Membership
The sections below describe our membership types, associated benefits and the prices are shown in Membership Fees.
To apply for membership go to our membership portal and register for membership.
The parents or guardians of children applying to become Junior Underwater Hockey Players should first register as a non-member adult, and then sign-in to the membership portal and register their children as Underwater Hockey Players
We are not currently recruiting
- Junior SCUBA Divers
- Junior Snorkel Divers
- Adult All Season Swimmers (see lottery below for more details)
Diving
SCUBA Divers must be a member of BSAC and SASAC and pay both the SASAC and BSAC membership fee.
- access to free compressed air fills
- access to mixed gasses and when suitably qualified
- use of the club’s dive boat
- Year round access to Cottonmill swimming pool and use of our Westminster Lodge sessions
Adult Diver membership for one adult.
Senior Diver membership for one adult over state retirement age.
Student Diver membership for one adult in full time education and under 25.
Junior Diver membership for one child over the age of 14.
BSAC membership with St Albans branch of BSAC
Snorkelling
Snorkel divers must be a member of BSAC and SASAC and pay both the SASAC and BSAC membership fee.
- use of the club’s dive boat
- Year round access to Cottonmill swimming pool and use of our Westminster Lodge sessions
Adult Snorkeler membership for one adult.
Senior Snorkeler membership for one adult over state retirement age.
Student Snorkeler membership for one adult in full time education and under 25.
Junior Snorkeler membership for one child over the age of 8.
BSAC membership with St Albans branch of BSAC
Underwater Hockey
Underwater Hockey players must be a member of BOA and SASAC and pay both the SASAC and BOA membership fee
Adult Underwater Hockey membership for one adult.
Senior Underwater Hockey membership for one adult over state retirement age.
Student Underwater Hockey membership for one adult in full time education and under 25.
Junior Underwater Hockey membership for one child over the age of 8.
University Under Water Hockey membership for one adult in full time education and under 25 and residing term time away from the local area. The use of the SASAC facilities is restricted to non term times only.
If you have any questions about snorkelling / or underwater hockey please contact our snorkel rep.
BOA membership with the St Albans Saints branch of BOA
Swimmer Memberships
We offer two types of swimmer memberships. In both case the person must be a competent swimmer and medically fit to swim in cold water.
Cold Water Season Swimmer membership is for one adult. There is no family membership but members can register their dependent children as Junior Pool Guests who can accompany them to the pool in compliance with the PSOP rules.
The members’ access and use of the swimming pool is restricted from 1st October until 31st May. Outside of these times the membership is equivalent to a Social Member.
Applications to join as a Cold Water member are being considered and places are not currently restricted.
Apply for Cold Water Season membership by emailing membership@sasac.co.uk with the subject: Application for Cold Water Season Membership and provide the full name and email address of the applicant(s).
All Season Swimmer membership is for one adult. There is no family membership but members can register their dependent children as Junior Pool Guests who can accompany them to the pool in compliance with the PSOP rules.
Unlike the Cold Water membership the members’ access and use of the swimming pool is available all year.
The current quota for All-Season memberships is at capacity and new membership are offered using the lottery system described below
We have no swimming memberships for children. Adult members who have Swimming, Underwater Hockey, Snorkelling or Diver membership may register their dependent children as pool guests who can then accompany them to the the pool. There are no adult pool guests.
Pool guests status is cancelled when the child turns 18 years old. When 18 they may apply for All Season Swimmer membership and bypass the normal quota restriction but their application to join must be completed in 4 weeks of the offer and before the next common renewal date of 1st April.
Social Membership
We offer social membership of the club to adults who want to be part of the club but do not want to be a Diver, Snorkeler, Underwater Hockey Player or Swimmer, and only wish to take part in the club’s social activities and events.
Social members can access the clubhouse but are not permitted poolside unless the poolside area is hosting a social event
Lottery
Our pool operates at a reduced bather density compared to normal leisure pools as one of the measures to enable us to operate without lifeguards. There is a very high demand to use the pool during the summer, especially during good weather, and we manage the demand and control the numbers by restricting access and maintaining a fixed quota on the number of All Season Swimmer memberships.
The fixed quota means membership places for All Season Swimmers memberships only become available when existing members resign or do not renew.
These limited places are offered using a lottery system rather than a waiting list. The lottery takes place at each May when we know how many places can be offered following the annual renewals. Offers to apply for membership are offered to based on the availables places to candidates in a multi-staged draw.
Stage-1: Offered to current Cold Water Swimmer members who have been members for multiple seasons
Stage-2: Any remaining places after stage-1 are offered to the other Cold Water Swimmer members and the general public who registered their interest in the previous year.
If you are not an existing member and over 18 and would like to apply for the All-Season membership lottery, please email your full name to swimmingrep@sasac.co.uk with the subject: Application for All Season Swimming Membership and provide the full name and email address of the applicant.
(Note: Cold Water Season members are automatically included in the lottery and should not apply as a non-member)
The lottery draw normally happens in May but was delayed in 2023 to July.
At each stage the lottery creates a randomised batch of candidates who are emailed with a time limited subscription offer. Those who do not respond before the offer expires will have their place reallocated to the next ramdomised batch of candates until all the available places are exhausted.
The lottery is not a waiting list. If you want to be part of the following years draw you need to reapply as we purge the application data following the lottery draw.
We do not contact you or enter into any correspondance if you are unsuccessful or respond to further enquiries regarding your lottery application due to the volume of enquiries made.
1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024 All membership terms expire on 31st March, the day before the common renewal date of 1st April. The minimum term of membership is 3 months so the membership term for people joining between January and March will be 15 to 13 months and their fee is adjusted on […]