Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Bawtree of Porthleven have received a letter of thanks signed by the Chairman of the Committee of Management, Captain the Hon. V. M. Wyndham- Quin, R.N., for rescuing two boys who had been cut off by the tide at Gillan Creek, near Helston, on i6th October, 1965.

At about 7.20 that evening the housekeeper at Lantinning Farm was working in the kitchen when she heard shouting outside. She went into the garden, which overlooks a beach, and heard a child crying for help from the opposite side of the creek. She immediately returned indoors and told two guests, Mr. and Mrs. Bawtree, what she had heard. Mr. Bawtree was convalescing at the time after osteo-myelitis, which had resulted in severe toxaemia.

FLOOD TIDE CAUGHT DINGHY He and his wife went to their car, which was parked overlooking the creek, and switched on the headlights in the hope of being able to see what had happened. They could not see anybody in trouble, but Mr. Bawtree decided to pull across the creek in his lo-foot pram dinghy, which was moored off the beach. He and his wife ran down to their boat and started to pull across. Conditions were calm, but the dinghy was caught in the flood tide and carried upstream.

As the dinghy was carried towards the narrows Mrs. Bawtree saw something floating in the water and then recognized it as a boy's check shirt. She and her husband grabbed hold and found that a small boy was floating face downwards and being kept afloat by the air in his shirt.

THOUGHT BOY WAS DEAD With some difficulty they pulled him into the boat and at first thought he was dead.

Mrs. Bawtree called out to discover whether there was anyone else in trouble, and they heard another child answer. Mr. Bawtree rowed towards the rocks where he found an older boy.

They took this boy aboard too and Mr. Bawtree rowed back across the creek. As they were approaching the shore they noticed signs of life in the first boy who had been picked up, and as soon as the boat touched bottom Mrs. Bawtree jumped out and waded ashore, carrying the boy to the beach. There, with the help of some other people, she gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

A motor boat then reached the scene, and the unconscious boy was taken back to the farm by boat. Both boys were looked after by Miss Isabel Waters, the housekeeper at the farm, until the ambulance arrived to take them to hospital. They both recovered and were discharged the next day..