The Annual General Meeting for the Sub Aqua Association was held at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate on Saturday 24th April, with more than one hundred members attending, representing a significant number of clubs from within the Association. There’s still room for more, remember we are the "friendliest divers".
Mike Burley the Chair began the proceedings with an opening address to the members present and thanked everyone for attending. The AGM ran smoothly and the business of the Association was soon concluded. Mark Durham presented the Golden Club Award to LLantrisant SAC, Club no. 349. A Bronze certificate was awarded to Paul Webster, Barton SAC and Maureen Pillinger was awarded Honorary Membership.
Mark Berrill then presented Mark Durham, retiring Executive member, with the gift of a pen as a thank you for all the work he had done on behalf of the S.A.A.
Finally, Steve Love presented Regional Instructor certificates to: Neil Craig, Caroline Craig, Keith Greenlees, Mark Blackshaw & Barry Mulcahy
Following a short comfort break, an open forum was held allowing members to address issues to Officers of the Executive on various topics that were current or needed clarification. See the report published following this article.
In the afternoon Marguerite St Leger Dowse delivered a presentation on "Drugs in Diving" to the members and then answered questions raised from the floor. Marguerite presented Mike Burley on behalf of the Association with a signed copy of her book "Women & Pressure - Diving & Altitude" Mike thanked Marguerite and presented her with a bouquet of flowers from the Association.
In the evening a Dinner Dance was held with 140 people attending ,during which a raffle was held to raise funds "to sponsor a RNLI Crewman’s training." An array of prizes were donated by various companies or individuals which encouraged the many generous participants to raise the substantial amount of £624.00. A further £400.00 was then donated by Westfield Insurance, thank you Nick. Our thanks also go to Sally Cartwright, SAA P.R.O.for all her hard work in attaining these prizes, also Mike Burley and Tony McCoy for their assistance. This money along with the money already raised at last years Dinner Dance has enabled us to achieve our target.
Music was provided by All or Nothing and everyone had a great evening. The finale to the event was Irene accompanying the band for the last song with the dance floor full of mesmerised party goers. An encore without the band was then done of "Lipstick on your Collar" with everyone joining in.
A great night and an event not to be missed, where was Simon and the rest of his judges for "Irene’s got Talent"? I’m already looking forward to next year, book early to avoid disappointment!
On a more official note I would like to take this opportunity to thank Irene and Carol for all their hard work they put in to make the whole day such a memorable occasion.
We will be putting photographs and details of the prize winners on the site in the next couple of days
Mark Berrill
Executive Member