Team to swim in freezing Calderdale water to raise funds for homelessness

This is the fourth year in a row that they have taken on a January Daily Dip and the team has grown from just two to over 20 swimmers, from across England and Wales.

This year the January Daily Dip is part Crisis’s UK wide fundraising campaign, “ Icebreaker Challenge”.

The January Daily Dip founders, Jamima Latimer and Sonya Moorhead, both from Todmorden, were shocked by the success of their fundraising, and have raised a total of well over £30,000 in the last three years.

Sonya said: “We are so pleased that we can do this to raise awareness of homelessness. It’s an issue that is very visible around us and is certainly worsening. Crisis UK believes everyone deserves a safe and stable place to live and they are working hard to eradicate homelessness.

"The January Daily Dip is physically challenging and people recognise that we are doing it as a daily vigil into the cold, it’s not just a sportng challenge.

“The stress and inhuman conditions faced by homeless people in the UK are dangerous and heart-breaking. It’s a really busy month for us fiIng in swimming expeditions and social media campaigning around all the usual family and work stuff, but it’s such a priority issue. “

Jamima said: “We’ve had so much support, lots of encouragement and positive feedback and so many people have even come and joined us for swims.

"This year, the government’s “Everyone In” scheme really demonstrated that dynamic changes can and should be made very quickly, to change the circumstances of homeless people.

We need organisations like Crisis- UK to carry on their valuable campaigning work; so less people are pushed into homelessness in the first place.”