01/01/2017 South Today

I'm Laura Trant with the news in the South.

A group set up to promote the health benefits of cold water swimming took

a dose of their own medicine today when they plunged

Members of Swimming Against Depression say it helps

people deal with stress and gets them off

The group wants to raise awareness of the benefits

and eventually set up a natural health centre by the sea.

It's definitely not for the faint-hearted.

But the people who went for dip at Avon Beach in Mudeford today

are convinced swimming in cold water really does help them tackle

How was that? Amazing. It is called today but it

was really good. Amy Moule says she set up the group

Swimming Against Depression after If I wake up in the morning and I

have had a bad night and bad dreams and feel low and think I need to

change it, I get into the sea and feel better almost immediately.

Whether you are suffering from depression or not, even slight

anxiety, if you can do this you can do anything.

Some of Amy's inspiration came from a BBC programme called

The Dr Who Gave Up Drugs - Dr Chris Van Tulleken looked at

research at Portsmouth University which analyses the effect of low

You are now experiencing what every swimmer experiences. It releases

adrenaline and deals with the stress hormones.

to swim in ice cold water to help her stop using

I was like, that's brilliant. I want to do that and get other people

doing that. Today, some people just

put a toe in the water but Amy is hoping many of them

will soon become regular swimmers. Two men have been arrested after

a spate of knife-point robberies Four incidents happened

on Friday and yesterday in the Paulsgrove area -

cash and mobile phones A robbery at a Spar shop nearby,

on Wednesday evening Two men in their 40s,

both from Portsmouth, Ambulances services in the south had

a busier than usual New Year. South East Coast Ambulance Service

warned yesterday that it was struggling to get to some patients

in the required time It says crews worked flat out,

focusing on life-threatening calls. They attended 300 more

incidents this New Year's Eve Police are continuing to appeal

for witnesses following several crashes on the A40 in Witney in fog

on Wednesday morning. A 54-year-old woman died

when the car she was After another collision,

a 56-year-old woman, left her car and was then hit

by another vehicle. Three quarters of passengers

on the Southern rail network say they don't support ongoing strike

action, according to a new survey carried out by the Association

of British Commuters. Today is the second of the latest

three day walk-out by conductors. But the Association -

formed by passengers - argues that its members are more

angry about ongoing disruption on the network

which they say began A lot of people do

support the unions as what they are

trying to do They just find it

difficult to support the strike action, particularly

with the message coming that all of this that is happening

is because of strikes. Several thousand people saw

in New Year in the open air last night in the centre

of Wimborne Minster in Dorset. The historical re-enactment group

the Wimborne Militia fired a salute at the stroke of midnight,

before dancing began. And on the Dorset coast thousands

of people watched the annual A dozen teams braved the chilly seas

to race in homemade rafts We have had a lot of rain

through New Year's Day but as we head through this weekend it

will actually be a largely dry one. It will start off quite chilly,

particularly through It does turn milder as we head

towards next weekend. We have got the last

of that rain clearing down towards the south coast

but for the far south and the Isle of Wight it is going to

stay quite damp through tonight. Further north with largely clear

skies it is going to We could see a touch

of frost rurally. Most towns and cities hovering

that bit above freezing. Tomorrow, any cloud and dampness

will ease quickly and it is Dry and bright with

a lot of sunshine. Perhaps a bit more cloud out

towards the east but for most more sunshine than we have

seen this weekend. You will notice the difference

temperature-wise. It will struggle at around

five or six degrees. Then we are in for

a fairly chilly night Some towns and cities

could get below freezing. We start to see more cloud pushing

in towards the end of the week but it should be dry

until next weekend. Good evening. Well, to Bake Off

2017, the weather has been fairly mixed, wet and cloudy in the South,

colder but clearer further north. This was taken in County Down

earlier in the day, plenty of sunshine there, but with clear skies

by day, a cold nights tonight. That will fill the south across the

country, the cloud and rain clearing through the early hours of Monday

morning across that area. This is how it is looking first thing, cold

and frosty, colder than this in the countryside, still some wintry

showers for northern Scotland into the north-east of England, so a

chance of icy stretches first thing on untreated surfaces. Through the

day, Monday is looking quite decent, mostly dry with wintry sunshine and