SCORES of intrepid swimmers took a New Year's Day dip in the icy ocean yesterday.

There were screams and shrieks as fancy dress-wearing men and women ran into the sea.

Veteran fundraiser Ron Gordon, 58, who has been organising fundraising dips at Redcar beach for more than 30 years, was surprised to see one man wearing a mankini for this year's event.

Mr Gordon said: “The guy came up to me and he was asking if it was all right for him to go in, and I said something like, ‘of course, it’s a free country’.

“When he took his jacked off to reveal his mankini thing I just laughed. I just hope there was nothing dropping out anywhere for you photographer. I hear he was raising money for a good cause, so that’s great.”

Mr Gordon, who together with about 12 others was dressed as a sumo wrestler, was raising money for Selly Oaks Hospital in Birmingham, which cares for disabled servicemen and women. Others raised money for Cancer Research and Zoe’s Place.

Mr Gordon said: “Numbers were well down this year. Normally we’d get double or treble that number.

"I don’t know how much money was raised altogether, but the important thing is to start the year doing something for people less fortunate than yourself.”

At Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, more than a hundred brave swimmers ran into the chilly North Sea.

Many were wearing fancy dress with two donning wigs and spectacles for the dip.

Another pair were dressed as Batman and Robin while some of the girls wore bikinis for the winter swim.

The dip was organised by the Panama Swimming Club.

Around 160 people took part.