Around 1100 Loony Dookers braved the New Year water

Participants from Scotland and around the world flocked to the shores of South Queensferry, by Edinburgh, on New Year’s Day, to brave the chilly waters of the Firth of Forth for the Loony Dook as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

Some 1,100 ‘dookers’ including Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood co-directors of Underbelly who produce Edinburgh’s Hogmanay on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, and Councillor Donald Wilson, Culture and Communities convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, joined the parade through the streets of South Queensferry before taking the dip into the icy waters, overlooked by the iconic Forth Bridges.

Thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer on the brave and the bold, decked out in every manner of fancy-dress imaginable ranging from the brilliantly crafted cardboard boat and airplane, to Donald Trump, a can of Iron Bru, a T Rex, a pair of lobsters, Mr Blobby and a brave man in a mankini.

People from more 20 countries took the plunge, and raised money for a huge variety of charities in the process.

The fancy dress competition was won by four friends – Laura and Niamh in their superb cardboard boat The Maid of the Forth, Jack as a can of Irn Bru and Hannah as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

Niamh’s parents met as teenagers working in the boat where her mum sold tickets and her dad was the deck hand. The boat continued to play a special role in the family’s life when her parents took the boat out to Inchcolm Island to get married. The four gifted their £250 prize money to Maggie’s Centre.

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