Hopes for postponed Boxing Day dip at Berwick to be resurrected at Easter

Mayor Anne Forbes has decided to postpone the Boxing Day event due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Around 100 brave swimmers would traditionally take the plunge to wash away any Christmas Day excesses.

However, it is hoped the dip can be staged on Good Friday, April 2, 2021.

Cllr Forbes said: “We've decided not to cancel outright because so many community events have been lost to Covid restrictions this year so if there was a way to reschedule we should go ahead."

The event will be supporting the Mayor's charity, Berwick Cancer Cars.

Berwick Town Council will be announcing details of how to get involved in the New Year.

However, local residents Colin Hardy and Georgina Hill will be carrying on the annual tradition of swimming in the North Sea on Boxing Day.

The duo will be taking the plunge from Spittal beach at 11am to raise funds and awareness of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

Georgina, county councillor for Berwick East, said: “We have been doing this event for six years as #TeamMND, and we will continue to do it until they find a cure for MND.”

MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness that kills six people every day in the UK.

More than half will die in the first year from diagnosis and more than half within two years. A person’s risk of developing MND is 1 in 300. MND has no cure.

Donations for Colin and Georgina’s cause can be made at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Colin-Hardy5

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