Each year, the service that I work in ( Leeds Youth Justice) gets together its staff and young people to put on a Christmas meal for their families and local elderly citizens. To fund it , the staff give their secret Santa money. This year, with the added pressures of the pandemic and many families losing their jobs/ benefit changes and sinking deeper into poverty, we are concerned how many children and young people this will leave worried and concerned at Christmas with little funds or resources. Therefore we want to stretch our efforts a little further.

My colleague, Cathy Williams and I started outdoor swimming in lockdown round 1, and found it really helpful for our mental health. We thought if we could encourage other friends who also swim then we could do a November swim in our Santa hats. #santasaysswimdontsink. As the days move towards December, the temperature drops. We are hoping to do the last weekend in November. We will swim in our costumes (no wet suits!) and wear a Santa hat. Other swimmers may join in and can swim on any day throughout November (due to Covid and to avoid any crowds)- we usually advise a minute per temperature- but this may be slightly longer if tolerable. Other swimmer fundraisers include: Gem Hart, Thomas Pilkington. Mal Campbell and Ashlea Cormack- thanks lovely people.

We will make up hampers for Christmas or wellbeing packages, using as many local business and community resources as we possibly can. Any extra will be given to Social care or local schools. All updates via my facebook group swim-breathe-move . Thanks for reading

nic x