WHILE most of us were lying around the house munching on the remnants of large Christmas feasts, a hardened swimmer braved bitter temperatures to wade through Arctic waters for charity on Boxing Day.

Far from being daunted by the prospect of frostbite or hypothermia, Bryan Avery, 45, of Oakhurst, stripped down to his swimming trunks before taking a dip in four-degree water at the Cotswold Water Park, in aid of Prospect Hospice.

Accompanied by a posse of friends, the grandfather, who made headlines when he swam the Channel in September, was thankfully not alone as he stepped carefully into the ice-cold Lake 32 on Thursday morning.

“It was colder than when you run the cold tap in your bathroom,” he said. “You immerse your legs and you start going numb.

“We were there for five minutes. When I came out I was freezing cold. After about two or three minutes you can’t feel your hands anymore; your body shuts down.

“It was quite hard to get out of the water. You feel your legs moving but you can’t feel what they are touching. It’s almost like a pins and needles type of effect. When I had the towel wrapped around me I couldn’t feel it.

“I’m very pleased I did it. We wanted to raise money for Prospect Hospice.”

The IT consultant from Jason Close is now planning to repeat the experience on New Year’s Day for the hospice.

Anyone interested in donating to Prospect should visit www.justgiving.com/lake32 swimmers or text ‘lake58’ to 70070 to make a £2 donation.