The pagers went off for the crew at RNLI Rye Harbour at 3:29pm on Saturday, August 20. The weather was sunny but windy and Camber beach was packed with day trippers and locals. Luke Bishop, helm at Rye Harbour, immediately leapt into his car and headed to the lifeboat station. The boat was launched within ten minutes with Luke, Tia Bolton and Lucy Green as crew. HM Coastguard had alerted the crew that a child was missing in the water at the western end of Camber beach.
Luke commented: “We sat off at full speed, 35 knots, so that we could arrive at the beach as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence in these cases as the water was quite rough because of the wind. The coastguard helicopter from Lydd was present as we turned the corner at the mouth of the river. They winched their paramedic down to the beach to assist the casualty whilst we stood by in case we were needed. We returned to the station at 4:50pm. The boat was washed down and was made ready for service. It was a great effort by all the crew who were supported on shore by, Paul Anderson, Chris King, Steve Spooner, Iain Cebunka (tractor driver) and Mike Jordan. It is a team effort and we all work well together.”
Camber beach is a wide expanse of water and sand. It is so easy to lose sight of children and the lifeguards do a wonderful proactive job of spotting children who have become temporarily lost and reuniting them with their parents. Many of the crew at the station at Rye Harbour are parents and know how worrying it must be to lose a child in the crowds at Camber. We want parents to take home only happy memories from their day on the beach.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , George Clark .