A GROUP of seasoned swimmers are encouraging people to take the plunge and raise money for charity.

The Salty Sisters are marking Dunbar Civic Week by taking a dip in the sea together at Belhaven Bay.

The group, which has more than 700 members, meets regularly through the year and embraces the benefits of the cool waters off the county’s coast.

Among those encouraging people to head along on Monday is Lucinda Greig.

The classroom assistant at Dunbar Primary School said: “It is just an amazing feeling when you come out [of the water]. You just feel your body is tingling and you have been part of nature.

“It is hard to explain – your body just feels alive and you cannot stop grinning.

“You know how hard it is to get in every single time and you feel almost proud that you did it.

“It just feels really, really good and the more the merrier on the day.”

Make a donation

Those taking part are encouraged to make a donation to Cancer Research UK, with a number of members of the Salty Sisters becoming the Salty Sundays when they take on the Relay for Life at the town’s Hallhill Sports Centre on June 25-26.

The event, which celebrates the power of community fundraising in the fight to beat cancer, sees teams of family and friends fundraise for the charity’s research.

The festival is focused around a 24-hour relay where team members take it in turns to walk around a track to show that cancer can be beaten.

Nine Salty Sundays members – Sheilagh Fallon, Hazel Gray, Jenny Thompson, Anna Carpico, Kathryn Robertson, Catriona Reece-Heal, Fiona Baker, Samantha Stebbing and Lucinda Greig – have signed up to the fundraiser, which gets under way at 10am, as have family members too.

Lucinda, 54, said: “I’ve got quite a few friends and family who have either sadly died from cancer or going through it – my husband Stuart had cancer and I also had a very good friend going through it.

“We have all got various relatives or friends who have been affected by cancer and we wanted to take part in this.

“Stuart has had bowel cancer twice and he is fine now and going to be doing the survivors’ lap.

“My dad, sadly, at the same time got diagnosed with a brain tumour and he sadly died.

“All of us in the team have had someone that has been affected by cancer.

“One of the main people I am doing it for is Maria Arnold, who just got diagnosed with bowel cancer in January.”

More details about the Belhaven Civic Week Sea Dip can be found in the Dunbar Civic Week programme, with swimmers meeting at Belhaven Beach at 6.30pm.