The youth of Thanet has dived off of our piers for as long as anyone I know can remember and although the harbour authority here in Ramsgate are employing several security guards to try and stop this it doesn’t seem to be working very well.Of course at one time we had the marina swimming pool with associated diving facilities, the other picture is of the diving board at Herne Bay in which is how towns that didn’t have a marina solved the problem.
Well at the moment we are spending a great deal of taxpayers money inadequately policing our youth, who after all only want to engage in a healthy sporting activity.My question here is why not pay people to operate proper diving stations instead?
The video is of Broadstairs last week.
Click here for today’s BBC news report about this.
Click here for a few pictures of Ramsgate Harbour taken today, it was far too early for the youth of today to be about, I also noticed that the BBC article seems to have changed its emphasis from Thanet to Folkestone.
Felixstowe used to have anchored floating raft diving platforms. Swim out to the deep water .. press up on to the platform .. climb up to the board and dive back in to the sea. I suppose the health and safety people would have a fit at them nowadays.
ReplyDeleteWhat swim offshore to deep water just to dive !!! And no lifeguards.
Sadly, a young man was killed a few years ago tombstoning off Broadstairs Pier having broken his neck. Also I know of a slightly older man who was killed diving off the promenade at Westgate while under the influence of alcohol, leaving a wife and young family.
ReplyDeleteA very good question. Broadstairs used to put a temporary structure in place for their swimming gala in the 1950 / 60's as well as a couple of rafts.
ReplyDeleteMy dream development for the Merry England site would be a pool similar to the RNLI one at Poole. Add a helicopter ditching tank and you start to get a real white knuckle experience. Also it would be open all the year round.
Yep get the marina swimming pool rebuilt it will solve a lot of problems.
ReplyDelete1974 was when the marina swimming pool was closed.Build a water park a.s.a.p.with diving boards!
ReplyDeleteMichael, on your stroll did you notice the damage to the lighting caused by the "innocent" divers, when they get bored? All have to be repaired with local taxpayers money.
ReplyDelete