Could this be you?

At the club AGM, we failed to fill the position of Publicity Officer for 2008. Kirk, who has done a great job of organising the GLUG Pride stall for the last 2 years (maybe 3? I can’t remember!), has had to step down, due to other (very worthwhile!) commitments.

If there are any GLUG members who would like to volunteer for the post for 2008, please let myself or Chris know.

What does it involve?
The main task for the Publicity officer is organising the GLUG Stall for the Pride Events. Although as yet we haven’t agreed which Pride events we’ll be going to this year, we regularly go to London Pride and Brighton Pride, and have been to Cardiff Pride in the past. Your task will be to liaise with the Pride organisers (Wilde Ones for London and Brighton Prides), to reserve a stall; and to organise club volunteers to man the stall on the day. It’s not a huge amount of work, but it can be frustrating at times, since the Pride Committees rarely agree on what their fees will be for community groups until a few weeks before the event.

The second task is to handle any email queries which we receive through the website form titled “Press/Advertising enquiry”. We occasionally get emails from organisations such as the Pink Paper, Attitude, GaydarRadio etc. It’ll be your job to respond to these, or bring them to the committee’s attention as appropriate.

Finally, if you want to be a little more proactive, then you could think up ideas which would help publicise the club and increase our membership - e.g emailing Gay or Dive publications to promote GLUG events.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Club membership runs from January to January, so that means that subscriptions are now due for most members (there are a few who have already paid for next year).

At the last AGM, it was agreed that the club would require all members to pay their subscriptions by Standing Order from now on. This means that instead of sending a cheque with your membership form, you will need to fill out the Standing Order Mandate that’s included in the file, and send that with your form instead. The club will record your details, and send the Standing Order mandate on to your bank. (NB: Please don’t send the Standing Order form direct to your bank - we need to see it first!)

It also means that next January, and each following year, the club will automatically be paid the £10 membership fee, and will renew your membership. This means less work for the Membership Secretary, and less work for club members in the long run.

If at any point you decide to terminate your membership, you just need to contact your Bank to cancel the Standing Order (although we’d appreciate it if you could let our Membership Secretary know you’ve done so). Your membership will then continue to run until the end of the year, but will not be renewed.

So, if you haven’t already paid for next year, please download the 2008 Membership Application Pack, print, and fill out both forms, and send them to the Address on the form.  If you can’t open the file, then you need to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Note: When filling in the date of the initial payment on the Standing Order Mandate, please leave two to three weeks from the date that you post them to GLUG, to allow time for the form to get to us, and from us to your bank.

If you are unsure whether you are already paid up for 2008, or you have any questions about the Standing Order process, please contact Allan - either via the link on the GLUG Contacts page (if you’re logged in), or by using the Contact Form page.

Fellow divers,
I couldn’t be at the AGM - again - due to work commitments. I understand that we have lost member(s) because of an argument about whether or not there should be information about carbon offsets on the GLUG website.

We are NOT a political organisation - it is foolish in the extreme to lose members over such an issue.

I thought we had a process that says that any links to other organisations from the GLUG website would be posted only if those organisations gave some form of support or benefit to GLUG.

I was unaware that this issue was to be raised at the AGM - I didn’t receive an agenda for the meeting, but I would like to make it clear to all members that as a Committee member I would have voted against the inclusion of such links and editorial on the GLUG website.

I would urge anyone who feels it necessary to leave GLUG to reconsider their decision - please stay and lets have a full discussion on this issue. I’d move for a postal ballot of all members on this issue - we have many members who could not get to the AGM to have their votes counted.

The Ethics and Carbon Offsets pages were added to the website earlier in the year. After much debate it was agreed that they would remain on the site provisionally, up until the AGM.
The Ethics Page was intended as a resource for those of our members already interested in the topics it covers. However, some of our members feel that it constitutes an unacceptable level of politicisation and questions have been raised as to its relevance.

The decision as to whether or not these pages will become a permanent feature of the site will be taken at this weekend’s AGM.
With this in mind, please take a few minutes to read through the pages and explore some of the sites to which they are linked (the three Marine Conservation Society codes are of particular interest). If you are unable to come to the AGM but would like your opinion to be taken into consideration, then please leave a comment on the main Ethics page.
The final decision will revolve around whether these pages appear on the site as they are, in some altered form, or not at all. If, for instance, you feel that the topic of Marine Conservation is relevant to GLUG, but that information about Gay Rights is not, then please feel free to make the distinction.

This Saturday (December 1st) is World Aids Day. I’m sure that many of you will have read reports in the press that the UK is the only country in Europe where the infection rate is increasing. Last year alone there were 7,800 new cases in the UK.

I know that we have HIV+ members within GLUG, so let’s show our support for them, and for the 33.2 million other people worldwide living with HIV, by wearing a Red Ribbon to the AGM and Xmas Meal on Saturday.

Neil.

Please note that we will not  be having a monthly meeting on Tuesday 4th December, since it comes so close to the AGM on 1st December.

Also, the first Tuesday in January is New Year’s Day, and so January’s monthly meeting will be a week later, on 8th January.

Thanks everyone for your e-mails and comments. It was a difficult task to come up with the final date and I do apologise to all of you who this date is not suitable for but I’ve been trying to satisfy a majority, fit the AGM date and ensure that we receive the best service from the Tenerife Dive.

Therefore, we are going to Tenerife on Sunday the 2nd of December 2007. 

The cost of the accommodation (shared self-catering 1 or 2 bed appartments), diving (12 dives off RIB) and transfers is about £250. Additional costs are flights, food and drinks.

In order to secure your place on the trip you have to book your return flight to Tenerife South (aka Tenerife Sur/ Reina Sofia) to arrive there at latest about 7pm on Sunday the 2nd of December, flying back in the afternoon on the 9th of December and e-mail me your flight confirmation.

If you would like to come on this trip can you please go to Events Page and register your interest there to give me an indication how many people may come. If you need any more information please feel free to e-mail me by clicking on the envelope on the top of this post or call me on one of the numbers you can find on the Events Page.

Please visit Trip Reports and Gallery on this website or go to www.tenerifedive.com for information and pictures about the diving centre, diving sites and our previous trips. There are also PADI diving courses available OW, AOW and Specialities.

I look forward to diving Tenerife again and meeting some new Glug members.

I have contacted the Tenerife Dive and they suggested that it would be better if we can avoid the dates from 21-30 November as they have the instructor training and it will be very busy there. As we have no dates fixed yet, I suggest the 1-8 of December. However, we will most likely miss the AGM.

The cost of diving, self-catering accommodation and transfers will be about £260. Kit hire costs 3 Euros per dive. You will be responsible for booking your flight and emailing me your flight confirmation, which will secure your place on the trip.

Please e-mail me or leave a comment about the dates.

Showing an uncharacteristic degree of forward planning, the subject of the Xmas Meal and AGM was raised at this month’s club meeting.

It was agreed that we should return to Strada at St Pauls again this year for the Xmas Meal. The AGM will, as usual, be held beforehand, at a venue yet to be determined, and we’ll move on to the Restaurant in the evening.

The date has also yet to be agreed - and that’s where you come in. On the GLUG website, you’ll find a new Poll in the Right hand column. Please log in to the website, using your Username and Password - you’ll then be able to vote in the Poll. You can choose from the first 3 Saturdays in December - and if you can make all three, then you can vote for all three! However, if you have a preference, then please vote for the one or two dates that you prefer.

Once you’ve voted, you’ll be able to see the current results.

Note: If you can’t remember your username & password, your username is quite often your first initial followed by your last name, all in lowercase - so try resetting your password using that first. If that doesn’t work, then please email me using the Contact Form and selecting “website problems”.

According to those nice people at SDRSC (San Diego Rainbow Scuba Club) , Diving for Life have announced that this year’s Gay & Lesbian Scuba Jamboree will be held at Ambergris Cay, in Belize.

There are no further details as yet, but keep an eye on the DFL (Diving for Life) website.

I stayed at Caye Caulker in Belize (the next Caye along from Ambergris Caye, and more of a backpackers hangout), as part of a Central America trip about 10 years ago, and loved the place. I only did one day’s diving, but the two dives were spectacular - the first to the Blue Hole (see the photo on the left) - this was a cave, thousands of years ago, whose roof collapsed when it sunk beneath the waves - there are huge stalactites and stalagmites which you can swim between, along with a docile Bull Shark.

My other dive was in Hol Chan Marine Park - and was one of my first encounters with free-swimming sharks. Nurse sharks, about 15 of them, quite often coming to within a couple of feet of me, but curious rather than agressive.

It’s just as well it was a shallow dive - when you’ve never seen a free-swimming shark before, and are suddenly surrounded by over a dozen of them, you tend to be a bit heavy on air!

I’ve always wanted to go back… we’ll just have to see what the prices for DFL are like!

Gerhard tells me that he’s only had three people register for the AGM so far. I’ve grown used to a certain amount of apathy in the club, but this is ridiculous!

I guess that it’s possible that Gerhard’s Spam catcher has filtered out some of the emails, so if you’ve already registered, but haven’t had a confirmation from Gerhard, please email him again (using the Contact Form and selecting “GLUG AGM Registration”). If you don’t get confirmation within a couple of days, please email me instead (choose “Website problems” from the Contact Form).

If you haven’t yet registered - well what are you waiting for?! Do it now!

Neil.

GLUG AGM agenda 9 December 2006

Drinks from 4.00, AGM starts at 5.00.

Venue: Konditor and Cook, 46 Grays Inn Road, EC1X 8LR

1. Apologies for absence

2. Minutes of AGM 2005

3. Matters arising

4. Officers’ reports:
o UK dive coordinator
o Treasurer
o Membership secretary
o Publicity officer
o Webmaster
o Equipment coordinator
o Dorothy Divers

5. Membership subscription 2007

6. Election of officers:
o Chair
o Vice-chair
o Treasurer
o Membership secretary
o UK dive coordinator
o Webmaster
o Publicity officer
o Equipment coordinator
o News coordinator

7. AOB

8. Date of next meeting 7.30 pm Tue 9 January, Konditor and Cook, Curzon Cinema, Shaftsbury Avenue

Please let Debbie know before 2 December if there are other items you would like added to the agenda.

The AGM and Christmas dinner will be held on Saturday 9th December. This replaces the usual monthly meeting on 5th December.

The AGM will be held at Konditor and Cook, 46 Grays Inn Road, EC1X 8LR at 5.00pm. All are welcome from 4.00pm for a glass of mulled wine and seasonal nibbles, courtesy of Gerhard Jenne. As usual, we will be making a collection for the benefit of the Food Chain, our nominated charity. This will be a minimum of £10 per person, to cover wine and a contribution to the Food Chain.

If you plan to attend this event, please email Gerhard in advance, so that he knows how many to cater for. (If you’re logged in to the website, you can click on the envelope which appears at the top of the post, or alternatively use the Contact Form to send an email, and select “GLUG AGM Registration”)

An agenda will be published in due course. We hope to see lots of you on the 9th.

I’ve noticed that only 19 people out of 99 club members have filled in the AGM & Xmas Meal Poll.  If you haven’t already voted, please go to the GLUG Homepage and do so - there’s an option for “I can’t make it”, so even if you’re not coming, please vote.

Neil.

Please note that the GLUG Xmas meal (see previous post) will be preceded by the GLUG AGM.

The AGM is your opportunity to tell the committee what you want from the club - and to vote them out if you think they’re not doing a good enough job!  We therefore encourage as many members as possible to attend the AGM - even if they don’t come to the meal.

So, if you plan to come to the AGM, but not the meal, please vote for the date and time you would prefer the AGM on.

(If you can’t make the AGM, you can email any comments/concerns etc. to the committee in advance, and we’ll make sure they’re heard).