POLICE Constable Robert Rutherford, who is a regular member of the Tynemouth life-boat crew, has been awarded the Royal Humane Society's testimonial on parchment for his part in the rescue of a 73-year-old man in January, 1959.

P.C. Rutherford was on his beat when he learnt that a man was in the water near the jetty's edge. Although the water was extremely cold he immediately went into it, and for twenty-seven minutes he waited submerged up to his neck until a boat rescued the elderly man..