Watch: 'It was a shock every time!' Suited-up financial advisor gets dunked 80 times for charity

Matt Hignett, who works for Beaumont Wealth in its Oswestry, Chester, and Shrewsbury offices, spent what would normally be his Saturday off instead getting soaked to raise money for Hope House and Ty Gobaith children’s hospices.

Wearing a full work suit, shirt, tie and shoes, he was dunked a total of 80 times – raising more than £2,600 in the process.

The 37-year-old dad set up a water tank at the town’s Bailey Head, where friends, family and passers-by threw balls at a target, which would then trigger him being dropped from a perch and dunked in the tank.

Matt said the idea was to find a challenge that was difficult but did not need any specific skills.

He said: “I wanted to do something that people could get involved with. It had to be arduous, but involving no discernible talent!

“It was hard, and didn’t get any better. I thought I’d get used to the cold water, but it was a shock every time, until around 2.30pm when I must have gone numb. I was dunked 80 times! It was quite a cold and windy day so sitting and waiting to be dunked was even colder than being in the water.

“Passers-by, friends, clients and supporters paid £2 for three goes to hit the dunking target, or £10 to keep going for a guaranteed dunk. Although, in the end, I was letting all the children dunk me.”

Matt’s daughters Anaiya and Soraia were among those queueing up to dunk him.

“Anaiya was a bit worried at first, but Soraia was more than happy to see me go under!” said Matt.

Fortunately for Matt, not everyone wanted to see him dropped in the water for their donation.

He said: “Some kind clients were happy just to sponsor instead of dunking me.”

Matt said it was a tough day, and being constantly dunked took its toll.

“My back and hips were hurting a lot," he said. "The people who I hired the dunk tank from said that in 10 years they’d never known anyone be dunked for more than 30 minutes. They were shocked that I managed the full six hours.

“I wore my suit to work on the Friday, then spent Saturday being dunked in it. It’s now dry and ready to wear again. My shirt wasn’t so lucky as the colours ran, but my suit, tie and even shoes are all OK.”

Matt thanked market traders who he said were incredibly supportive on the day.

He said: “Thank you to everyone at Oswestry Market who accommodated me and even donated.

"Between them traders raised £135. Markets & events officer David Clough was brilliant in helping to set up the event, and even agreed to be dunked three times himself!”

Matt has already smashed his £2,000 target with donations from clients and supporters still coming in thick and fast.

He said: “Hope House is a such an important local charity which offers incredible support to families from my work areas of Shropshire, Cheshire and North and Mid Wales.

“I have two girls of my own and can’t imagine how hard it would be for a family with a child with a life-threatening condition. Going through six hours of discomfort just doesn’t compare to what they are suffering every day.”

Area fundraiser Vicky Bradbeer thanked Matt for his unusual fundraiser.

She said: “Thank you to Matt for taking on this cold, wet challenge to raise money for children with life-threatening conditions and their families. Through the generous support of businesses, friends and family he has smashed his £2,000 target.

“Thank you so much to him for organising and braving this very public dunking. We hope that he and his suit are now fully recovered from the ordeal!”

People can still sponsor Matt’s dunk tank challenge by visiting hopehouse.org.uk/matt-dunk.