The popular Felixstowe Christmas Day Dip has been postponed today on Felixstowe Volunteer Coastal Patrol advice, organisers have said.

The event, which is organised by St Elizabeth Hospice, usually sees hundreds of brave people take to the sea in memory of their loved ones.

The dip, which was returning for its 17th year was also cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers of the event said in a statement: "We’re very sad to announce that the Christmas Day Dip has been postponed due to windy weather.

"We are advised by the Felixstowe Volunteer Coastal Patrol advice regarding the safety of the event and sadly, they cannot guarantee the safety of the participants in the sea with adverse conditions.

"As we are not cancelling the challenge, your registration will be automatically be rolled over to the new date once we have confirmed it.

"We shall be in touch with an update soon by email.

"Normally we do not offer refunds, however as this is a unique situation we are happy to refund your registration fee if you cannot make the new date.

"More details will be included in the next notification."

The statement continued: "We are so disappointed that we have to make a change like this so close to the event date.

"It is not a decision we have taken lightly and your safety will always be our number one priority.

"The news of the postponement will come as a huge disappointment to many of you also as we are aware that attending the event is a family tradition and so many people were braving the cold in memory of their loved ones.

"We are truly sorry to bring you this update as we were so looking forward to welcoming you back to this iconic Christmas Day challenge.

"We hope you have a nice Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year."