Swim group a 'reset button' on men's mental health

Members of a men's sea swimming group say the activity encourages them to open up and helps their mental health.

Trunks and Hunks has grown to hundreds of members after Joe Wills started the group in Eastbourne in 2025.

"Men are very standoffish and we keep our cards close to our chest," he told the BBC.

"But we found that when we went in the sea, we did something together that brought us closer together."

Wills said Trunks and Hunks aimed to provide connection and support for those who joined the twice-weekly sessions.

He started the group after experiencing his own problems with alcohol and mental health.

"Whenever I had a problem, I would take it to the pub or the betting shop and after a while, after many consequences, it was really destroying me," Wills said.

"So I thought 'do you know what, maybe there's other guys like me out there who don't know any different, so why don't I try and start a men's group'."

Trunks and Hunks expanded to cover three locations on the East Sussex coast, launching further sessions in Hastings and Seaford.

Hundreds of men joined for the sea swimming, coffee and conversation on the beach.

Karl Lloyd-Buckingham, who started attending just after Christmas, spoke to the BBC at a session that coincided with the anniversary of his daughter's death.

"I think of it like a reset button," he said.

"So each time I come down, no matter what I've been thinking about during that day or that week or even so today – today has been a bit horrendous really - when you go in that water you kind of forget about everything else."

He added: "I did counselling in the past but it was nothing compared to what the group itself and the guys within the group have provided me."

A survey by mental health care provider Priory found that 40% of men polled had never spoken to anyone about their mental health and 29% said they were too embarrassed to speak about it.

Ben Windsor, who joined Trunks and Hunks shortly after it started, said it had been a "fantastic social leveller".

"Now I realise that being able to share something with someone isn't actually weakness," he said.

"When we share something with someone we actually gain strength."

"Everybody is different," said fellow attendee Mark Trigg. "Everybody has got something going on and everybody's able to just muddle together."

Group founder Wills hopes to continue to grow the organisation, including to other locations.

"We just want to be a beacon, a beacon for all men to come and just feel part of something," he said.

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