Archive for the ‘Chepstow’ Category
Wye Valley Greenway Workcamp 13 to 21 September 2019
Friday, December 6th, 2019The Wye Valley Greenway is now open for walkers and cyclists.
The Wye Valley Greenway provides a sustainable way to explore the beautiful Lower Wye Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Words by Jennifer Goslin BA BSc OCDEA
A-B Connecting Communities
Images from Chepstow to Tintern Shared Use Path Facebook post
Greenways and Cycleroutes Limited organised a volunteer work camp from 13 to 22 September 2019 based at the National Diving and Activity Centre at Tidenham, near Chepstow.
Their aim was to repair a bridge and to install and replace boundary fencing on the former railway line between Chepstow and Tintern to sustain momentum while they await planning permission and full funding to complete a walking and cycling route between the National Diving & Activity Centre and Tintern. This will form part of the overall safe route; the Wander Wye from the Severn Bridge to Monmouth proposed by A-B Connecting Communities who provided a grant in June of £5000 to Greenways.
• 91 volunteers put in 235 working days. 61 were day visitors, and 30 stayed overnight in tents and vans and chalets. And what a difference was made.
• Refurbishing the Bishton Lane bridge over the railway line – relocating the piers on newly cast concrete foundations transforming the structure.
• The fallen rocks were collected and rebuilt the wingwalls, repointing them with lime putty and with much help from BT, wire brushed and repainted the piers.
• The field fence was repaired between the railway land and the Gloucestershire Way and replaced the railway fences above the sheer drop of the retaining walls in the Wye Valley gorge.
• The vegetation was cut through at the former Tidenham station to create a laurel arbour with windows, and safety parapets installed to the bridge over the A48, where others had hacked back the brambles.
• The First Shirenewton Scouts helped to clear roots and branches from the track bed.
• A route was cut through to Sedbury Lane so we can survey the route for future planning applications, and work out how best Dean Forest Railway can recover the track.
• The Ecologists were in attendance to check that we were complying with the regulations.
No work was completed in the tunnel at all – as their Bat licence did not come through in time, so unfortunately the repairs to the walls and the planned installation of new gates will have to wait. The temporary fences were simply covered with tarpaulins to reduce airflow through the tunnel.
What happens next?
Greenways are working with Forest of Dean Council to secure the planning permission we need. The process will not be quick, as Natural England need to be sure about environmental issues. When they have planning permission we will be able to apply for grants.
There is still some finishing off to do to the pointing of the wing walls, and they are planning to set up a local volunteering group to help us to complete this.
If all goes well Greenways hope to have a further work camp in the spring for the labour intensive activities of installing lighting and bat shelters in the tunnel, installing seats and sculpture, and tidying back vegetation. In a perfect world there would have at least a mountain bike quality route open to Tintern by the summer.
National Police Dive Exercise hosted at the National Diving and Activity Centre
Thursday, November 28th, 2019
Words by PC Finnegan
During September, Avon and Somerset Constabulary Underwater Search Unit hosted a National Police dive exercise at the National Diving and Activity Centre (NDAC). This was a great opportunity to work in partnership with other dive teams from around the country.
The exercise was attended by Underwater Search Units from Metropolitan Police, South Wales Police, Devon and Cornwall Police, Yorkshire and Humberside Police along with representatives from Northumbria Police, instructors from Police Scotland dive school, Health and Safety Executive and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DTSL).
The scenario was created to recover of bodies (mannequins), body parts and personal items placed around a variety of the many and diverse dive sites within the NDAC dive site. The exercise gave valuable learning for all involved and created new working partnerships, from the planning phase of the dive operation to the execution of the plans. There were also lectures at the site to Senior Investigating officers and Police Search Advisors around the roles of underwater search units along with demonstrations around new technology from DTSL.
It was an excellent sight to have 4 dive teams in the water at once, working together around multiple sites within the quarry. In the evening there was the obligatory social event, again hosted by the staff at NDAC incorporating dinner, a quiz, a well earnt beer and customary exchange of stories from the past year!
Our thanks go out to Darren and his team at NDAC for making this wonderful site available to us and assisting in the planning and implementation of an extremely successful exercise.
If you would like to host a training event or exercise at the National Diving & Activity Centre, please get in touch.
Scuba Winter Opening Times & Changes to Opening Times During Winter Season
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019The NDAC will remain closed on Thursdays throughout February & March 2020.
This is so we can complete ongoing infrastructure works at the centre.
We will reopen on Thursdays with our change to Summer opening times at the start of April.
Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
From 1st October we are operating our Winter Opening Times for Scuba Diving.
From the 1st November 2019 we will be making some changes to the opening times for Scuba Diving and the View Cafe Bar to reflect the quieter season.
Between November and the February Half-Term, we will close on Thursdays. During this time we will open Friday-Sunday.
Following the February half-term From April 1st we will return to Thursday-Sunday opening until the end of October.
We will also continue to open on Bank Holiday Mondays.
Christmas dates are assessed each year depending on how the holidays fall. We expect to release the 2020 Christmas dates in November.
NDAC Scuba Winter Opening Times 2019/2020
01 October – 31 March inclusive
Monday: CLOSED (open Bank Holidays)
Tuesday: CLOSED
Wednesday: CLOSED
Thursday*: 0930 -1700 (*Closed 1st Nov until
week after Feb Half-TermApril)Friday: 0930 -1700
Saturday: 0800 – 1700
Sunday & Bank Holidays: 0800 – 1700
Clear of water by 1600
Infrastructure Works & Slipway Improvements
Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
We have been carrying out some infrastructure works at the National Diving & Activity Centre.
Twenty tonnes of concrete has been laid to extend the lake’s slipway and improve access to and from the water.
We request that visitors keep out of the coned areas until the concrete has dried fully.
We hope this improvement will help our divers access and egress the water a little more easily. Watch this space for further improvements.
Meet Bertie the Fish
Monday, June 17th, 2019
Meet Bertie, our latest attraction at the National Diving & Activity Centre.
Bertie is a Sturgeon fish and he’s been rescued from a small pond to live his life and explore our much larger pond!
National Diving & Activity Centre awarded 2019 Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor
Wednesday, June 5th, 2019
The National Diving & Activity Centre in Chepstow has been awarded a 2019 Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site.
Because we’ve earned a Certificate of Excellence every year for the past five years, we’re also pleased to announce that The National Diving & Activity Centre (NDAC) has qualified for the Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame.
Karl Kruger at the Rebreather Reunion April 2019
Thursday, April 4th, 2019
We are pleased to announce our third guest speaker at Rebreather Reunion 2019 will be Karl Kruger
Karl Kruger had a military diving and technical diving career spanning three decades. Karl now runs his own dive school providing recreational and technical dive training with multiple training agencies.
Karl’s talk will be on the technical diving expeditions of South Africa – Submarines, Coelacanths & the Ghost Fleet Expeditions.
The Rebreather Reunion is a two day social gathering for like minded divers from all backgrounds and levels of diving experience.
Join us for a weekend of diving and socialising as well as live talks & presentations from our guest speakers.
New underwater scuba diving attraction at NDAC Chepstow
Wednesday, March 27th, 2019
This week we have been lowering our new scuba diving attraction into place at the National Diving & Activity Centre.
The Hyperbaric Chamber was lowered using a 5 tonne lift bag and a lot of assistance.
Groundworks complete for new Wire Zip Lines
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
The ground works are now complete for the installation of our new zip wires for the Wire Zip Slide.
50 tonnes of concrete have been used to create the footings for the new structure.
We expect the new zip wires to be up and running for Easter.
Final checks for new underwater attraction
Tuesday, March 19th, 2019
Final checks are being carried out prior to the sinking of our latest underwater attraction, a Hyperbaric Chamber.
