Hundreds of people run into icy cold water on Southend seafront

These brave people took a dip in the cold water on Southend seafront on Boxing Day morning! It was the annual Southend RNLI Boxing Day dip, where the water temperature was just 7C!

The event helps raise vital funds for the RNLI, for its Southend lifeboat operations.

Participants paid a £6 fee and are then invited to fundraise further to support Southend RNLI. Fancy dress was also very much encouraged for people taking part!

Daniel Wanna, Event Manager & Southend RNLI Helmsman, said: “This was our 8^th year running the event. Historically, the event has raised in excess of £12,000, enabling us to continue to save lives at sea, here in Southend. All profit from this event is utilised specifically at the Southend RNLI Station.“

Southend RNLI have two boathouses – one at each end of Southend-on-Sea’s 1.25 mile-long pier. One of the boathouse stations has a a B class and a D class inshore lifeboat, while the other has a D class lifeboat and a hovercraft.

It costs around £438k a day to run the RNLI across the UK, all of which is generously donated by the public. The donated funds mean that a fleet of lifeboats and highly-trained volunteer lifeboat crews are ready to launch from 237 lifeboat stations around country.

Photo by Ross Day Photography.