Kristina Pedder interviews Advanced Snorkel Instructor Thomas Hawksworth
Suited and booted at Vobster
VOLUNTEERLIFE
Thomas Hawksworth , 20 , Tom to his friends , volunteers at his BSAC club and recently helped review and redesign the national snorkelling training programme . Tom got into snorkelling aged nine , because his grandma , Lesley Flitcroft was an instructor and his mum was a member when she was younger . It was a family activity . Tom tells me that he used to stay over at his grandma ’ s house on Friday night so that they could both to go to the pool for snorkel training early on Saturday mornings .
“ Seeing a few of my family progress onto becoming instructors , and seeing them enjoy it , made me push for it too ,” he says . He gained his first snorkel qualification aged nine , learned to scuba dive at 14 , and earlier this year attended an Instructor Foundation Course .
Now a Sports Diver , Advanced Snorkel Instructor and Assistant Diving Instructor , Tom belongs to two BSAC clubs : Woking Snorkel and Scuba , and Aldershot Dolphins . He has done around 50 snorkel dives and 50 scuba dives , but says he ’ s not been very good at logging them . “ I need to get better at that ,” he admits .
I ask about the volunteering side of life . Tom has been the Chairman of Woking Snorkel and Scuba since he was 18 , and he was sub-chair for a year before that . “ My job is to ensure that the branch committee is running effectively . I enjoy making a positive impact that benefits the members and can already see the developments that we have made over my two years .
“ I did find it challenging to be in such an important branch role at first as I had no
“ Enjoy your diving !”
Kristina Pedder interviews Advanced Snorkel Instructor Thomas Hawksworth
Young Tom at his first open water snorkel
FACTFILE
Name : Thomas Hawksworth
Job titles : Advanced Snorkel Instructor , Assistant Diving Instructor , Chairman of Woking Snorkel and Scuba
Base : Farnborough , Hampshire
First snorkel dive : 26 July 2013
First scuba dive : 18 September 2018
Tom with his mum ( left ) and sister ( centre )
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