The Sports Council for Wales has breathed new life into Flintshire Sub-Aqua Club, plunging vital funding towards new equipment.

The diving club has scooped £1,000 from the Sports Council’s Community Chest scheme to buy ladies’ equipment. That includes two Buoyancy Control Devices - which help divers to stay at a constant depth and to descend or ascend in a controlled way - and breathing regulators that control the all-important oxygen supply.

Weekly pool based training sessions held at Holywell Leisure Centre regularly attract more than 40 budding divers of varying experience. Lately, instructors have noticed more and more women signing up to take the plunge. So they decided to dive in and buy new kit that’s specially designed for smaller frames.

Club Treasurer, Geoff Kay explains: "The Community Chest funding is really important for a small club like us because we don’t generate the kind of revenue to spend this much easily. Kit costs a lot of money and wipes us out when we buy some.

"At the beginning of the financial year we were predicting doom and gloom but we did some ‘try dive’ sessions, where people could come along and spend an hour in the pool to have a try. From that we have now got six ladies training and two more starting next month.

"We’ve never had this kind of surge in lady members before and I have no idea why it’s proven so popular!"

Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, Philip Carling, said:

"Community Chest has been and continues to be a huge success and is very popular throughout Flintshire. Over the last ten years, it has made a big difference to small community projects right across Wales and now embraces all sorts of community groups such as the Women’s Institute, not just your local football club."

"Panels based in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales hold the purse strings and have delegated authority to award grants to worthwhile projects. We want to hear of bright ideas and projects that will get more people in Flintshire more active, more often."

Community Chest, which is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, is a National Lottery grant managed by the Sports Council for Wales and supported locally by Flintshire County Council. It is designed to encourage more people to become more physically active, more often.

After a decade’s worth of investment totalling over £9million, the Sports Council for Wales and the National Lottery are celebrating the successes of community groups and sports clubs that have flourished through unlocking Community Chest funding.

Since its inception in 1999, communities across the length and breadth of Wales have been investing heavily in sports and physical activity projects.

Organisations keen to develop sport and physical activity in Wales can receive up to £1000 for a qualifying project over a 12 month period.

Flintshire Sub-Aqua Club train every Wednesday evening with classroom lessons from 7pm-8pm and sheltered water pool diving from 8.30pm-9.30pm. For further information contact Holywell Leisure Centre on 01352 712027.