Meet the Team
Gavin Griffiths – Instructor
Gavin is someone who fell in love with diving from the beginning, progressing through the ranks to become an instructor, to then become a valued member of our team. Gavin is the Mister Active of the college and has held national titles in several martial arts, although he has now retired to coach his younger prodigies. Despite being originally from Telford in the Midlands, the social integration scheme has worked well and we are proud to have Gavin as our friend, colleague and instructor.
Tony Arden – Instructor
Tony has been a PADI instructor since 1997, working for several different dive schools in the UK, Malta and the Caribbean. He is qualified to teach up to instructor level along with many diving specialties and also holds qualifications in: boat handling; VHF radio; technical maintenance; first aid instruction; and disabled diver instruction. At present Tony is studying for an MSc in Conservation Biology, at Exeter University. If you would like to learn about the wonderful habitat that is sea grass, then Tony is the local expert and has had several papers on the subject published.
Susie Van Baarsel – Instructor
Susie and Katie Clements make up the academic dynamic to the team. Susie grew up in Holland and is a fluent speaker of Dutch and English. After leaving Holland and the cold North Sea four years ago, Susie came to the tropical waters of Falmouth where she worked as a Divemaster whilst studying for her MSc in Evolution. Since then she has become an instructor and started writing her Ph.D thesis on the effects of climate change on the carbon balance in peatlands: yes another deserving of the title Geek. But a chic geek we must confess. A laugh is never far at bay when Susie and Katie are close by.
Katie Clements – Instructor
Katie is a fully qualified professional marine biologist who is also a professional SCUBA diver! Katie learnt to dive during her BSc course in Swansea in 2002 and went on to spend two years in the Maldives working as a marine biologist and Divemaster on a luxury live aboard and resort (lucky thing) before returning to the UK to pursue marine biology to Ph.D level and diving to instructor level. Currently Katie is completing her Ph.D thesis on all things faecal, studying how poo particles are transported down estuaries and how humans end up ingesting them, nice. We think it’s actually really interesting; the official line is the study of microbial pollution in shellfish.
Anna Hughes – Instructor
Anna’s entire life has been oriented towards the sea. The daughter of a Naval Officer and a primary school teacher, Anna may as well have been born on a boat with teaching in her genes. At the age of just eighteen Anna had already achieved her RYA Yachtmaster and naturally progressed onto exploring what lies beneath the waves. Her knowledge of conditions at sea and navigation equipped Anna with many transferrable skills. Anna works part time as a sailing instructor and part time as a diving instructor: the perfect mix for an aqua-fanatic.
Liam Carthew – Instructor
Liam at present is working towards making a full time career out of diving in warmer climes. Despite wishing Liam all the best we will be very sad to see such a dedicated member of our team leave. Liam’s hero is Paul Rose, with very good reason, and he is working towards holding as many diving accolades as Mr Rose himself. All of Liam’s diving has been in the UK, which not only makes him an experienced Divemaster but will also make him an outstanding instructor. Good luck Liam.
Andy Webb - Assistant Instructor
If all good things came in small packages then Andy would be living proof. Andy came to diving later on in life, but has been diving at every possible opportunity since then. Not only a competent diver and an important part of our team, Andy is also a dab hand at fixing things, which is lucky because he is a carpenter by day. For all the wonderful things that we could say about Andy, we only wish that we could say that his tea making skills were up to standard. Do not fear, Andy is receiving intensive tea making training. Shortly after this is completed Andy will start training to become a super instructor.
Isaac Walmsley – Assistant Instructor
Isaac completed a BSc (Hons) Sports Performance and Coaching Degree at Plymouth University in 2007 with the first two years of the programme forming a Foundation Degree in Outdoor Education during which Isaac majored in Paddlesport, Mountaineering, and Windsurfing. Since Isaac got a Blue Peter badge for swimming 10,000 metres when he was eleven he has been bound for a water based career. Isaac has just invested in a dry suit so he can dive all year round in comfort. As well as being Mister Outdoors, Isaac also has a keen interest in conservation and research/survey diving.
Katie Sambrook – Divemaster
Katie has always had a love of the sea and everything aquatic. She came early to diving achieving her Open Water certification at the age of 14, diving in and around the UK. Since then Katie became an adult working in the suited and booted office world. But then one day Katie decided that she could not resist the call of the sea, and went to the Philippines to volunteer with Coral Cay Conservation. This spurred Katie on to enrol on a Foundation Degree in Marine Science when she returned to the UK, and that is what Katie is doing now. Diving and studying the sea when not diving. Big thumbs up from us.
Kat Scott – Divemaster
Kat came into the dive shop as a fresher at Tremough, and has been with us for the last three years expanding her knowledge of diving and studying very hard in between. Trained in Cornish waters, Kat is another of our homemade professionals that we are very happy to have on the team. Kat is one of the most motivated people we know and has an ambition to work with monkeys, as she has done for several summers now over in Africa. We will be sad to see Kat leave when she goes to start her Master’s Degree and pursue her life’s ambition of becoming a Monkey Woman. All the best Kat, we know you can do it.
Ben Brigg – Divemaster
Ben started diving at the tender age of 12 when he completed his Junior Open Water certification at Cornish Diving College with a donation from the The Bank of Dad: Ben’s Dad, also a keen diver, passed the bug onto Ben. Since those early days Ben has grown up to be brilliant diver who is willing to help, knows the environment and has great foresight. Despite all this experience Ben is also the gullible member of the team: no matter how many times we tell him gullible has been removed from the dictionary, he still looks it up. Bless.
Nick Masters – Cheque Signer
Nick is the key stone in the bridge because he pays us all, which makes all of this possible. There aren’t really many locations in the world that remain undived by Nick, including the Arctic Circle. Along with the thousands of dives he has logged are also thousands of people he has taught to dive or advance within diving. It is only a matter of time before Nick becomes a PADI Course Director: the highest professional level within PADI. If only we could get him to keep his desk tidy, then he would be perfect. We can hope.
