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    A WORD FROM OUR CHAIRMAN

        "The publication of this booklet marks the first anniversary of the founding of our club. We can look back with some pride in our achievements.

    At Thailand's only club devoted exclusively to underwater exploration, we have the duty of introducing newcomers to diving, training them in safety procedures and promoting conservation to ensure that future divers will find the same abundance that we enjoy beneath our sea today. Generally I think we have done our job well.

    Our regular ocean trips have brought many people into contact with the undersea world. Some returned again, to join our club in pool and ocean training. Membership reach a high point of more than 70. Of these members, some proved inactive and later dropped out; this is to be expected in a special-activity group like ours. We now count, among a total of 55 members, a nucleus of about 20 active drivers. Around this core, we hope and intend an ever strong club to grow. It is particularly heartening to note that our membership embraces many different nationalities, with Thais in the numerical lead.

    We are grateful for the support and encouragement of forward-looking Thai Government officials and business leaders, and for the welcome tendered us by the World Confederation of Underwater Activities (C.M.A.S) of which our club, representing Thailand, has become the 38th member. One of the highlights of the past year was the visit to Thailand of our honorary member, C.M.A.S. Secretary General Jacques Dumas. Although we were unable to accept his kind invitation to send a delegation to the 1965 World Spearfishing Championships in Tahiti, we hope to participate in future international events abroad, and to organize such events in our home waters.

    We have recently acquired our own clubhouse in Pattaya, which will be a focal point for our activities. We extend a cordial invitation to all divers from abroad to enjoy our facilities and join our trips. There is no closed season on diving in Thailand.

    In conclusion, I want to thank those members of the club who have given extensively of their time and effort to bring us where we are today. In any club there must be a few who work so that others may play, and ours in no exception. With their support, I confidently expect 1966 to be an eventful year in the history of Thailand diving.

                    Dr M. Henn"