25 wonderful pictures of intrepid swimmers braving the cold seas at the Whitby Lions Boxing Day Dip

The post-Christmas Whitby tradition to ‘enjoy’ a refreshing dip in the North Sea on Boxing Day morning, proved a huge success this year… while also raising lots of money for local charities.

Complete with their fancy dress costumes, the intrepid bathers brushed off the chilly conditions to dive head long into what was a fantastic day of festive fun.

Prior to this year’s event, Brian Harrison of Whitby Lions said: “This fun and frantic event has now been running over the last 48 years, originally seeing numbers soar from a handful of brave local citizens to more than 200 eager individuals travelling from far and wide, desperate to run into the wintry ice-cold waves of the North Sea.

"The Boxing Day dip has become a traditional family-friendly event with many families meeting up after Christmas Day to spending a lovely Boxing Day morning together.

“Our 2021 dip was the biggest ever with a record-breaking response, with over 230 dippers taking part and at least a thousand spectators supporting the event and joining in with the fun. As a result, the club directly raised over £3,000 to support their work helping local organisations and charities.

"The dippers themselves would have raised many thousands of pounds for various local and national charities.”

For more information on the dip visit the Lions website at: www.whitbylionsclub.org.uk