19/01/2026
💡 Community Spotlight – Neville 💡
This all began when Neville met another member in our Hanley gym. “I was trying to swim one evening but felt mentally tired from work. I met a woman and she asked me why I wanted to swim, so I told her”. They didn’t speak again until “she got in touch via Facebook and asked if I could swim yet. It was then I thought I will learn."
“She watched me swim, laughed and then taught me the breaststroke. We met every day at 6:30am and she watched. For 3 years, I swam at Hanley and then Newcastle. I brought goggles and watched swimmers as they passed me. I eventually got up to doing a mile. Then, a lifelong dream emerged as I wanted to learn to scuba drive and swim with dolphins.”
“After 3 years of swimming, I took up scuba diving. I did open water, but the kit was heavy. A total of 24kg in weight before you hit the water. I found it hard to stand up with all the kit on. That’s when plan B kicked in. I contacted Craig Silkens to help me build core strength... I hated those early days, but I persisted. I then injured myself at work and had many operations. Each time, Craig nursed me back to fitness by altering my training plans. He never gave up on me”.
“I progressed with my training to gain 15 other diving qualifications whilst getting fitter and stronger on the way. I still aim to keep going. I still swim at least twice a week."
“The gym has helped me to make friends. I have trained two students to dive who now attend the gym and have encouraged at least two people in the club to take up diving. You know who you are and you should tell your story too!”
“I’m not saying we should all swim, or learn to dive, but what we must not do is let other people control us with their words and stop us having fun. A roman philosopher said, life is not short, it’s long, we just let others waste most of it for us. Then eventually, we realise that we have very little left. Then we say, we say life is short. Do not let others how you back. P.s off to Mexico in Feb diving!”
Thank you Neville for sharing this story with us. What an inspirational journey ⭐