We had a fantastic night at the club’s awards dinner. A great turnout with 60 people enjoying what was a much improved venue and much better food than recent years. I hope we will be able to use the same venue again in the future and attract even more people along.
Three main awards were presented. Congratulations to the worthy winners of the main trophies.
Club Member of the Year
Trainee (Ocean Diver) of the Year
Diver of the Year
Our awards (and citations for the nominees) went down really well, and the winners were…
Club Member of the Year Ocean Diver Of The Year Steve Welton Vesta Charlesworth 
Steve was not able to collect his cup in person so Jon collected it and we improvised…
Steve said – “On Saturday night I got a text message off Jon Green to say I had won the club member of the year to which I replied, yes sure. Hahahahaha… Jon then sent a photo with my name subscribed on the trophy 🏆. Can’t believe it. What an honor to be voted for by the club members. Thankyou firstly for the nomination and of course to win is fantastic. Thankyou to all who voted it really does mean a great deal.”
Vesta said – “ I’ve had a fantastic year with the club and I’m looking forward to many more. I honestly couldn’t have done as much as I have without the support of everyone especially Clive and John who gave a lot of their time to train me! Here’s to many more years!! ”
Diver of the Year
Clive Byrne
Clive Said “Thank you for your votes for diver of the year, I am privileged to hold this nice shiny cup for one year. Congratulations to comrade Steve for club member of the year. We both deserve it, well done to both of us for outstanding work, effort and being good volunteers! I hope some of our new members will take this off me next year, they will have to start now as I’ve already started my climb up the divers leader board and I’m ready and available to help out at the club. It’s been a privilege to be a member of the club. This is my tenth year which indicates how good our club is. Thank you again.”
Congratulations and our thanks also go to those who were nominated for the Club Member of the Year award, the following nominations for Club Member of the Year were received: along with the citations for their contributions.
Loz-Broome – In Recognition of:
- His fantastic encouragement of new members.
- His superb skills as a trainer.
- The time given to help with training.
Clive Byrne – In Recognition of:
- His all-round dedication to the club.
- The enormous amount of time given as an Instructor to training others.
- His enthusiasm for diving, sending out great “anyone fancy a dive” messages
- His superb contribution where ever he may be: at the pool, on trips or at the club.
- His efforts in the design, sourcing and fitting of the new club kitchen.
- His help in running the bar and supplying the food.
Janice Byrne- In Recognition of:
- Always being a cheerful and friendly face at the club
- Ensuring the bar runs smoothly and food is available
Phil Darlington – In Recognition of:
- His over & above contribution to the general running of the club and it’s equipment
Mark-Paisey In Recognition of:
- Project Highball – this expedition, driven by Mark, is one of the greatest achievements of the club.
Paul Tyers- In Recognition of:
- His efforts as Chairman in keeping the committee in line
- Sorting out the land issue
- Ensuring the history of the club is recorded for posterity.
Steve Welton – In Recognition of:
- His outstanding work as Equipment officer.
- Ensuring our air is safe, the boats are functional and kit is available for trainees and try –dives.
- His encouragement of the Ocean divers; organising trips and coxing the RIB.
- His overall efforts that turn ECSAC from a social club to a dive club
Each of the nominees received a certificate, from the left, Janice, Paul, Clive and Loz.
Phil Darlington, Mark Paisey and Steve Welton will be presented their certificates when they are next in the club.
Thanks also go to the Social Committee for all their hard work in pulling the event together and making it such a great success. A lot of hard work went on behind the scenes.
(Thanks to Alison for these photos)
Thanks also to our official photographer Richard Buck who did a fantastic job of the event photos. You can see all his photos here.
The raffle went well with the Fitbit Charge 2, as well as other great prizes thanks to sponsorship from Peli Uk (thanks to Phi Frost for that) and Bennett Brookes (the club’s Accountants) as well as a really great prize of a round of golf for Four at the Tytherington Club, and there were plenty of other special prizes available on the night in the raffle.
A selection of Richard’s photos are available below. Click on the thumbnail to view the larger version.
