Lifeboat volunteer takes 365 cold showers to highlight dangers of drowning

Margate lifeboat volunteer Guy Addington has ended his year-long challenge of taking cold showers outside to raise money for the RNLI, highlight the dangers of drowning and encourage the responsible use of water.

Addington, who is a helm on the station’s two inshore lifeboats, began his daily routine of taking a shower outside with a hose on September 01 2021. Since then, he has endured sub-zero temperatures, hail storms and even catching covid, but has still managed to record and upload a video of him showering every day to his YouTube channel.

Addington’s 365^th shower took place today (31 Aug 22) outside Margate Lifeboat Station at 10.30am, where he was joined by RNLI crew members, supporters and his family. Addington live-streamed the grand finale on Facebook, saying he was hoping the video would help him reach his fundraising target of £10,000. Watch the video below:

The daily challenge has so far raised more than £8,900 for the RNLI.

The daily ordeal started as a bet between Addington and his wife, who challenged him to shower outside.

“I’m passionate about trying to stop lives being lost at sea and also wanted to do my bit to help prevent coastal and sea pollution,” says Addington.

Each day on his videos, Addington has reported on the daily temperature, given a ‘brutality rating’ based on the weather conditions and read out birthday requests.

Addington, who is also the RNLI’s water safety lead for the South East and London, recalls the coldest day of the challenge was Thursday 06 January, when temperatures plummeted to minus 3.5C, and even the hose was frozen.

On 10 November (day 71), Addington was staying at a hotel in York and couldn’t get the hose hooked up, so he went to Kent Street Fire Station, where Red Watch hosed him down. Watch the video below:

While on holiday, Addington had to use a bucket and saucepan as there was no hose available.

“One of the worst things in the cold was the ice-cream headache I got from the water, I never worked out how to cope with that, especially if it was windy, although a lot of people found those videos quite amusing,” says Addington.

Apart from the weather conditions, one of the biggest challenges has been filming, editing and uploading the daily films to his YouTube channel. On day 169, Addington was editing his footage and accidentally lost it, so he stripped off, went outside and showered again.

“You can tell how annoyed I was in the video,” he explains. “At home, it’s straightforward getting in the shower, but for this, you have to go outside, get the camera set up and then get the hose ready.”

During his year-long challenge, Addington was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of his efforts in saving lives and promoting water safety. As a volunteer, he has launched more than 300 times on service, aided more than 370 people and saved 13 lives.

One key element of the challenge has been promoting water responsibility. Addington says showering outside diverts water away from the drainage and sewer system and also saves water because compared to normal showers, “one tends to be a bit quicker”, adding that he stops the hose when lathering down.

He estimates that during the challenge, he has saved 37 litres of water a day, and 13,505 litres over the year, with between 11,000 and 14,000 litres of water diverted from the sewer network. Plus, it means he has been able to keep his grass watered.

“Give it a go, you’ll be surprised,” concludes Addington.

Readers can still donate to Guy Addington’s page.