Sunderland's Boxing Day Dip 2023 details including timings, how to enter and where to watch the action

Fundraisers are once again preparing to brace the nippy North Sea on Boxing Day.

This year will see the event once again be based at the STACK in Seaburn, with registration open from 10am and dippers heading for the beach in time to take the plunge at 11am.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Alison Chisnall will lead the parade into the North Sea, as Mayor Cllr Dorothy Trueman will be leading her own team into the dip.

The event made a return in 2022, having not run since 2019, with dippers raising an estimated £40,000 for a huge range of good causes across the North East.

Sunderland Lions Club volunteers have organised the Dip since it started in the 1970s, but in 2022, teamed up with Sunderland-based heart health education charity The Red Sky Foundation for the annual tradition.

Sunderland Lions secretary Jackie Robson said moving from the dip's previous home to the STACK last year caused some concern, but after seeing the response last year, was delighted that the new home was the perfect fit.

She said:  "Our collaboration with the Red Sky Foundation was really good - we both had skills which really complemented each other and made for a successful event."

Sergio Petrucci, Founder of Red Sky Foundation said that he was delighted with how last year's event had gone and is looking forward to this year's dip.

He said: "We were really pleased with how we worked with the Lions and to have the support of Sunderland City Council, which is very important.

"And the Stack is a great location - we are literally over the road from where the dippers enter the sea, and it is a perfect place to celebrate afterwards."

How to enter

In previous years, the Sunderland Lions had taken a percentage of money raised but last year the process was simplified, with dippers paying a flat rate of £10 to enter, and free to keep anything they raised through sponsorship or donate it to be divided between the Lions and the Foundation.

The same system will apply this year.

To enter, go to Dip.redskyfoundation.com