THE mayor of Swindon must have had a sinking feeling when he saw his list of duties plunge to new depths at the weekend.

But David Cox and his mayoress, Jenny Dean, remained buoyant as they arrived at Wootton Bassett's Lime Kiln Leisure Centre last night for a spot of scuba diving.

They spent an hour in the swimming pool with instructor Ian Purvis from Swindon's OK Diving Services, learning the basics of the sport.

It was a refreshing change from Coun Cox's normal civic duties, which often see him submerged in charity and community events.

He said: "Ian is an old friend of mine and has been running scuba schools in Swindon for more than 20 years.

"We bumped into him recently and he asked me if we fancied a go and we jumped at the chance.

"I know it was only in a swimming pool but it does give you a good idea of what it's like to do it for real it was great fun."

He said he would consider taking it up properly and gaining a diving certificate, but was conscious of the cost.

"It can be very expensive to learn to scuba dive, so I'm not sure if we will go for it or not."