Could Tenby soon pay host to a charity fundraising swim with a difference - as town councillors have been approached with the suggestion to stage a mass ‘skinny dip’ on one of the resort’s beaches.
The idea is to stage a public skinny dip, ‘chunky dunk’ or fancy-dress swim celebrating togetherness and the importance of camaraderie and moral support, all whilst raising money for a worthwhile cause.
At Tuesday night’s meeting of Tenby town council, correspondence was received from Simon Rutherford who attended the event in Bude.
“2019 was the first year this has been held. It was a spin off from the established dip that’s been going for 10 years now,” he explained.
“I am living with incurable prostate cancer and am being encouraged to put Wales on the map for such an event and arrange a ‘Wales Skinny Dip’ for charity, possibly Prostate Cancer UK and The Eve Appeal - the UK’s Gynaecological Cancer Research Charity.
“This will generate awareness for both male and female cancers and raise funds for both.
“The benefits for Tenby which is a town I love and visit regularly from my now home in Brecon (previously I lived in Pendine), is that it will also bring awareness to the wider UK of how beautiful the town is.
“If this was a successful event it’s envisaged that it could be an annual event, really putting Tenby in the spotlight.
“My proposal is to use South Beach for the early morning event - obviously the tides would dictate the exact timings.
“The other two proposed sites for this event if permission were granted are Rhossili and Pembrey,” added Mr. Rutherford, who explained that he was looking into staging the event after the summer, possibly in September, and if not then in 2020.
The town clerk Andrew Davies told councillors that he’d had informal talks with Pembrokeshire County Council, and that such an event could be feasible if there was enough support for it.
Clr. Paul Rapi joked that perhaps the South Beach wouldn’t be the best location for such a skinny dip at the moment, due to the sandbags and trip hazards along with the exposed power cables that could ‘entail a lot of damage’ for those that were exposed and running down to the shoreline!
“It could be the first event of it’s kind where the Mayor presents himself...in just his chain!” he laughed.
“People can wear costumes!” Mr. Davies pointed out, with Clr. Mrs. Sam Skyrme-Blackhall offering her backing to such an event for a good cause.
Clr. Mrs. Tracey Evans also stated that it would be worthwhile.
“I think it’s a great idea for a good cause and it would certainly get people talking, as well as putting Tenby in the map even more!” she said.
“I support it if they want to go ahead with it,” added Mayor Clr. Tony Brown, with his fellow councillors agreeing that if the organisers wanted to progress with the event then they’d have no objections, although they suggested that the North Beach might be a more suitable spot.