CLUBFOCUS
A riverside outing for mannequin ‘ Doug the Diver ’
Pool training last March with Roberto , Helen and Louis
So , there have been plenty of anniversaries to celebrate ?
We held a treasure hunt in Stoney Cove for our golden anniversary in 2008 , when we still had a surviving original member . We celebrated our diamond jubilee in 2018 just before COVID , which then changed things a bit . You see , Leicester was in lockdown for a lot longer than other parts of the country .
What happened ?
The club lost active instructors during the COVID pause to UK diving . Since then , our Training Officer Doug Ward has been managing the long-term upskilling of members , including a lot of Ocean Diver training . Now we have a small batch of Sports Divers working towards Dive Leader . Three are assistant instructors waiting to complete their diver training to be able to qualify and support open-water training in future .
How many members are there today ?
Since our membership numbers peaked in the 1980s , we had an ageing diving population . But in the bounce back since COVID , we have attracted younger members and members with skills and qualifications from other agencies . We now have 50 members : 39 full members , three juniors , four students and four snorkel members . Our seven honorary members no longer dive or snorkel but contribute their knowledge of our history to support the club . The divers are seven trainees ;
13 Ocean Divers and an Advanced Ocean
Diver ; 14 Sports Divers ; six Dive Leaders ; three Advanced Divers ; and six other agency divers .
What other resources does the club have today ?
There ’ s a stock of scuba sets in a range of sizes , looked after by Equipment Officer Nigel Newton ; and John stores our masks and fins . We hire Aylestone Leisure Centre pool every Thursday evening for training ( which accounts for the biggest part of our membership fees ). We meet in a room upstairs . Since the bar shut , we bring our own drinks to chat and plan ; and we project lecture slides onto the white walls there . Until 2001 , we met at the old local pool with a fourmetre-deep end , but now we have to manage with just 2m to train in , like a lot of clubs .
Do you run a boat ?
We have an 11-year-old 6.8 m RIB called Vixen . She is maintained by members of the club and stored on a local farm . We were restricted by who could tow , but now that towing regs have changed again , newer members are doing boat handling and VHF
The club visited Jordan in 1999
RIB Vixen on the river
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