Save Our Club!
Since its inception, our ethos has been to make learning to dive accessible to a diverse range of Londoners by keeping costs as low as possible. The club is not-for-profit and all our members are volunteers. Our weekly sessions at Ironmonger Row Baths (IRB) in Islington are the only place in Islington where you can learn to SCUBA dive and Islington is now at risk of losing us.
Since the Club was founded in the mid-60s, we have held our weekly Club sessions at IRB (c. 60 years!) and consider it our home. Historically the management has provided a storage space for the club kit, which is an essential part of our operation.
IRB is owned by Islington Council but operated by GLL/Better – a Charitable Social Enterprise. GLL pays Islington for the contract to run IRB on the basis of a ‘partnership’ approach that provides a community service. GLL says its purpose is to: ‘improve the physical, mental and social wellbeing of local communities’. Clidive offers its members a much-needed sense of belonging and connection in our busy metropolis. We have also worked collaboratively with Islington Council and IRB management historically supporting community activities, most recently this year’s Summerversity, where a dozen 14–19 year-olds were introduced to snorkelling and diving.
What’s happened?
On 5 November 2024, we received an email from the IRB Manager informing us that he would be reclaiming the kit cupboard in January, due to storage pressures related to the newly refurbished spa. We were told that there was no other space at IRB for us.
This is a critical issue for the club – we can’t operate without onsite storage!
We have offered to provide IRB with people-power and funding to build more cupboards for their storage needs to relieve the pressures they are experiencing but this has so far been rejected.
We have been offered a very temporary solution – a shared space at another sports club but only until Summer 2025 when the entire facility is due to be demolished as part of a major development, so it’s not a viable alternative for us.
Call to action
We need your help to secure the long term future of our Club.
If you are an Islington resident please write today to Your MP:
Islington South & Finsbury: Emily Thornberry Islington North: Jeremy Corbyn
or
Your councillor: find out who that is here (by ward, including contact details)
Do you have useful contacts who might support us? Write to them yourself (cc’ing clidive@clidive.org) or send us their details so that we can send them an email.
If you’ve got any ideas to share on how we can Save Our Kit Cupboard & the Future of Clidive let us know on: clidive@clidive.org.
