Tenby Boxing Day Swim

Hundreds of barmy bathers have splashed out in balmy weather conditions to make the Tenby Boxing Day Swim

News

SPLASH OUT TO BE A PART OF THE ACTION IN TENBY’S BARMY BOXING DAY SWIM!

2018 Theme: Space Travel

TENBY’s famous Boxing Day Swim will be splashing out from the resort’s North Beach for the 48^th time this Christmas.

Ranked amongst the festive highlights of Wales, the charity event has also been named as one of Britain’s top ten barmiest winter dips.

The Tenby Boxing Day Swim is organised by the Tenby Sea Swimming Association, which also stages the summertime Caldey Swim from the monastic island to the Tenby mainland. The two events have enabled TSSA to raise nearly £280,000 for local, national and international charities and good causes over the years.

The 2017 Tenby Boxing Day Swim saw a superb entry of over 650 dippers who were cheered on by one of the largest-ever crowds in the event’s history.

2018 Details

Swimmers can collect for their own good causes or the charities nominated by TSSA.

The 48^th Tenby Boxing Day Swim takes place on the North Beach on Wednesday, December 26^th 2018.

Fun on the beach starts at 11 am with a canoe race, crazy raft race, and fancy dress parade. The stampede for the sea is signaled at 11.30am, and swimmers can look forward to the reward of the warming beach bonfire, hot soup and a commemorative medal on their return to the beach.

About the Swim

AN EVENT WITH HERITAGE

Named as one of Britain’s top ten barmiest winter dips, TENBY’s famous Boxing Day Swim has been an institution in the small West Wales town for decades and has recently featured in the ITV Wales series The Harbour, which was filmed in Tenby and shows a year in the life of the seaside community. The Tenby Boxing Day Swim is organised by the Tenby Sea Swimming Association, which also stages the summertime Caldey Swim from the monastic island to the Tenby mainland.

The two events have enabled TSSA to raise nearly £280,000 for local, national and international charities and good causes over the years.

The 2016 Tenby Boxing Day Swim saw a record-breaking entry of over 700 dippers who took the plunge in the sunshine and numbers remain strong and consistent for this year’s festivities.

Swimmers can collect for their own good causes or the charities nominated by TSSA.

The 48^th Tenby Boxing Day Swim takes place on the North Beach on Wednesday, December 26^th 2017, from 11 am.

The stampede for the sea is signalled at 11.30am, and swimmers can look forward to the warmth of the beach bonfire, hot soup and a commemorative medal on their return to the beach.

History

FESTIVE FUNDRAISER HAS FAMILY TRADITIONS

The Tenby Boxing Day Swim has been a part of the town’s Christmas festivities for nearly five decades.
But the origins of its parent organisation, the Tenby Sea Swimming Association, date back for more than a century.
In 1910, Arthur Dickinson – Quaker, lay preacher, artist and keen swimmer – brought his family from Yorkshire to live in Ruabon House, South Parade. Arthur was a year-round swimmer, and family legend has it that he was the first person to swim to Caldey. The harness he made to support youngsters in the water is now in Tenby Museum.
His son-in-law, Ossie Morgan, who was appointed as headmaster of the Tenby Council School, carried on the family tradition of teaching children to swim. When Mr Morgan retired, his own offspring decided to get non-swimmers afloat, and in the 1960s, Idris Morgan, Gly Osborne, Alan Morgan and Ray Lowe formed the Tenby Sea Swimming Association (TSSA).
They sponsored and provided accommodation for some instructors from Atlantic College during the summer, finishing with a modest swimming gala.
The opening of Tenby’s first indoor swimming pool could have spelled the end of TSSA, but the organisation then took on a new lease of life in 1970 when Tenby’s publicity officer, John Evans, came up with the idea of a charity Boxing Day Swim to put Tenby on the map.
The rest, as they say, is history……