22 February 2007

Ol'Boyz Reunion at the PADI Members Forum

It was good to meet with some ol'dive pros and catch-up on all the local news over a cup of coffee at the PADI Members Forum held at Croydon this evening. Ken and Ray H with Del M (Assistant Instructors) along with Tad , Al and myself had a pleasant evening chatting and were briefed by PADI Regional Manager Graham Owen. It's a fairly long haul upto Croydon for the Forum but Graham joined the Meridian Diver crew for a drink and a chat after the event so we squeezed a little more value out of the trip!

Naturally invitations to join this blog have been extended to Ken, Ray and Del (along with clan members Simon) , so I'm hoping that we'll see 'da boyz' listed as contributors pretty soon.

PADI reported a drop in Open Water certifications in the UK during 2006 and as a result will be promoting more entry courses this year. Graham was upbeat about the UK industry saying that he was currently seeing more Dive Centres open than were closing.

As a matter of interest another delegate at the Forum was the Instructor who during 2006 was seeking to buy the Newhaven centre. The Forum is a good place to network with other dive enthusiasts and I think we will see some divers making visits to East Sussex as a result!

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