YO-HANCHA
The wonderful Sue Mitchell
This month , Yo-Han Cha sings the praises of one of BSAC ’ s super-volunteers , a one-woman dive planning and catering operation .
Every now and then I have the pleasure of meeting someone who stands out from the normal diving crowd – in a good way . As it happened , Sue Mitchell , one of the first to welcome me to Reading BSAC , is just such a person . She was very warm and friendly , and I also sensed a no-nonsense air about her . She seemed to be either on most of Reading BSAC ’ s trips , or running them . And on my first Reading club trips I also learned that being on one of Sue ’ s trips usually meant not having to pack my own lunch , as she would often turn up with the most excellent homemade sausage rolls .
There ’ s much more to Sue that just being an excellent cook , although I could dedicate an entire column just on her sausage rolls and roasts . Sue is 68 years young , and learned to dive in 1982 . When she started , she and her then husband shared a membrane drysuit by fitting wrist seals on the legs and wearing wetsuit boots to accommodate their different foot sizes .
In her early diving days , Sue tells me that there was a lot of diving out of Swanage , predominantly on the Kyarra shipwreck .
She ’ s now , at the time of writing , still logging her dives after 3,742 of them ; she has dived all around the UK and the world , with her favourite dives being the reefs off Cork , Ireland . Outside of the standard BSAC courses , she ’ s also done Seasearch and Nautical Archaeological courses , which means being both a squidge and rust lover . She ’ ll dive anything .
Life isn ’ t always easy and a low point was in 2005 , when Sue survived breast cancer ; as a typical diving addict , she says that the six months of no diving was a real trial ( no mention of everything else that goes on in beating cancer ), but she was back in the water by Easter 2006 . There were also times when fortune favoured her ... She was supposed to be in Thailand when the Boxing Day Tsunami hit in 2004 , but had to cancel her flights because she broke her coccyx after falling out of her shoes while dressed as Dame Edna Everidge . Fate can be a fickle mistress .
Sue has served various diving clubs as
‘ There ’ s much more to Sue that just being an excellent cook ’
Diving Officer and Training Officer . She was voted one of BSAC ’ s volunteers of the year in 2011 and has for many decades faithfully served as instructor to both Reading and Reading University clubs . She became an instructor in 1987 in order to help Reading University club , where she was doing a BEd as a mature student at the time . The then Diving Officer of Reading inadvisably told Sue she couldn ’ t become an Advanced Instructor “ because you ’ re a girl ” and therefore wouldn ’ t recommend her to BSAC ( a recommendation being a requirement back then ). The BSAC Regional Coach at the time , Jane Maddocks , told her she didn ’ t need his permission and recommended Sue herself , and so in 1989 she became an Advanced Instructor .
Sue may have retired from her microbiology job in the NHS but she is still diving - a lot ! She says it keeps her going and it keeps her young at heart . Sue , may you continue to dive for many years , and may you also continue making your sausage rolls . �
21