ORGANISERS say they have been forced to cancel one of the most popular events over the festive period – the Boxing Day Walk in the Sea.

Teignmouth RNLI fundraising team say they have taken the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Walk in The Sea after recent sand movement has resulted in the area becoming unsafe for participants.

A spokesperson for the RNLI said: ‘The team are saddened by this decision but the safety of participants must come first.’

Community Engagement Officer, Ellie Walker, said: ‘The team have looked into possible contingency plans but unfortunately a suitable and safe alternative could not be found.’

Explaining more about why the decision was taken Ellie said that ‘the sand movement has made the beach area much smaller, as well as uncovering large debris previously buried.

‘The tide state forecast for the event, combined with the sand shift and uncovered debris has meant that we simply won’t have enough safe beach space.’

Volunteer event organiser Lisa Hochstrasser has extended her thanks to those who have ‘given up their time to help plan and organise, in particular, agreeing to give up part of their Christmas celebrations to volunteer’.

She is hopeful that there will be ‘lots more events to get involved in when the new year rolls around’.

This year’s Walk in the Sea was due to take place for the first time since 2019, following covid-19 disruption.

It will be a huge blow to the RNLI fundraising teams budget as historically the event has helped raised thousands of pounds for the RNLI.