Tenby’s Boxing Day Swim this year will have a special ‘superhero’ fancy dress theme for fundraisers - to pay respects to voluntary lifeboat crew members, as part of the RNLI’s 200th anniversary.

The seaside town’s famous Boxing Day Swim splashed out into its second half-century with a record-breaking Disney-themed dip back on December 26, with over a thousand dippers once again taking to the choppy seas at North Beach for the annual charity event.

Between online entry fees and the bucket collection, more than £3,900 had been raised for the Tenby Sea Swimming Association (TSSA) funds, and earlier this year, swim organisers were able to give donations to three organisations who have helped the event’s success and safety over the years, with a presentation of £1,000 cheques to Tenby RNLI, Tenby Surflink and St John Ambulance Cymru.

There were also some outstanding individual fundraising efforts, such as even-year-old Teddy Gomez who raised £892 for the Shooting Star Children’s Hospital; while St Clears RFC Under 14s raised £1,500 for Glangwili Hospital Chemo Unit.

This took the swim’s fundraising total to nearly £6,500, meaning that over its lifetime, the swim has raised a total of £301,500 for charities and good causes!

At this month’s meting of Tenby Town Council, Cllr. Sam Skyrme-Blackhall told her fellow councillors that she had now been made chair of the Tenby Sea Swimming Association, with Chris Osborne whose family have been associated with the swim since its inception stepping down from the role.

Chris had previously said that his time as chairman had been ‘huge fun and extremely rewarding’ - and will now become life president of TSSA, following in the footsteps of his late mother, Gly Osborne, and late uncle, Idris Morgan.

With TSSA Secretary Nicole Evans also retiring from the committee after many years’ service, Cllr Skyrme-Blackhall’s husband Laurence became the new secretary.

She told her fellow Tenby town councillors that the theme this year for the swim would be ‘superheroes’ to mark the 200th anniversary of the RNLI, with proceeds from the event to go towards the Tenby branch of the RNLI.

Cllr Skyrme-Blackhall said that TSSA already had some new volunteers and would be looking to recruit more in the New Year.

She said earlier this year that she would endeavour to continue to carry the swim forward with enthusiasm and support from those who make it such a wonderful event on the festive calendar.