News
Support Deptherapy’s life saving work at GO Diving this weekend

Scuba Diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy is urging divers to ‘give back’ this weekend at the UK’s leading GO Diving show. Deptherapy beneficiaries and Board Members will be manning stand 47, situated close to the entrance to GO Diving, which takes place at the NAEC Stoneleigh, Coventry from 4th to 6th March.
Deptherapy will be launching their new Direct Debit scheme at the show. The charity urgently needs to raise funds to keep their life changing and life saving programmes in operation. Deptherapy is hoping to encourage the supportive diving community to give a small regular amount through Direct Debit and Gift Aid via the Just Giving fundraising platform. Visitors to the show can sign up to the scheme on the Deptherapy stand and anyone pledging over £5 per month will also receive a free Deptherapy water bottle.
100% of donations to Deptherapy go directly to support their beneficiaries. Deptherapy has no paid staff and minimal overheads. Every penny given to the charity goes directly into providing bespoke scuba diving training and support for injured UK Armed Forces Veterans.

Tom Oates undertaking Rescue Diver training at Roots Red Sea, Egypt. Photo – Dmitry Knyazev for Deptherapy.
You can find out more about the work of Deptherapy in their two presentations at GO Diving. Deptherapy Chair Richard Cullen, beneficiary and Mental Health Champion Tom Oates together with Deptherapy’s Vice President Dr Richard Castle, who is an Independent Consultant Psychologist, specialising in trauma, will be speaking on the Main Stage at the show from 3pm until 3.45pm on Saturday and Sunday.
The thought-provoking title of their presentation is “Scuba Diving & Rehabilitation: Fact or Fiction”. Using the academic and medical studies of Deptherapy’s work, the team will challenge the present clamour within the scuba diving industry that scuba diving, on its own, has a healing effect in respect of mental health. The team will show that what Deptherapy delivers is far more than adaptive scuba diving, and it is this added value that delivers the ongoing psychological benefits to beneficiaries in what is now considered to be a world leading and ground-breaking programme.
Team Deptherapy looks forward to seeing you at GO Diving this weekend.
For more about Deptherapy, visit www.deptherapy.co.uk and for more about GO Diving, visit www.godivingshow.com
News
World Shootout winners revealed at Boot

The World Shootout winners were announced at this years returning Boot show.
Producer David Pilosof initiated the first World ShootOut online competition in 2011, breaking all boundaries and introducing an international competition as never produced before.
Hundreds of photographers from around 40 countries around the world take part in the World ShootOut competition year after year, submitting thousands of images and videos, ranging from those that capture the calm lakes of the Nordic countries and Canada, showcase the exotic secrets hidden in Alaska and introduce the great dramatic white shark in the Gulf of Mexico.
Claudio Ceresi from Italy won the top valuable prize for best picture of the year $10,000 worth of 3 weeks diving vacation for 2 people, in Papua New Guinea.
- Overall and Macro Winner by Claudio Ceresi
- Wide Angle Winner by Brigitte De Groof,
- Wrecks of the World Winner by Stella Del Curto
- Humoristic Image Winner by Alli Donaldson
- Environmental and Conservation Winner by Simon Lorenz
- Sharks of the World Winner by Nicolas Remy
The winning video can be seen here:
We have featured a few of the category winners in the gallery above. To see all the images placed in this competition, visit the World Shootout Website
News
New book by diver aims to inspire teens to protect sharks and the ocean

A new book by experienced diver Christine Edwards has just been published, which aims to inspire children and young people to better understand sharks and become advocates for ocean and environmental protection.
Sharks Are Scary Aren’t They? tackles themes such as the human impact on the environment and the protection of sharks and their habitats. The story depicts the emotional journey of Charlie Parker, a fearful twelve-year-old boy, and Jane Jones, a retired dentist and scuba diver, who meet by chance on a beach. Despite the years that separate them, they discover they are more alike than they could have imagined.
Sharing the world through the eyes of sharks, hearing about the struggles and dangers they face and how they are on the brink of extinction, brings the two friends closer together. In this book there are stories of shark encounters, the majesty of the underwater world and how the impact of human activity and plastic pollution is affecting their habitat. Most of all, the two characters learn about the power of the human spirit to change in the face of adversity.
Author Christine Edwards was born in Chester in 1962. She read psychology at Warwick University, then worked as a teacher for twenty years. In 2004 she trained at Birmingham Theatre School to become an actor. As a teenager Christine feared the sea and the sharks that swam there. After trying a scuba dive in 2006 and making 1,200 dives around the globe, everything changed. She now adores sharks, hence writing this book.
Christine says: “Conquering a deep rooted fear of the sea and terrified of the sharks that roamed there, I made the astonishing decision to try a scuba dive in 2006. The moment I sank beneath the waves and glimpsed at the world below the surface, I was well and truly hooked. Since that first plunge underwater, I have accomplished over 1200 dives in seas and oceans around the globe. My fear of sharks has turned into a passion for them. Whenever I would describe my shark encounters to friends or family they invariably expressed concern and questioned why anyone would dive with such a dangerous species.”
Christine continues: “My book came out of the need to redress the balance for this wonderful fish. Sharks have existed for 450 million years, well before the dinosaurs, and still exist today. They are being hunted and cruelly killed for their fins and are probably one of the most misunderstood creatures on our planet. The knock-on effect of their demise will be catastrophic. Oceans without sharks will cause negative changes to other species – without this apex predator keeping other fish in check, our coastlines and reefs will ultimately suffer. The oceans need sharks!”
The paperback of Sharks Are Scary Aren’t They? (ISBN 9781915352613) is out now and was published on 28th January 2023 by The Book Guild, an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd. Priced £8.99, the book is available from https://bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/ as well as at bookshops and through Amazon and other retailers.
Check back for our review of Sharks Are Scary Aren’t They? soon!
Header Photo credit: Jane Davies Photography. Photo of Christine Edwards on a dive.
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