers to the site.

After requests from our students to replace the old metal training platforms we currently have, these are going to be transformed into a new and exciting underwater training platform and swim through. more> 

 

Shop Discount for NDAC Members
As an Easter tradition, churchgoers were supposed to wear a bright new piece of clothing - at least an Easter bonnet, if not a complete new outfit.

bonnet
We're not suggesting that you wear a bonnet whilst diving, but to help you follow tradition why not buy some dive related clothing from our shop? As an Easter promotion we are offering all our members a 5% discount on all purchases made during April totaling £100 or over.

So why not pay us visit and treat yourself! We have a vast selection of equipment from some of the finest manufacturers in the UK and Europe, and on selected pieces of kit we'll let you try it out before you buy - how many shops can offer that service?

For details of what we offer at the NDAC Dive Shop click here

If you're not a member or your current membership has lapsed why not visit our membership page to find out the wide range of benefits. more>

Some of the many benefits of our membership scheme include:

 

membership card

 

 

An all new Annual Membership Card which allows you to drive onto the site without booking in. All you'll need to do is swipe in at the shop, meaning no more form filling whilst your membership is in date.

A reduced entry fee of £10.00, non members pay £14.00.

A discounted weekend rate of £18.00 for both days. (On production of your membership card).

On production of your membership card you will receive a 20% discount on your fills (Air Fills only). gas prices>

Free mail shots of forthcoming events that will give you discounts.

Free NDAC colour newsletter 'Up & Under'. more>

Up and Under

For full details of the membership package please visit our membership page more>

kit hire

Ooops I forgot my. . .
We’ve all done it, you travel for hours to your favorite dive destination only to realise that you’ve forgotten an essential bit of kit.

If you cannot blag from your buddies you’d be taking an early visit to the pub or you’d sit in the car all alone with a thermos of tea whilst everyone else has all the fun.

If this sounds a little familiar or if you simply don’t own a full set of kit yet, the team at NDAC now provide a kit hire service with pretty much everything you could want!

For prices and a list list of equipment please click here.

RoSPA

RoSPA Membership
The National Diving & Activity Centre is proud to announce its recently formed membership of The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, or RoSPA for short.

It is much more than just a new logo on our website - our membership and the use of the RoSPA logo demonstrates our commitment to health and safety for the site. more>

Facilities Building

The Future's Bright, the Future's . . . .

For the past 12 months we have been is discussions with numerous organisations are proud to announce that a master planning document and outline planning application has now been lodged with The Forest of Dean District Council Planning Department.

lodges

The plan is to develop an 122 Bed Hotel on site, numerous Diving Lodges and Bunkhouse Accommodations to provide users of the centre and visitors to the area somewhere to stay.

We also plan to develop a complete new and modern Facilities Building which will become the hub of the diving and activity centre.

 

We will be looking at bringing on the Facilities Building in the short term development of the site, which will include doubling the size of the shop, a shower block, classrooms, extended catering facilities and an upstairs viewing area overlooking the quarry. The image at the top of the article shows a view of the proposed facilities building.

This will be a very exciting time for the centre and the changes will make the site into one of the foremost inland diving centres in Europe, and certainly in the U.K. For further information about the site and our future plans please click here>

Dive Equipment Servicing

Equipment servicing

Regular servicing of your equipment is very important for safe and reliable performance and to ensure your expensive kit has a long life.

Regulators should be serviced at regular intervals depending on time and the amount of use they have.

Cylinders have test dates and are subject to regulations, if your cylinder is out of date or in poor condition most air fill stations will refuse to fill it.

To help our customers we are offering an onsite equipment servicing and repair service. For further details of the specific equipment servicing available at the centre and prices please visit our new servicing information page. more>

 

 

Rules and Regulations . . . . Yawn! Yes we know that they’re not the most exciting part of scuba diving but they’re extremely important nonetheless.

As you maybe aware, there are various pieces of legislation that place statutory duties on the owners of inland water dive sites. These are to provide for the safety and wellbeing of our visitors and employees.

After consultation with the Health & Safety Executive (Diving) (HSE), The Royal Society of Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the Diving Disease Research Centre (DDRC); and after following guidance from ACOP's and HSE publications on Diving at Work Acts, we have developed our own unique site rules & regulations that are specific to our centre.

The new site rules cover everything from air fills to the environment with pretty much everything else in between, so there is quite a lot of information to take in!

 

Sim Marriott

To make them a little more interesting Diver/ Illustrator Sim Marriott (as seen in Sport Diver Magazine) was roped in to provide an illustration which we could use on our rules and regulations boards.

To see the results check out the new boards that are scattered about the dive site, you can't miss them, they're massive!

To help you acquaint yourselves with the new information, we have worked hard to make the rules as clear, consice and accessible as possible. We have installed signage across the site at several key locations and published the rules on the website. If you would like a printed copy we have some available at the shop or please feel free to ask for a copy from a member of staff. To view the rules online please visit the rules and regulations page on our website. more>

Trolleys & Trailers

Your views are very important to us and we have received numerous e-mails from you letting us know how fantastic the kitting up mats and trolleys have been for you in the top car park and at the kitting up area. 

We have recently purchased two brand new hand portable vehicle trailers. Each is rubber lined and fitted with safety straps so when we are moving you and your kit from A to B we can do so without causing you any concern for your equipment. 

We've also purchased 20 brand new and bright yellow kitting-up trolleys, the trolleys are situated in the top car park and also on the pontoons, again to help make your dive a more pleasurable one.

If you have any further suggestions of improvements we can make to the site please feel free to drop us a mail at info@ndac.co.uk, your suggestions are always welcomed.

 

Take the
Plunge!
Prices from £25

Stuck for Easter gift ideas?

Learning to dive opens a gateway to a fascinating underwater world and The National Diving & Activity Centre 'Discover Scuba Diving' (DSD) experiences offer an ideal way for you to take the plunge - quite literally!

Our 'Take the Plunge' GiftCards are now available from as little as £25.00 and make the perfect gift for anyone who has ever considered trying Scuba diving. more>

GiftCard Our GiftCards can also be purchased from as little as £10 and given as a present that can be used throughout the site against dives, couses or items from our fully stocked dive shop. So why not take advantage and give someone a gift to remember.

To purchase a GiftCard please pop into the shop or contact the centre more>

New Spine Ladders

It seems that news travels fast and due to the significant extra numbers of divers that we've been experiencing this year we've purchased an extra 10 spine ladders to make your entry and exit from the water faster, easier and safer.

Three of the new ladders have already been secured to the shallow end of the pontoons making access to and from the water a much less crowded affair!


We have also invested in an extra pontoon that will also be fitted with one of our new spine ladders.  You won't be able to miss them as we’ve had them painted bright orange with yellow caps for you all to see.
 
For all our more advanced divers we have also installed two new spine ladders at the end of the 50m shot line on the pontoons.

We'll be cutting out all the old ladders and replacing them with spine ladders over the next few weeks so watch the website for further details.

The National Diving & Activity Centre | Tidenham Quarry | Chepstow | Gloucestershire | NP16 7LH
tel 01291 630046 | email info@ndac.co.uk | website www.ndac.co.uk

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