Sue Morris, 36, from Bedford quit the army after 10 years and now puts on her mermaid tail twice a week to make kids' dreams come true
AN ex-army captain has swapped life in the military to become a professional mermaid - and she gets paid to teach it to others too.
Yep, you heard us correctly. Susan Morris, 36 from Bedford is a real life mermaid, teaching the next generation how to flip their fins.
And what’s better, she’s being paid £25 hour to do it.
Okay, so Sue’s not making millions yet, as it’s not her main job. She’s actually studying to be a science teacher so mermaiding is a hobby that she gets paid to do on the side.
She gave up a 10 year career in the military to teach, but it’s her love of swimming that lead her to dedicating her evenings and weekends to a life under the sea (sort of).
We caught up with Sue to find out exactly what it takes to become a mermaid.
“I was in the Royal Signals for 10 years,” Sue told the Sun Online. “I was a captain and on the verge of being promoted to Major but I decided that it was time for me to leave.
“I’d done two tours in Afghanistan and I was getting married and I thought it might be time to start thinking about a family.
“I’m passionate about swimming. When I was younger I used to be a competitive swimmer and when I was 17 I trained to be a qualified swimming teacher, and kept it up for nearly 20 years.”
Sue, who’s married now, swapped one challenging job for and even tougher one - teaching teenagers chemistry, physics and maths to swimming is a way for her to let off steam.
“I first heard about the mermaid lessons because my sister’s children were taking classes and a few of their friends at school were too,” Sue explained.
“I’ve swum with two fins before but never a monofin - that’s where both of your feet go into one flipper.
“You can also buy the mermaid tails to put over the top and then you really do feel like a mermaid.
“At first it does make you feel restricted because your feet have to move in the same way at the same time.
“It takes a while to get used to only kicking with butterfly legs.”
So what comes in the mermaid starter pack? And how much does it cost?
You’ll need your own monofin which costs around £35 and a tail, which are priced at around £70 for a fabric one - although silicone ones can cost more than £200.
Sue had to go on a day course to become a mermaid instructor which cost her £90 - although she was already a qualified level 2 swim instructor.
If you were looking to became a mermaid teacher, you’d need to be a qualified teacher first which costs around £90 too.
So you’re looking at spending £180 on training if you’re starting from scratch, and £105 for the kit - so you'll need to spend around £285 before becoming a fully-fledged mer-person.
THINKING about becoming a real life mermaid? This is how much you're looking at spending compared to how much you could earn:
Initial costs:
Total: £285
What you can earn:
Sue’s only been teaching mermaiding with since Christmas so she’s only just earning back the original investment - but there’s still plenty of time to make more money.
At the moment she's teaching children, but they're popular with hen and stag dos too, as well as birthday parties.
But if she’s honest with herself, it’s not about the money.
She said: “£25 an hour is a bit more than you’d get being a swimming teacher and it’s a nice little earner doing it on the side while I train to be a teacher.
“I love swimming and the kids get really excited by it. I teach mainly seven to 14-year-olds and it really boosts their confidence in the water.
“And of course, I say it’s about the kids but on the training course there were about 12 of us adults on the course and we all turned into kids a little bit because we loved it.
“It’s great when you see a child start out a bit nervous and then see their faces light up when they finally achieve it.
“It’s very different from what I used to do in the army. My friends and family are like ‘really?’ They can’t believe you can actually make money doing it, but you can and I love it.”
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