8th November 2021. Identical twin sisters Jemma Whitman and Jannine Rushby were looking for something special to mark their 40th birthday and ended up raising thousands of pounds for NCI Felixstowe.

The sisters run The Turtle and The Bear sandwich shop opposite the Leisure Centre on Undercliff Road West and had hoped to raise £250 for the National Coastwatch Institution Felixstowe station with an early-morning dip near the pier on Sunday. However, after getting sponsorship from their neighbouring businesses and many customers the total they are set to raise had passed £2,000 within days with pledges continuing to come in.

The sisters wore fancy dress green onesies for the dip and were joined in the sea by many of their sponsors. They spent 10 minutes in the cold water before emerging and taking the chance to warm up again. A good crowd of family members and friends joined them on the beach for the 8am swim although only a select few were brave enough to go into the sea.

The photograph (courtesy of Charlotte Bond and the East Anglian Times) shows Jemma and Janine emerging from the water after their early morning dip at Felixstowe