Loony Dook will return on January 1 - will you dare to take a dip?!

Tony Pirouet was dismayed to learn the event had been cancelled last year. The native North Queensferry man had taken part in 12 dooks, until Covid stopped play in 2020.

Lying in a hospital bed at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at the end of November, recovering from major spinal surgery, he decided to do something about it – and launched The Only Way Is The Ferry on Facebook in a bid to ensure it went ahead.

It duly did and was a huge success, raising a record £1574 for the RNLI South Queensferry crew.

Recovering from hip surgery on November 27 this year hasn’t stopped Tony organising the event – and he’s even hoping to have a dook himself!

He said: “I was still recovering last year so I could only MC but I've got my bear suit ready for January 1, with the bum bare – so I’ll be a partly-naked bear!

“I was blown away by the response last year and I’m hoping even more people will join in the fun this time round. It would be nice to see more folk in fancy dress too – go on, we dare you!

“The Loony Dook is back to its community roots and we proved last year we could pull it off – so we’re hoping everyone will rally again on New Year’s Day.”

Dookers will assemble at the foreshore steps at 2pm for the dook at 2.30pm. Don’t miss it!

The fundraising branch for the local RNLI crew have agreed to organise collection buckets on the day.

Roz Haughey from Queensferry Bakes and Cakes has signed up to set up stall once again, offering free cakes and fruit for donations – the stall raised £350 last year.

Also back on board is Craig Maison from event specialist MX Medical Ltd in Falkirk, who contacted Tony last year to offer an ambulance and five medics free of charge. He is kindly doing so again this year.

Tony said: “It’s back to being what the Loony Dook used to be – a real community event.

“Happily, the RNLI crew are on exercise in the Forth that day too so it’s all fallen into place nicely. The crew enjoyed a dip themselves last year!

“I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support – the event has been going for 38 years so it's nice to see the community pulling together to make sure it continues.”

Tony (52), who lives in Dunfermline, was delighted the “unofficial” Loony Dook proved such a success on January 1 this year, raising a record £1574 for the RNLI crew.

He added: “I couldn’t believe the turn out. I only started organising it at the start of December and never expected it to be such a big event.

“About 150 people braved the water and there must have been about 2000 spectactors all the way down the pier and beach. We're hoping to better that this January 1!”