COMMENT: Please don't cold shoulder charities

But for those with a taste for the weird and wacky, which is just about everyone who takes part in Sunderland’s annual Boxing Day Dip, it’s a huge disappointment.

Those mermaid, Popeye and T-Rex costumes will just have to stay in the wardrobe for another year after it was announced that the coronavirus had effectively pulled the plug on this popular event.

This is one of the big fun events of the year, but more importantly is the fact that it is a fantastic money-spinner for charities in the community.

Sunderland Lions Club, who do a great deal of good work in the city, organise the event which also allows dippers to raise money for their own worthy causes.

Not only will the spectators miss out on a chilly spectacle, but charities will miss out on vital cash.

As Lions spokeswoman Anne Fielding tells us today: “Having organised the dip for 45 years it is such a shame and as a club we are devastated not to bring this event to the people of Sunderland and elsewhere.

"It will mean a big drop in our fund-raising activities, however, we do hope to arrange some kind of on-line giving plan for past dippers to subscribe to if they wish.”

In the summer we were being told as many as one in 10 charities were facing bankruptcy as the pandemic took hold. The pressure on groups who do so much for our community is building again.

While the chilly dip ain’t gonna happen, please don’t give charities the cold shoulder. They need us more than ever.