Another season is just about to kick off, and it’s a great pleasure to introduce our first newsletter of 2007.
First of all I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all our new members. We have had a tremendous influx of new arrivals, who will help us to flourish and grow into the future – ceid mile failte to each and every one.
New recruits Fiona, Tara, Gavan, Peter, David A, Jacqui and Paula will bring a wealth of experience to our club.
New trainees Dermot, David M, Ciaran, David B, Maire, Anne, Susan, Raj, Olive, Cora, Aurimas, Heidi, Deivid, Krzysztof, Algis, Remis, and last but not least the two ‘graduates’ from our junior snorkelling ranks Conor and Cathal, are all showing such skill and determination that success is guaranteed.
And of course the job of the DO will be made much easier during the year – if any job needs to be done just call out for ‘David’!
It certainly is a fantastic time to be a member of such a great club, with so much tradition – the club has been on the go since 1958 (way before I was born!). As well as the number of new arrivals this year, we have a very high proportion of qualified and very experienced divers. We have CFT’s National Diving Officer, and National Snorkelling Officer in our ranks – a great honour for our club. We also have members serving on various CFT committees etc. Over a third of our members are instructors, and the training ethos in the club guarantees that there is a steady stream of divers moving up the ranks. We have one National Diver, half our members are qualified cox’ns, we have a number of cox’n instructors, nitrox divers, nitrox blenders, nitrox instructors … the list goes on. It’s a credit to all our officers past and present that further learning is so highly regarded. And not to forget that we have in our ranks a founder member of the club, and founder members of CFT, which we are very proud of!
And to our new members – you can be guaranteed that each and every experienced diver is more than willing to help out in any way that they can to help you to enjoy our great sport. It is in all our interests that each of us gets as qualified as we can – the more we learn, the safer it becomes for everyone, and the more we enjoy diving. And we dive because we enjoy it!
I’m delighted to report that we have started the new season at the same pace as 2006 when it comes to qualifications. Last year was a record year for us, and already we’ve had DO Jean Kelleher and Mark Stanley qualify as cox’n instructors. Congratulations to Jean and Mark, who qualified last Sunday 11th March. I think you’ll agree that two more deserving divers would be hard to find … I’m only saying that because I’ll need help later to get my cox’n qualification!!
Arrangements for a fantastic photography competition for 2007 are at an advanced stage, thanks to the efforts of Eugene McLoughlin, our Competitions Officer. Eugene is planning a competition with prizes in two categories – underwater and ‘overwater’. Fantastic prizes will be on offer to the winners. I’ve had the pleasure of looking through some fantastic photos from members recently, so it promises to be a great competition. Last year’s winner Alan O’Dowd can be expected to defend his title robustly. There’s a rumour that he’s taken to bringing the camera into the bath with him to get some practice! By the way there will be a censor on the judging panel!
And finally … I drew the short straw at the AGM and was landed with the job of giving the website a bit of a facelift – I plan to have the initial version live by the weekend, and further enhancements will be an ongoing feature. As I mentioned above, I have been going through loads of your photos and I hope to include many in the new site.
Safe and enjoyable diving to all!
Kevin
