SANTA may be used to the weather at the North Pole, but surely he's not daft enough to jump fully clothed into a freezing quarry pool?

Not so it seems – for not just one but 150-plus Santas are expected to take the plunge at the National Diving Centre, near Chepstow, on Sunday (December 18, from 10am).

Among them will be Dave Motterham of Forest of Dean Tyres in Whitecroft, near Lydney. Dave has just taken delivery of the Santa suit and will be strapping on scuba gear for the Scuba Santas event.

"I've only just passed my course in scuba diving so this will be my first solo, completely unassisted dive," says Dave.

"It's good fun and its all for a good cause, the RNLI. We're hoping a good crowd will come along to watch.

"It has turned into a regular thing and last year I think there was a record number of Santas. We are hoping for another record this year."

Scuba Santas is organised by Lloyd Watkin with help from members of the UK diving forum called Yorkshire Divers.

Lloyd said: "If we get the go-ahead, we will be aiming to break the world record for the largest number of simultaneous scuba diving Father Christmases at one time," says Lloyd.