Brave Boxing Day bathers are being urged to go for gold with both their fancy dress and fundraising when they take part in Tenby’s annual festive dip.

With the theme of Sporting Heroes, the crazy Christmas event looks set to bring out a variety of costumes to celebrate a super summer of sport for the UK and Pembrokeshire.

And swimmers will be giving a helping hand to a number of good cause through their efforts – not least the four chosen by Tenby Sea Swimming Association, which organises the plunge.

One of the charities, Meningitis UK, has been chosen in memory of teenager Hannah Gwilliam of Burton, who tragically died from the disease in January.

Just a month earlier, the Pembrokeshire College Student was among nearly 700 people who took part in the Boxing Day Swim.

Hannah’s family and friends have since raised nearly £50,000 for Meningitis UK, in the hope that a vaccine will be found to eradicate all forms of the disease.

Her mum, Ann, said: “Hannah was such a fun-loving and caring person. She encouraged her friends to do the swim and loved the dressing-up part.

“It was a tragedy that she died only a month later, a healthy 18-year-old with a great future before her, struck down so quickly by this deadly disease.”

The swim’s other headline charities will be the Tenby and Saundersfoot branch of the NSPCC; the Tenby and District Gateway Club which provides services and activities for people with learning disabilities and PATCH (Pembrokeshire Action to Combat Hardship), which provides food parcels, clothing and household items to local people in a financial crisis. Bathers can also collect for their own chosen charities.

Tenby Boxing Day Swim, now in its 42nd year, takes place on the North Beach, Tenby. Fun on the beach, which includes a crazy raft race, and fancy dress parade, gets underway at 11am, before the plunge at 11.30am. Swimmers are then presented with commemorative medals around a warming bonfire.

For more information, or to download a sponsor form, visit www.tenbyboxing dayswim.co.uk.