Melton farmer braves freezing animal troughs for charity cash

Justine Sore wore just a swimsuit and a hat during her challenge, which on some days involved her son, Charles (12), having to smash through ice with a mallet before she was able to get in.

Her efforts, at Hill Top Farm, where she farms with partner, Martin, have so far raised around £1,500 for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance through an online JustGiving page.

After completing her seventh and final dip as snow fell today (Thursday), Justine told the Melton Times: “I actually love open water swimming at Six Hills so I am used to cold water.

“But it is a very different experience getting your kit off in a field in the middle of January and stepping into a freezing animal water trough.

“Day three was probably the toughest one because I had to stand around for 20 or 30 minutes while my son broke through the ice and on day five the wind was very cold as I got in.”

Justine was sitting in the trough each time for up to 10 minutes, although on the coldest day it was less than half that time, she admits.

The family have sheep, donkeys, goats, horses and cattle on the farm but they stayed out of the way while she was in the troughs.

“My partner thought I was mad to do it but cold water is a bit of an addiction for me and I’ve been having daily cold showers to keep myself acclimatised,” she added.

“It was a challenge to take on over lockdown really and I’m chuffed with the support I’ve had from my sponsors.

“The air ambulance do a quite astonishing job to take a small hospital with them every time they go out.

“They don’t get any government funding and it costs £1,700 every emergency with sometimes 10 missions a day.”

Go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/justine-sore if you would like to sponsor Justine for her trough dips.