Madcap divers dressed as Father Christmas braved near freezing temperatures to take part in an unusual event yesterday.

The surreal sight of 161 Santa Clauses plunging into a quarry pool at less than eight degrees Celsius dressed in full scuba diving kit was an irresistible attraction for onlookers.

Divers from all over the country gathered at Vobster Quay, near Frome, in Somerset to raise money for the RNLI’s SOS Day next month.

This year’s dive is in aid of the charity’s lifejacket campaign, which is raising funds to provide the 35 lifeboat stations in the South West of England with new state-of-the-art lifejackets. Organisers believe they will have raised around £10,000 for the charity.

Tim Clements, operations manager at Vobster Quay, said: “We’ve had 161 divers in the water all at once and we’re hoping we will have raised £10,000 for the RNLI.

"We’re very pleased to have beaten the record of 158 divers two years ago. We measured the temperature at the surface it was 9.4 degrees Celsius but at 20 metres where the divers are it is more like 7.8 degrees.”

Click here to see our photo gallery of the day's festivities.