AT the time of year when most people are revelling in warmth and laziness, some people are volunteering for the opposite.

Bournemouth Spartans have been taking a Christmas Day dip every year since 1951.

In that time, they have entertained countless onlookers and raised a good deal of money for charity.

In pictures: the Spartans swims through the years >>>

The winter swimming club was formed in 1950 by Percy Moore and George Taylor.

Mr Moore was a Bournemouth hotelier, who had been told he had a heart condition. He took up winter sea bathing in a spirit of defiance.

Every Sunday morning, from October to May, the Spartans could be seen plunging into the often icy waves.

Bournemouth Echo:

Members could earn the coveted Spartan badge for making 20 swims in the winter.

Early on, the Spartans garnered valuable publicity for the town after a New Year’s Eve midnight swim appeared in a cinema newsreel. Television publicity came later, and footage of the Spartans once began the ITN evening news while the country was covered in snow.

Bournemouth Echo:

Echo photographer Harry Ashley was a long-term president of the club, while its members included former AFC Bournemouth manager Ken Brown, ex-international goalkeeper Fred Davies and England mascot Ken Baily.

The ages of the members have ranged from under-10s to those well into their 80s.

The home of the event has traditionally been Boscombe, where for many years a bathing station provided a place for the Spartans to change.

The impending demolition of the station threatened the event in 1985, with Mr Ashley warning: “Christmas Day will never be the same without the Spartan fancy dress swim.”

However, the club found new accommodation east of Boscombe Pier in 1988.

The event did move to Alum Chine for two years, leaving space for a rival dip, the White Christmas event, to begin. It is still going, raising money for Macmillan Caring Locally, and taking place on the opposite side of Boscombe Pier.

Bournemouth Echo:

Temperatures have, not surprisingly, varied widely over the years.

In 1998, then chairman Dave O’Donnell recalled how he had joined the Spartans during one of their most challenging seasons.

“That was the coldest winter I have known. The big freeze of 1962-63,” he said.

“There were icicles hanging from the railings.”

Traditionally, the mayor of Bournemouth joins the Spartans to wish them well on Christmas Day – although the first citizen is rarely persuaded to do more than dip a toe into the ocean.

Bournemouth Echo:

After swimmers take the plunge, they are greeted with hot soup or sherry.

But is plunging into icy water on a cold day a big risk, or a health-giving habit?

In 1987, the Royal Lifesaving Society warned that sudden immersion in cold water could deal a massive blow to the breathing and circulatory systems.

Harry Ashley warned that one-off icy dips were “highly dangerous”, adding: “The only safe way to go winter swimming is to start at the end of summer and continue as the temperature drops.”

In 1998, Dave O’Donnell told the Echo’s Kevin Nash that he believed there could be health benefits to the activity.

“We don’t seem to get as many colds as other people,” he said.

“At the start of the season I stress to everyone the importance of staying within your depth, just swimming up and down along the beach, and not remaining in the water for too long.”