RNLI will not organise Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Boxing Day dip, but fundraisers say they will swim anyway

Lisa Breeze has been doing the dip for 11 years, excluding the years during the Covid-19 pandemic, and plans to continue with her Monday plans alongside family to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

She thinks plenty of other groups will show up too, despite Newbiggin Lifeboat Station announcing on social media that they will not be organising an event, due to RNLI instructions.

Lisa, 48, said: “We are determined we are going to go this year, so we are going to go dressed as Blues Brothers. We always have a fancy dress theme.

“I laugh sometimes at the dip because you get all of these young, fit, lads going and dipping their toes in when we always go in and have a bit of a swim around, as long as it's safe to do so.

“If we are going to do it, we have to get in and get totally freezing cold, otherwise you feel awful taking peoples sponsor money if you're not doing it properly.”

The social worker from Ashington is continuing the fundraising work of her aunt Susie Lockyer.

Susie began fundraising for the charity after her son Gary died of lung cancer in July 2013 and her husband from kidney cancer the following December.

Not long after that, Susie was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer herself, and she passed away in July 2017 as a result.

Lisa said: “It is just unbelievable that the three of them got cancer within two years and then they have all died.

“It is not fair really, but we have picked up where she left off.

“I actually got breast cancer in 2018 and again in 2020 but I am absolutely fine, so I feel like I need to repay the research that helped keep me here.

“We have had a bit of a hard time in our family, but we will not let it get us down.”

The family’s fundraising campaign, named ‘#teamsusie’, has raised over £160,000 for Cancer Research UK so far.

You can donate here.