SCOUTS from the third Bromsgrove Evergreen Scout troop and Bonington Explorer Unit had the chance to try something a little bit different recently during a trip to the Dolphin Centre.

The youngsters all tried on scuba equipment, and dived under the water to try it out as part of their water activity badge.

They were helped out by instructors from BSAC Mercian Divers, a Bromsgrove based scuba club who put all 11 of them through their paces at the bottom of the pool.

Emma Mitchell, welfare officer for Mercian Divers, said: “They did a combination of scuba diving and snorkelling. Most of them haven’t done anything like that before, but they enjoyed it, and they’ve asked if they can do it again next January, so we’ll probably make it a yearly thing now.

“It’s a very different hobby. I think we only have a few children in the group and those are the ones whose parents like scuba diving. Most people don’t get the experience, it’s unusual.”

The Mercian Divers meet every Monday night at the Dolphin Centre and train up scuba divers, and then throughout the summer, they take trips out to scuba dive along the coast.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the group, can visit mercian-divers.org.uk.

the boy is Lucas Thompson McClure, and the instructor is Mick Marshall.