FREEZING fundraisers across Wyre Forest have been taking part in an online craze.

Social media sites are awash with videos of brave Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley residents completing the ice bucket challenge and raising money for the fight against motor neurone disease, as well as other local charities.

Staff and volunteers at Kemp Hospice, which often cares for sufferers of the illness, undertook the dare as a group to show their support for the cause.

Kevin Hateley, head of fundraising at the charity, said: “It was absolutely freezing and quite a shock, but it was a great way of engaging staff, volunteers and patients together.”

Other local people also went to extreme lengths to stand-out from the crowd with their ice bucket challenge clips.

Alex Withers, of Kidderminster, was hanging upset down by his legs on a climbing frame when he was doused with ice-cold water.

Nick Crocker, 20, a nursery practitioner, was soaked with a water hose even after a bucket had been emptied over his head.

The wackiest video seen by The Shuttle however is perhaps the effort of Happy Staffie Rescue charity shop manager Julie Gawne.

She donned a wetsuit and snorkel before being unceremoniously drenched with five buckets of ice-cold water by the store’s volunteers.

The video can be watched here

“It was pretty shocking and I thought it wouldn’t be that bad”, she said.

“When the first bucket was thrown at me the chill factor really hit and it was very, very cold.

“I thought I would give the volunteers the chance to get their own back on me and a lot of people have donated to Happy Staffie Rescue, the charity I chose to support.”

Send photos or videos of your ice bucket challenge to editorial@kidderminstershuttle.co.uk