At the Men's Friday Fellowship Roger Grange talked about his scuba diving experiences.

The Photo shows, from left to right, David Edmonds (who leads the Men's fellowship) Dick Bird, Don Potter and Roger Grange with a few of the artefacts Roger has accumulated over the years from his diving activities.

Whilst at school, Roger got the diving bug when he cycled 25 miles to Weymouth and snorkelled using an inflatable air bed as a platform so he could stay out to sea for longer before cycling home. At a scouting adventure holiday in Torquay he opted for water skiing and scuba diving as these were, and are, quite exotic activities and they appealed to him. "It was a privilege to use the new equipment provided" he said, "the scouts did well but the different Health and safety standards that are now in place and were sadly lacking in back then with very basic equipment".

He was hooked and over the next few years got as much snorkelling and duck diving in as he could. In his early 30's, Rogers friend Brian Williams introduced him to a local diving club that met in a swimming pool. On his first open water dive Roger comments "I went in to the water off the boat and nearly landed on a crayfish, I'm not sure who was the more surprised, him or me". He cited many exhilarating moments from the spectacular to the down right frightening. He remembers many amazing wrecks that he dived on which included German battle ships at Scapa Flow in Norway and the seascape on the bottom around reefs, chasms', gullies and caverns. A particular delight had been the many contacts with a wide range of sea creatures from seals to eels and sharks along with a huge variety of fish.

Some of the more hairy moments included flooded RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boat) whilst getting to the shore, snagging in fishing nets, loosing his dive partner and equipment failures. A scary element was always the remote locations for some of his dives on the North Norway and Russian boarder

Roger showed a series of photos that were taken when he dived under the arctic pack ice by digging an access hole. "it was possibly, the coldest that I have ever been and very scary at times". They used skidoos to get out to the right spots on the ice and also a RIB to get to other ‘freezing' locations for their dives.

Using the all the equipment he had brought along, Roger described how it all worked and fitted together. He also demonstrated a range of safety items that were in his kit. The dry suits made all the difference in the cold water dives along with thermal undergarments. During this part of his talk, we found pout about the relationship between Depth and duration of a dive and simply put, the deeper you go the short your dive must be. This also had a big part to play in how long it took to get back to the surface as he needed to wait at various depths whilst he decompressed. "This is the most boring part of a dive" he said, "it can last for 30 to 90 minutes sometimes and its not a thing you can avoid". A question was asked about the ‘Bends' and what it was. The answer is, the forming of nitrogen bubbles in the blood vessels if you come up to the surface too quickly. It can be excruciatingly painful and would require being put in a decompression chamber to replicate the pressure at the depth the dive took place, and then a gradual lessening over a period of time.

Roger has taken many diving qualifications from BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) to PADDI, its American counterpart and valued the safety training they instil in all divers.

Taking all these experiences into account, Roger talked about how wonderfully made Gods earth really is and what a privilege it had been for him to see what he has under the water. "It was Jesus that had walked on the water in the midst of a storm and then commanded it to be still" he said and "God has demonstrated his love to us by providing streams of living water, without which we could not survive". Roger talked about how he felt so small when compared to the size of God's creation, both above and below the sea, and how he was in awe of the mighty power of creation. "God is always with us even under the sea, not just in church".

As a Christian, Roger believes in God's offer of eternal life and has accepted that he needed to turn to Him to receive God's forgiveness and accepts that he is now part of God's kingdom with all the peace and understanding that comes with it.

If you want to hear more of Roger's adventure, you can read his mountaineering account.

The Men's Friday Fellowship meet monthly with a meal every three months. To find out more or arrange to come along, contact David Edmonds on 01708 769868