In October 2014 and during a visit to my son and his wife in Plymouth, my wife and I were once again walking our beloved 2-year old Golden Retriever dog 'Indie', along the coastal path at Wembury in Devon. We were shocked when he unexpectedly fell from a high overhanging cliff onto the rocks far below.

Frustratingly, because of the overhang and sheer rock face, I couldn’t get down to him or even see him. I contacted the coastguard and explained what had happened, but told them that I understood that there was probably little that they could do and to make matters worse, the daylight was already fading. Although highly unlikely to have survived such a fall, my wife and I just couldn’t bear the thought of him lying injured and alone.  The response from both the Coast Guard and the RNLI was incredible. In darkness, 2 of the 3-man RNLI team that had rushed from Plymouth, left their rigid inflatable boat and dropped into the cold sea and swam to the base of the rocks, whereupon they recovered Indie’s body. Mercifully, it appears that he had died instantly. We were absolutely devastated. Returning him to us later that evening was an extremely emotional moment, but they were the epitome of professionalism, commitment, compassion, empathy and modesty. Imagine what these VOLUNTEERS regularly do and would do for us as human beings, should we ever have the misfortune to need these dedicated people.