THE Grey Dippers only launched their latest fundraising effort at the beginning of this month.

Between November 1 and Boxing Day this year the group of nine locals will be looking to raise money for the North Ayrshire Foodbank by taking dips in the freezing cold local waters.

Primarily 'dipping' at the North Shore in Ardrossan, the group of Lee Riddex, Tam Kane, James McLeod, James Booth, Colin Booth, Gordon Woods, Joe Smith, Tony Clarke, and David Kane will be aiming to take an accumulative 275 dips before their December 26 deadline.

The team rose to fame last year when they completed the same challenge in a bid to raise £1,000 for the local foodbank.

It is safe to say they smashed that out of the park as they raised a remarkable £24,682 in 2022.

When we popped down for a catch up before fundraising got underway this year, The Grey Dippers were optimistic of raising cash again, though knew it would be a difficult task to reach the heights of last year.

READ MORE: The Grey Dippers set to kick off foodbank fundraising

"We are now questioning our sanity as it's absolutely baltic," the group joked, "but the charity needs the resources, and the local area need the charity, we can't back down now."

Their efforts thus far, in little over a week of 'dipping' have seen the group venture out into the waters an amazing 62 times already.

Even more impressively, they have already smashed through the target they initially set this time last year.

Having re-opened the same fundraising page they used last year - with the previous total remaining on the web page - once last year's total is removed, they have already reached an amazing £1,381 total this time around.

This takes the group well over the £25,000 mark in terms of money raised for the foodbank to date.

Once again it is a remarkable effort from the group - who are often found in the sea in the wee hours of the morning - as they are still over a month away from rounding up their efforts.

The group said: "Thanks again for the donations so far. If you can spare a wee donation to help The North Ayrshire Foodbank, it will go a long way to helping the people in need in our own community."

For anyone wishing to make a donation, the group's fundraising page is available at tinyurl.com/thegreydippers.

To keep up to date with their efforts as they progress, be sure to check out their Facebook page.