The Boxing Day Dip is a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

event where many of the swimmers are in fancy dress swim in the sea on

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

. There are several such dips held around

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, but the largest is organised by the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Participants are expected to wear fancy dress and jump into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. (See also

Winter swimming Winter swimming is the activity of swimming during the winter season, typically in outdoor locations (open water swimming) or in unheated pools or lidos. In colder countries, it may be synonymous with ice swimming, when the water is frozen ove ...

Tenby's Boxing Day swim

The swim is in Pembrokeshire, Wales, started in 1970 and has become Tenby's main Christmas attraction. With around 600 swimmers and thousands of onlookers each year. With everyone swimming for charity, and the majority in fancy dress. Each of the swimmers receives a medal for their efforts. Started by the Tenby Sea Swimming Association, (TSSA), the Osborne family has been associated with the spectacle from the beginning and Chris Osborne, chairman of TSSA has seen the event take place in every weather condition, from brilliant sunshine to freezing wind-chill.

Sunderland's Boxing Day dip

It is held at

Seaburn Seaburn is a seaside resort and northeastern suburb of Sunderland, North East England. The village of Whitburn borders the area to the north. To the west and south-west is Fulwell and to the south the coastal resort of Roker. Virtually all of ...

beach in

and it attracts one thousand dippers every year. Up to five thousand spectators turn out to witness the dip, including the City’s

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and Mayoress. Originating in 1974 the dip is one of the oldest events in the country. The dip of 2004 raised nearly £60,000 for charity, with several teams taking part.

North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards' Boxing Day swim at Whitley Bay

A swim or dip in the sea over the festive period (be it

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

, or

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

) is a traditional event for many lifeguard clubs across the UK. With sea

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

s ranging anywhere from 4 °C to 10 °C.

North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards {{short description, Volunteer lifeguard club based in Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, England North Sea Volunteer Lifeguards (commonly abbreviated to NSVL) is a volunteer lifeguard club based in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It was ...

(NSVL) has held a Boxing Day swim every year since the club's formation in 1998, jumping in the

from their base at

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...

on the north-east coast of England. The event started off and continues to be one of the year's biggest social gatherings of the club, with members travelling from far distances.

East Anglia festive season swims

Several charity swims take place in

East Anglian East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom of the Kingdom of East Anglia, East Angles, ...

resorts on Christmas and Boxing Day.

References

External links

Sunderland Lions Club

BBC Wear - Boxing Day Dip 2008 and pictures of previous dips
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222190227/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/articles/2008/10/07/boxing_day_dip_2008_feature.shtml , date=2008-12-22 Charities based in England