CLUBFOCUS
Chairman Rob Fitzmaurice at Hartford in the Park festival
Treasurer Bill Webster takes one in the face to raise funds
big difference. We run the club’ s IT in a business-like way. Our IT officer, Crawford Currie, has set up a Google Drive system so everything’ s in one place and up to date.
Tell us about your local diving
We’ re lucky to have the Menai Strait and north Wales on our doorstep. When the weather behaves, we run trips on Kraken around Anglesey and the north Wales coast. Plenty get blown out – it’ s the wrong wind more often than the right one – but when it works, it’ s worth the wait. We usually base ourselves at Anglesey Outdoors near Porth Dafarch, or Holyhead Harbour.
A lot of our diving starts with a lump on the sonar and a bit of curiosity. Some turn into cracking dive sites. One turned into a mysterious metal box on‘ HMS Sand’. That’ s part of the fun, never knowing what you’ re going to find.
And further afield?
We try to fit in a few charter trips each year. We’ re good friends with the team at The Honeydew and love getting up to Scotland to dive with Sarah Chan, for some of the best underwater life you’ ll find anywhere in the UK( and her hospitality is legendary). This summer we headed up the west coast to Ullapool.
Plymouth is a regular fixture too. Our Boats Officer, Stephen Simpson, has been diving with Pete Fergus for years, so that’ s another trip where we’ re diving with friends.
We also like to mix in somewhere different. This year, Dive Leaders Steve
Chviers and Jon Rudkin organised a trip to Teignmouth; we keep an eye out for new sites to explore.
We escape the cold when we can. There’ s usually a winter trip somewhere warm, plus a bigger overseas adventure. This year it’ s the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia, and in December we’ re off to Roots in Egypt.
Has the club been involved in any special projects?
Recently, members have been getting stuck into a BSAC project tackling invasive weeds in Llyn Padarn. That’ s meant multiple winter dives – cold water, limited visibility – hand-weeding, bagging and hauling the stuff out for safe disposal. We also make time for the fun stuff. Every March we join
Declan Hall 15. With his sister, Holly
Chester SAC and others for the annual RIB run of 20 + boats charging from the Menai Strait to Beaumaris in aid of the RNLI.
What is the club planning for the next few years?
As Dory [ in Finding Nemo ] would say: just keep swimming. We need more members to keep up with rising costs – premises, pool, boat – so recruitment matters. We run try dives, reach out on social media, have stalls at local community events and encourage everyone to“ phone a friend”. If every member brought one person along, we’ d double overnight.
The committee drives the club, but we always need more hands. Whether it’ s maintaining kit, organising trips, helping with Try Dives or posting online, everyone can play a part.
Anything else you’ d like to tell readers about?
We make a point of celebrating our members. Milestone dives and big achievements get recognised with a certificate. Crawford hit his 700th dive on Honeydew last season and is lined up for 800 this year. Jon’ s 100th was on a lightship wreck off Anglesey, Tony reached 1,100 in the Isle of Man. At the AGM, we hand out awards for Volunteer of the Year, Trainee of the Year and Achievement of the Year. And then there’ s the Wooden Weight Belt for the most entertaining fail. �
2025 Trainee of the Year Beth Gray with Chair Rob Fitzmaurice
Jon Rudkin receiving his 100th dive certificate at Dinas Boat Yard after diving The Lightship, Anglesey
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