What does the club offer today?
Membership includes gas, pool time, access to kit and an active dive calendar. Our RIB Kraken lives on the Menai Strait, ready to go when the weather behaves( not often enough), and our inflatable Falco supports local exploring. We have an active social calendar of walks, BBQs, pub outings, and a Burns Night Supper, where we honour our Scottish friends with much nonsense and a three-course haggis supper.
The club is in the middle of a big step forward: moving from a well-loved but very basic storage setup into a two-storey barn conversion with space, heating and even a toilet. It’ s taken a huge effort from the committee, but it’ s going to transform operations.
What was involved?
We had to incorporate, becoming Hartford Sub Aqua Club Ltd, and register with Companies House to take on the lease for our new premises without liability for members. This took massive effort
Boats officer and BBQ legend Steve Simpson
Kraken on the Menai Straits
by the committee, mostly Chairman Rob Fitzmaurice, to find the best structure, deal with the lawyers and the council. The move should be worth it: this winter we may even have heating and a toilet. But it will be more expensive and presents some fundraising challenges.
Training Officer and Scotsman Crawford Currie on Burns Night
Do you have any pool time?
After losing our old pool post-Covid, we now run Sunday evening sessions at Beechwood Community Centre. It’ s meant more logistics and a weekly kit-carting rota. But the 90-minute slot is helpful for completing skills and the staff are lovely. There are rooms for hire and a bar at community centre prices. Since moving, we’ ve been able to attract members from a wider area, but recruitment isn’ t easy. People have less time, less money, and more competing hobbies than ever before. And let’ s be honest, UK diving is a big ask. Cold water, limited visibility, early mornings; you must really love it. You can see this with the trainees. Those that get hooked from the start, wide-eyed in their mask after dive one; those are the ones that stay.
Who are your members?
We have 52 members aged 9 to 78, from students to retirees and those in between. We’ ve got highly experienced divers( including Advanced and First Class
Secretary Joanna Scott
Instructors Jamie Heptonstall and Sarah Kimmis show how to organise the kit
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