PAWS June – Underwater Fun
38 members attended our June meeting when Lynn Coot (at very short notice), came along to give us a talk called “I Had a Dream!”
As a young child, Lynn was fascinated watching Jacques Cousteau and Hans & Lottie Hass on the television and harboured a secret ambition to swim among the fishes and coral. She learnt to swim and dive at Ilford Swimming Pool but realised that her ambition was just not going to be achieved. She got married to John, had two children and it slipped to the back of her mind for a while. On holiday with the family in Menorca she tried snorkelling, which she enjoyed but really wanted to swim down to the depths. Find full info here.
Silver Wedding Treat
As a Silver Wedding treat John and Lynn went on a cruise to the Caribbean visiting the island of Aruba. Apart from the usual coach tours, there was an introduction to scuba diving on offer. Lynn decided that this was a chance to see if this was what she really wanted to do. She was kitted out with wet suit and oxygen tank and taken down in a seawater lagoon, where there were fish and turtles to feed with small fish. She really did not get on very well and at times decided that she was going to drown!
Over the next couple of years Lynn tried snorkelling again and enjoyed it. Then on holiday in Tobago, scuba lessons were offered at their hotel and Lynn swam every day with an instructor. She was fascinated by all the stories of other scuba divers of the fish and wrecks in the sea nearby. Lynn decided that this was definitely what she wanted to do, so she joined the British Sub-Aqua Club. Over the next 2 years she gained her master’s certificate and now accompanies novice divers when she visits Tobago every year. She showed us her diving equipment, modelled by Caroline, and the many underwater photos that she has taken over the past 20 years.
July Social
Our next get together is our July Social on the 25th. Elaine Barker will entertain us with music, lots of joining-in songs, a couple of comic monologues and generally light-hearted with some ‘summery songs’.
Membership is currently full but visitors are very welcome at a cost of £5.00 which includes refreshments.
Details of all our meetings and speakers can be found on the diary of the home page of this website. If you would like further information about P.A.W.S please ring either of the following committee members:
- Alice Holmes 01206 735510, or
- Jane Anderson 01206 735505.
