It’s now becoming a bit of a tradition at St. Michaels (this being the third year) that a small group bares all and has a bit of fun at Seaham. The group consisting of Roger Elsey, Dave Turnbull, Sue Wardle and John Lambton took great care to ensure we adjusted to the balmy 5 degrees C before entering the sea. We did have concerns that the weather could be unkind as it had rained a lot during the lead-up to Boxing Day – we would have been wet through. The tide this year was in our favour, as it was almost high tide giving us a shorter walk both in entering the sea and achieving some depth. Roger made careful judgement as to how difficult it would be to take to the water and considered it too easy, he did it bare foot! It’s not clear if his feet were protected by hard skin or hard blocks of ice, but no injuries resulted from this bare foot option (it could start a trend)!

We were supported by a small group of well wishes, which were rumoured to replace any one of us if needed, but they were to be disappointed. Five brave / foolish souls accomplished the task without incident. After a brief change into dry and warm clothes we retired to the Mill pub for hot food and refreshment.

Our thanks to all who supported us on the day and to our sponsors, £150 was raised for Church funds.  John Lambton