THE CHARITY SWIMMERS
“If you haven’t ducked your head under, it doesn’t count,” says Catrin Masson, laughing. She is one of five sisters – vicar’s daughters – who regularly brave the icy sea for one of the UK’s largest Christmas Day charity dips.
While we’re waking up, the sisters will be putting the finishing touches to their themed costumes and heading to church for morning prayers at one of their father Canon Philip Masson’s churches in the parish of Newton Nottage, Porthcawl.
“It’s a bit of a tradition; people expect us to turn up in costume. It’s pretty comical, especially when all five of us do it. They’re usually not the quietest of costumes – there’s a lot of rustling,” says medical student Masson, 22, twin of Ffion, and sister to Elen, 28, and further twins Bethan and Angharad, 24.
“After the service it’s straight off to walk down to the beach to register and lots of the congregation come, too. Our father’s joined in, now and then over the years, in aid of particular charities close to his heart.
“It’s a fun walk – lots of beeps from cars and we’ll have a sing-song on the way. The five gold rings year was our favourite costume, I think – of course we sang The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Then it’s on to the beach – to run (never walk) into the sea.
“Yes, it’s really cold. One year there was snow on the beach. It was so icy, that year we just did a quick in-and-out.”
Last year, the sisters were among about 1,300 brave swimmers on Porthcawl’s Coney Beach, raising £17,000 for local and national charities: the swim has raised more than £100,000 over its 55-year history. This year, their chosen charity is the Alzheimer’s Society Cymru.
“It’s so nice seeing the crowd and you bump into loads of people you know,” says Masson. “It’s also lovely that it’s so nonmaterialistic – just people coming together to do something communal, raise some money and simply have fun.”
The sisters’ mother, Maggie, is a nurse, and often works on Christmas Day. “But if not, she stays at home making hot soup and filling the bath – we’re all freezing,” says Masson.
This year, two of the sisters are off travelling, so there won’t be quite such a queue for the warm bathroom. “I might try to persuade dad to come in the sea with us this year, to keep the family numbers up,” says Masson.
christmasswim.org