Swimming in the North Sea in summer is one thing, but braving the water in early March is quite another! Yet that’s what Wendy Knight, Gwen Tack and a group of sea dippers from McCarthy Stone did earlier this year to raise money for good causes – and Pink House Arts was one of the lucky beneficiaries.
Every year Gwen and Wendy organise a fundraising event to mark International Women’s Day and in 2025 they decided to do a Chilly Dip at Hunstanton, Norfolk. Cold water swimming has lots of health benefits but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do – after all, International Women’s Day falls in March.
Supporting local projects
Gwen and Wendy are both House Managers for McCarthy Stone, in charge of two different developments for the over 65’s near Peterborough and Huntingdon. They decided they wanted to raise money for a project which was local to them and being funded by the McCarthy Stone Foundation, because they knew the foundation would match any money they raised. Lucky for us, Pink House fitted the bill!
Thursday Club
We run the Thursday Club in Warmington, a village near Peterborough and Oundle which, a few years ago, had its bus service re-routed. Although the timetable shows there’s a regular daily service, in fact buses no longer come into the village and the bus stop is half a mile away on the busy A605 road. It’s a distance that’s too far for most of the elderly residents to walk.
Our club meets twice a month in the village hall and, since the beginning of this year, has been funded by the McCarthy Stone Foundation. It has nearly 40 registered members and an average attendance of 28 men and women at every meeting. More than 80% of them are over 75 years of age and about half of them live alone, so the get-togethers are really important to them.
Tackling loneliness
Both Wendy and Gwen are very aware of the problems that loneliness can cause for elderly people, so they immediately connected with the idea behind our Thursday Club. We were delighted when they got in touch to ask if they could visit to see it in action and meet some of the villagers.
A busy session
It was a busy session when they came to see us and Wendy says: “Gwen and I were amazed by how many people were attending the club. There was a guest speaker and then a selection of activities for people to choose from, as well as a nice cuppa and some good conversation. We understood exactly how this sort of club would help set up someone up so they felt able to cope with not seeing anyone else for the next few days.”
Soon, Wendy and Gwen were talking to their colleagues about our club and recruiting other chilly dippers to the cause for a sponsored swim. The homeowners at their McCarthy Stone sites weren’t just in awe at the idea of anyone doing the Chilly Dip, they were incredibly generous with their sponsorship as well.
A track record
Hunstanton in Norfolk was chosen for the Chilly Dip because it has a track record for community swims, including a Christmas Day Swim that’s been running for more than 60 years. On that basis, it seemed unlikely that the town would be surprised by a group of swimmers charging into the North Sea on a cold day in March!
Yes, it was cold!
Average UK sea temperatures are around 12oC but on the day of the Chilly Dip (Friday, 7 March) the highest temperature the North Sea reached was 6oC, so we can only imagine what it must have been like for the 20 swimmers who took the plunge. Several of them were in fancy dress, and one brave lady even took her dip in nothing but a swimsuit! (Wendy and Gwen took a more practical approach and wore wetsuits.)
The swimmers had lots of McCarthy Stone colleagues supporting from the beach, providing encouragement as well as hot drinks afterwards. The group was, however, a bit startled to realise they had also attracted a large audience of people watching from the promenade. But it just spurred everyone on and they all braved the water and did a proper swim, not just a quick dip in-and-out.
An amazing amount
We were almost overwhelmed when we heard how much money the Chilly Dip had raised. Together with the match-funding from the McCarthy Stone Foundation, Pink House Arts has been given more than £4,000 to help us start a new social club in another isolated village, and we’re currently researching where that might be.
We can’t thank Gwen, Wendy and their colleagues enough for choosing to raise money for our projects. Obviously, in their line of work, they know all about the effects of loneliness and isolation on the elderly, but their generosity has been amazing. Having said that, we still think they were more than a bit bonkers to go swimming in the North Sea in March!
Final thought
A few months after the Chilly Dip we were able to visit Gwen at McCarthy Stone’s Cranberry Court development on the outskirts of Peterborough. For us, it was really lovely to meet the homeowners at one of their regular coffee mornings and be able to chat to them about what we do, and about the difference their sponsorship money will make. The refreshments were excellent as well!