A HEREFORDSHIRE man has plumbed new depths to help set a world record.

While most men deplore the thought of ironing, Ashley Tucker, from Little Dewchurch, used the chore to write his name into the history books.

But there were no homely surroundings when the 32-year-old joined others at the National Diving and Activity Centre, near Chepstow, to take part in the event – all the ironing was done underwater.

He is now part of an elite band of people who hold the world record for extreme underwater ironing.

“It’s a very strange feeling being told you are a world record holder,” said Ashley, who in his spare time is a diving instructor.

“We had to have as many scuba divers ironing under the water as we could for a period of 10 minutes. We managed 86 divers which beat the previous record of 72 which was set by a group of Australians last year.”

The dive saw Ashley end up in deep water – 50 metres to be precise, while other record breakers ironed six, 12 and 25 metres.

In addition to breaking the world record, competitors all raised money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, with almost £6,000 collected so far.