Lyme Lunge 2025 raises in excess of £6,000

On a sunny day, with a calm sea and — for once — no wind, the 2026 Lyme Lunge got underway. But before that could happen, a great deal of work had to be carried out behind the scenes.

At 5.00 am, volunteer Town Council employee Mark Bujniewicz cleared the beach of litter left from New Year’s night celebrations. While doing so he was called away, as a member of the Lyme Regis Volunteer Fire Brigade, to attend an incident, returning after the Lunge to finish clearing the beach. The Rotary Club extends its grateful thanks to Mark for his efforts.

One of the main tasks for Rotary Club members was erecting our new, larger marquee, measuring 8 metres by 4 metres. This brought out the latent Meccano-assembling skills of the many helpers involved. Inside, the marquee was partitioned into two changing areas for ladies and gents to get in and out of their costumes. Two smaller gazebos were also erected — one for the soup, kindly supplied by the Harbour Inn, and the other as an assembly point for a variety of purposes, including dealing with lost children (none) and lost dogs (one).

The first Lungers began arriving to change at around 12.45 pm, and numbers steadily increased. The same was true of the very large crowd, many of whom came straight from the Duck Race on the River Lim at noon. Spectators spread across the beach, the groyne, the Parade and the gardens.

Town Crier, Rotarian Alan Vian, once again led the Lungers on parade so the crowd could admire the wide variety of costumes. This also gave us an indication of how many people were taking part this year — considerably more than in previous years. Estimates ranged from 1,200 to 1,400 participants, while the Bridport News reported 2,000 — a typical case of newspaper over-enthusiasm! The increased numbers were perhaps due to a couple of local swims being cancelled over the holiday period, combined with the fine weather.

The start was given by His Worship the Mayor of Lyme Regis, Councillor Philip Evans, and with that the mad rush to be first into the water began.

A short distance offshore stood a line of volunteers from the lifeboat crew, whose job was to prevent Lungers from swimming beyond them and getting into difficulty. The vast majority respected the rules. The Rotary Club extends its grateful thanks to these volunteers.

After the swimmers had left the water and before the clearing up began, Rotary members and helpers enjoyed large hot Cornish pasties supplied at a discount by the Cornish Bakery in Broad Street. Like the Harbour Inn, they were one of our many generous sponsors.

Initial estimates from collections, sponsorship and other income — after expenses — suggest that we will have raised in excess of £6,000.

This is a record total and will be divided as follows: one third each to Rainbow Trust and WellChild, both charities supporting children, with the remaining third going to Rotary Charities.

A large number of imaginative costumes were in evidence, adding colour and humour to what was once again a hugely enjoyable community event.