DATELINE :- 4th July 2000
BIGGEST LOTTERY AWARD
Opening marks record sub-aqua Lottery grant
Bristol's Severnside Sub-Aqua Club held a party in May to celebrate the opening of its new clubhouse in the city's docks, made possible by a record National Lottery Sports Grant of £106,000.
The sum also stretched to a new 5.4m Tornado RIB with 90hp outboard, a compressor and ten full sets of training gear.
In awarding the money, the National Lottery Board was impressed by Severnside's policy of encouraging young people and the disabled to learn to dive, and the fact that club members committed their own time and skills to help convert the derelict stable block, dating to when horse-drawn wagons carried loads to and from docked ships. The site was leased to the BSAC branch for 25 years at a peppercorn rent by Bristol City Council.
"The asset is now valued at £150,000 and, if you take into account the skills and services of members provided free, the real value of what we have created probably totals some £200,000," said Tony Reed, Project Co-ordinator. The opening party, with entertainers and "unlimited beer", was attended by dignitaries including Bristol's mayor and the chairman of the British Sub-Aqua Club.