Sheringham New Year sea dip cancelled over insurance

Swimmers taking to the sea at Sheringham, Norfolk, to raise money for the lifeboat service

An annual New Year's day dip in the sea to raise money for charity has been cancelled due to "legal requirements".

Organisers of the Sheringham Dip in Norfolk, said the event was not going ahead for the second year running.

A post on Facebook said: "The legal requirements for such events become ever more stringent and prohibitive.

"We are just a two-man team with little event experience and have come up against a number of risk assessment and event insurance hurdles."

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Swimmers - often in festive or fancy dress - run into the cold, winter sea to raise cash for the RNLI.

Chris Taylor, organiser and Sheringham RNLI helmsman, apologised for the cancellation, and added: "We hope to possibly team up with a more experienced group of people to see if we can bring it back in 2024."

The event was last held in January 2020, prior to all the Covid lockdowns.

Swimmers pose before launching into the sea at Sheringham, Norfolk