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WE COULD BE HEROES
LOUISE TREWAVAS
BRITISH DIVERS. THERE'S SOMETHING THRILLING about hearing those words spoken at the top of a news report.
It happens so rarely. And if it does happen, it's usually because somebody is lost or dead. When it comes to public image, British divers are portrayed as either grave-robbing wreck-plunderers or hapless victims in need of the emergency services. Max Clifford himself would have a challenge rehabilitating our image.
But that all changed, briefly, on 20 January, when a confused bottlenose whale swam up the Thames past the House of Commons, capturing the imagination of a "seen it all" city and the attention of a global TV audience. As public concern grew for the bewildered animal - Battersea Bridge really isn't the place to be hanging out - a group of people with specialist skills emerged to mount a rescue.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue - a great name for a mighty fine organisation. Chunky-looking men with an air of quiet authority; keen, capable girls in woolly hats and well-worn drysuits, all working as a team to rescue the stricken whale.
These are your 100% genuine British divers and every one would look as at home recovering a RIB at Breakwater. It isn't glamorous, nobody is spruced up for the camera or throwing a dramatic tantrum under the spotlight. It makes me feel so proud of them that I think my heart is going to burst inside my chest.
Twenty-five million people watched British divers - trained volunteers, who raise the money for their rescue equipment - giving their best efforts to care for, and free, a distressed whale. Justice!
You and I know that this image of compassion and voluntary effort is far more representative of British diving than the picture usually painted of us. Top job, BDMLR, you are the truly heroic figures within the diving community and worth your weight in gold.
Next time somebody shakes a collection bucket at us, I hope we'll remember BDMLR, because there are quite a few causes that are after the compassionate diver's cash.
So, let me see, should I give my money to an organisation that spends its time persuading students to take extended diving holidays somewhere exotic? Apparently, sending a group of twenty-somethings off to a tropical beach to squabble and shag is a great way to save the world!
No, it's not a spoof dreamt up in the pub, or a reality TV show (somebody missed a great revenue opportunity there) - this is what passes for "charity" in the British diving community.
Unless you're measuring achievement in discarded condoms, the impact of these schemes on the environment can probably best be described as questionable. But, hey, everybody's having fun.
Despite the interest and the extraordinary efforts made, the whale died. London isn't Hollywood - there is no guarantee of a happy ending here. On Sunday morning, people across the capital sitting in cafés and homes closed their newspapers with a sigh.
Perhaps it's silly and futile to get so worked up over one whale. Perhaps public attention is fickle and shallow. But perhaps it shows that, given the opportunity and a focus for action, people really do care about the fate of our marine life.
The cameras might have gone away but British divers and BDMLR are still going about their business. Another time, another day,
I know we'll be back to demonstrate that where there's a will, there's a (rescued) whale.
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