NUNS and Nazis were among the strange collection of characters to be found on the banks of the River Lew on New Year?s Day, as the Hatherleigh Walruses prepared themselves for their annual dip. Around 30 people braved the cold and dressed up as characters from The Sound of Music before taking the plunge into the River Lew for the event, which has raised cash for local charities for the past eighteen years. Money raised this year, which is hoped to be close to £4000, will buy co-responder equipment for the local fire brigade and go towards funding Hatherleigh Festival. The group have decided that some of the cash will also go to the tsunami disaster appeal. Bryony Herrod-Taylor who took her first dip this year said: ?We all had to raise at least £50 of sponsorship to go in. I?m told you have to do it at least twice to call yourself a walrus!? Compere Andy Bennett read the story of the classic musical in rhyming couplets before the group waded into the water. ?You have to stay in for five minutes and get thoroughly wet ? although you haven?t got a chance not to really,? said Ms Herrod-Taylor. Sponsorship funds were boosted on the day by a riverside collection.
