A CRAZE, which has swept across the world, arrived in Basingstoke last week when staff from a local business took on the Ice Bucket Challenge.

The charity stunt went viral after starting in America for ALS, which raises money for sufferers of the illness, also known as Motor Neurone Disease.

Staff at Sematron, in Wade Road, decided to take on the chilly challenge to raise money in memory of the son of one of their company directors.

Thomas Hall died of cancer on August 16, aged just 28, after suffering from a tumour in his back. His father Kevin Hall is one of the directors at Sematron, and staff wanted to do something positive following his son’s death.

They decided to do the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for Fourth New Forest Scouts, which Tom was involved in.

Helen Wakelen, a personal assistant at Sematron, said: “The family are obviously heartbroken, and Kevin’s work colleagues at Sema-tron Ltd are stunned.

“With the desire to do something positive from this tragedy, the team at Sematron Ltd decided to take the Ice Bucket Challenge.”

Around 20 members of staff wore fancy dress costumes before making a donation in return for throwing buckets of freezing cold icy water over each other from scaffolding. Staff also made donations to watch, raising £700 for the Scout group.

Mrs Wakelen, who was one of the volunteers to accept the challenge, said: “It meant we could do something for Kevin in memory of his son.

“Kevin did the same thing with some of his family about an hour before, and we showed what we were doing live so he could watch. He said it was something his son would have loved to be part of.”

Watch the video below of Kevin doing the Ice Bucket Challenge.