A hundred firefighters will be taking the plunge this Sunday for a cause close to home, in a quirky variation on the ice bucket craze.

The fire station will hold the fancy dress ‘bucket challenge’ at 3pm, when around 100 fire-fighters, family and friends will jump simultaneously into the swimming pool at the Lord Butler leisure centre. The endeavour is in aid of their Newport colleague Neil Mac’s six-year-old son Jude, who recently underwent major brain surgery at Addenbrooke’s hospital and remains there still.

Fire-fighter Simon Curtis organised the event on behalf of the Mac family to buy a gift for the young boy. The family wants to donate some of the donations to The Sick Children’s Trust, which raises money to support families with overnight accommodation when children are detained for ongoing treatment.

“It’s really sad – he was operated on last week. It just touched a nerve,” said Mr Curtis.

“I only set up the Just Giving page on Sunday, and we’ve already had £277 donated,” he said.

“There’ll be around 100 of us, most in fancy dress, raising money for a gift for Jude. Everyone jumping will be donating, as will everyone who comes to watch on Sunday.”

“We’re hoping to get enough people to do a Mexican wave. The word ‘bikini’ has been mentioned for my fancy dress,” he added.

Everyone is invited to come and cheer on the fire-fighters this Sunday and donate to the cause. The Just Giving page is called ‘Jude Mack Charity Event!!’ and can be found at justgiving.com.