{"id":20222,"date":"2025-01-01T19:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T19:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/loony-dookers-welcome-the-new-year-with-icy-plunge\/"},"modified":"2025-01-01T19:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T19:59:12","slug":"loony-dookers-welcome-the-new-year-with-icy-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/loony-dookers-welcome-the-new-year-with-icy-plunge\/","title":{"rendered":"Loony Dookers welcome the New Year with icy plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Keen swimmers braved the freezing Firth of Forth on the first day of the year<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Hundreds of swimmers celebrated the New Year with a freezing cold plunge into the Firth of Forth in South Queensferry for the annual Loony Dook.<\/p>\n

The dook, a Scots word meaning to dip or plunge, began on 1 January 1987 when a group of friends went for a swim in the icy water as a hangover cure.<\/p>\n

The central belt was hit with snow shortly before this year’s event began at 13:30 but the chilly temperatures did not deter the dookers. <\/p>\n

Participants wore fancy dress and paraded down South Queensferry High Street before taking the plunge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Loony Dookers regularly draw a crowd of spectators <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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People showed up in creative fancy dress outfits for the dip<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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They came dressed as Irn-Bru cans, chickens, cheerleaders and various movie characters.<\/p>\n

One dooker was wrapped in bubble wrap and many others wore onesies, tutus and glitter boas.<\/p>\n

The event was organised professionally as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations after 2009 but later faced accusations of commercialisation,<\/p>\n

The dook pre-dates the Hogmanay festival, which was launched in 1993-4, but later became part of the official programme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In later years people were charged to take part to help meet running costs, including road closures, health and safety measures, police and stewarding.<\/p>\n

In 2011, a registration fee was introduced which rose to \u00a320 in 2020. It was branded a “disgrace” by the original founders.<\/p>\n

The Covid-19 pandemic saw the dook cancelled from Edinburgh’s official programme of events.<\/p>\n

It was dropped from the programme<\/a> in 2022 but organisers said swimmers could still attend community events.<\/p>\n

This year there was no fee or registration required to take part and the event was run by locals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hogmanay festivities were muted in many parts of the country this year due to weather concerns, with Edinburgh’s world famous outdoor celebrations scrapped on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unique Assembly runs the three-day festival on behalf of Edinburgh Council.<\/p>\n

It told BBC Scotland news that cancelling the street party, concert and fireworks display was the right decision. <\/p>\n

Organisers said the high winds prevented them from building the infrastructure needed to cope with more than 50,000 revellers who were expected to attend.<\/p>\n

The festival director Al Thomson said “the damage had already been done” by being unable to prepare, despite conditions improving in the run up to the bells. <\/p>\n

He said the company was in discussions with insurers about the cancellation and that customers were being notified about refunds.<\/p>\n

However, some firework displays still went ahead around the country and many hospitality venues said they hosted a successful night out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fireworks were set off in Stonehaven to mark 2025<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Signature Group which has 21 venues across Scotland, including 11 pubs and venues in Edinburgh, said it went surprisingly well. <\/p>\n

Sales and marketing director Louise Maclean said that the cancellation of the Edinburgh Hogmanay event meant they were busier than usual and surpassed targets for the night.<\/p>\n

“We were worried the weather might have kept people at home but everyone came out,” she said. <\/p>\n

“Our venues with live music did the best – people were obviously looking for a party. <\/p>\n

“The majority would have been tourists and we’re enormously grateful for Edinburgh’s reputation as a Hogmanay city. <\/p>\n

“We definitely benefitted from the poor weather meaning everyone had to go inside.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Whizzing fireworks at the National Wallace Monument in Stirling heralded the beginning of a new year<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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After her set at the Edinburgh Hogmanay street party was cancelled, BBC Radio 1 DJ Arielle Free took matters into her own hands and entertained a house party in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

Free, 36, who hosts Radio 1’s Rave-Up show, was due to play at the Party Stage on Waverley Bridge.<\/p>\n

She posted on her socials that she was “quite upset” before someone on X, formerly Twitter, asked if anyone had booked her for a house party instead.<\/p>\n

“I ended up at a girl’s (house) called Lisa, who’d asked me to come play her house party in Glasgow,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So I played there, the decks were on the hobs in the kitchen, and then came home, feet knackered from all the dancing and heart full of joy. It ended up being a brilliant night.<\/p>\n

“It really felt like going back to where it all began for me.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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PA Media Keen swimmers braved the freezing Firth of Forth on the first day of the year Hundreds of swimmers celebrated the New Year with a freezing cold plunge into the Firth of Forth in South Queensferry for the annual Loony Dook. The dook, a Scots word meaning to dip or plunge, began on 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[7752,1504,7751,563,653],"class_list":["post-20222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scotland","tag-dookers","tag-icy","tag-loony","tag-plunge","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20224,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222\/revisions\/20224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}