A WOMAN who has survived breast cancer twice led 50 fundraisers wearing pink fancy dress into the sea at Redcar to raise money for charity.

Sharyn Clarkson, a married mother-of-two, organised the sponsored Pink Dip to support Cancer Research UK's All Women Together campaign.

Her pink posse, who ranged in age from 14 to 82, wore a bright array of costumes - from pink witches to a stick of candyfloss and a pink bunny girl.

Mrs Clarkson opted for a pink curly wig, a pink T-shirt, pink trousers and pink fluffy slippers.

The retired psychiatric nurse said: "Redcar's Boxing Day Dip is famous throughout the North-East. As breast cancer affects so many local women and their families, I'm hoping to make our Pink Dip an annual event."

The 52-year-old has been treated for breast cancer twice. She was first diagnosed in 1994, when she was 41.

Two years ago, in July 2003, Mrs Clarkson knew the cancer had returned. She went for another mammogram which confirmed her fear.

She said: "When I first felt the lump in my left breast, I knew it was cancer. It might sound strange now, but three women on the ward where I worked as a nurse had recently been diagnosed with the disease and I felt certain that it was cancer."

She set up the Living With Breast Cancer Support Group to offer hope and comfort to others with the disease - with members of the group joining in the Pink Dip.