MEMBERS of a group dedicated to restoring Otley Lido will be taking part in next week's New Year swim.

Acting Chairman of the Friends of Otley Lido, Leonie Sharp, is hoping other committee members will join her when she takes a dip in the River Wharfe at noon on New Year's Day.

The experience – a long-running tradition in the town – is always a bracing one for those involved.

But for Leonie, who is arriving back from Australia on New Year's morning, it should also a unique way of combating jet lag, too.

The Bridge Avenue resident, who has been enjoying trying out a variety of outdoor pools in the Antipodes, says the January 1 swim will also be a good way of raising the profile of the Otley lido restoration plan.

She is urging supporters to cheer her and the other swimmers on.

Friends of Otley Lido aims to get the old lido site in Wharfemeadows Park – which Leeds City Council is seeking a leaseholder for – registered as an Asset of Community Value.

If successful it would then seek funding for redevelopment work to bring the lido, which opened in 1924 and was closed in 1993, back into use.