A History of the Club

Our club began in October 1972 when a group of divers and would-be divers approached Bill Orr, manager of Kirkintilloch swimming pool, and asked for use of the pool for training purposes. Permission was given and Thistle Free Divers, an independent club, was born. It quickly flourished and grew to a membership of around forty within three years but as an independent club members realised their horizons were limited unless they joined one or other of the national organisations. Presentations were made by both SSAC and BSAC and largely due to the influence of Phil Rodgers, the then Scottish coach we became branch number 783 of BSAC early in 1976.

Nice kit!	John's Car?	Kirkintilloch Thistle do their civic duty and clean up Strathkelvin

As our training had always been largely based on BSAC practices several members quickly gained advanced diving grades and instructor qualifications. Indeed Gordon Fyfe became the first home based Scot to become a National Instructor. Our branch was very quick to become involved in courses and events throughout Scotland and we were very strongly represented at the legendary Perth SCOTFED conferences of 1976 and 1978. Many courses such as Instructor Training Courses were dominated by Thistle members with Gordon Fyfe and Ian Campbell involved as instructors. We also had strong representation at all the Diving Officers Conferences from the mid 70's an played host to a number of other coaching events and courses. Gordon Fyfe became Diving Officer of SCOTFED and later for a spell was Scottish National coach until the post was eventually split into North and South Scotland areas. The SCOTFED conferences of 1980 and 1983 were largely run by Thistle members.

A try dive in 1981

From the earliest days Thistle divers were known for their adventurous approach with diving largely being carried out in West and East of Scotland coastal waters. The earliest known expedition was in 1975 to Islay to seek out remains of a rumoured Armada wreck. That they were unsuccessful was perhaps partly due to its extremely doubtful existence. Another notable success was participation in the raising of the steam yacht Gitana from the depths of Loch Rannoch, at that time the largest vessel ever lifted by amateur divers. We were also amongst the first to dive many of the Clyde Wrecks which were being discovered in the late 70's and early 80's, notably the Wallachia.

Spot John's boat in 1979

The adventourous approach exteneded to the local gala days

Holiday snaps from Gozo 1990

Our first real dive boat was an AVON S550 inflatable with Evinrude 35hp acquired in 1975, at that time considered state of the art. Later we added a Chinook semi-rigid inflatable. The first privately owned RIB to be used for diving in Scotland was bought by a Thistle member and used with the other club boat on some of the very first of the BSAC boat handling courses in which we were heavily involved in setting up. We later had a HUMBER Attaque RIB and our current boat is a 6.25m Osprey Viper with a 175hp Mariner.

Throughout the 80's and beyond our branch has continued to be at the forefront of the diving scene in Scotland. Inevitably, as with all clubs, members come and go but we have always maintained a healthy membership with continued participation in all sorts of events. Member Sean Gribben became our second National Instructor and was also for a spell South Scotland Area Coach. We also have had several other members gain First Class diver qualification including Grant Wright, who is currently strongly involved in the BSAC Coaching Scheme.

A fine display of healthy members

Due to the closure of Kirkintilloch pool in 1996 we are now based in Kilsyth pool, but have retained the name although links with Kirkintilloch are now rather tenuous, membership being drawn from a fairly wide area of Central Scotland. We have now been in existence for just over thirty years and been a BSAC branch for over 25 years so can claim to be one of the oldest branches and hopefully will be around for a while yet.

John Ferguson