Hundreds of women join colourful sea swim

Hundreds of women have taken part in an annual sea swim to celebrate International Women's Day.

About 1,000 participants took the plunge across two locations in Sandbanks, Dorset, and in Brighton, Sussex, on Saturday morning for the Big Swim.

Organisers said the event "celebrates women of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, coming together in solidarity by the water".

The Big Swim also raises money for Surfers Against Sewage - a charity dedicated to protecting marine environments and advocating for clean, healthy oceans.

About 500 women took part in the Sandbanks mass swim, hosted by Swanage-based adventure sports company Land and Wave, with a further 500 at the Brighton event, which was hosted by Sea Lanes swimming complex.

Many wore colourful or sparkly costumes with some also wearing woolly hats.

Organiser Nicky Chisholm said: "I was not only looking at the weather but I have to look at the sewage alerts – no one should have to do that."

Clare Osborne, of Surfers Against Sewage, said: "In 2024 we had 4.7 million hours of sewage discharged into our waterways and over 2,000 people report sickness.

"There is currently a crisis that is happening."

Southern Water said many factors affected water quality and it was investing heavily to cut storm overflow use and upgrade its network.

A Wessex Water spokesperson said: "Bathing water quality in Dorset is consistently of the highest standard and Environment Agency data clearly indicates that licensed storm overflows, which operate automatically and discharge mostly rainwater to prevent flooding, have minimal ecological impact.

"We agree that storm overflows aren't appropriate for the 21st Century and we're investing more than £8m every month in schemes to reduce discharges."

International Women's Day, marked on 8 March, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and is a call to action for advancing gender equality.

All Big Swim entrants are asked to commit to taking one action to support women in their community.