Swimming instructor hails "incredible efforts" of beach rescuers
A Staffordshire-based swimming instructor has spoken of the "incredible" efforts of his friends who saved seven people from drowning in Wales.
William Brown, 27, from Wombourne, helped take part in two rescues in Aberdovey, in Gwynedd, on July 26.
Two different groups of people got into trouble off the coast just a few minutes apart.
In the first incident, two teenagers and a man in his 20s was pulled to safety.
Among them was a 13-year-old boy, from Shrewsbury, who was left unconscious. He has since made a full recovery in hospital.
In the second incident, a woman and three teenage girls were rescued.
William, also known as Will, who runs Splash Wolverhampton swimming school, was out kite surfing with friends when the incidents unfolded.
He said his friend Arwel Jones, 30, a volunteer at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, was first on the scene in the first incident.
Arwel was walking on the beach with his fiancée, Kate, when she spotted the first group of swimmers in trouble.
Arwel grabbed a life ring on the beach and ran to help. He pulled one from under the water and put all three on the ring.
Will's other friend Drew Nickless, originally from Wombourne, who now lives in Aberdovey, resuscitated one of the people on his windsurf board.
Will - who had also been in the water kite surfing alongside his brothers Josh and Ollie and Drew - alerted the coast guard.
He said the first incident was the "major" one.
Two minutes later, the next incident unfolded where the group were very close to drifting off.
They were pulled to safety by Alun Edwards, one of Will's other friends, and brought ashore with the help of Will and Ollie before the victims were flown to hospital.
He said he and his friends were "in the right place at the right time" to help both groups in the water.
They have all received messages of thanks from the people they saved.
"All of us know basic first aid," he said. "I guess instincts took over for Drew, for Josh, for Alwen, it was quite amazing to watch to be honest.
"I helped to bring people ashore. It is something I have never seen on Aberdovey beach before.
"There were doctors there within 10 minutes because there is some on the caravan site that we are part of.
"The response was incredible from a team of people who had no pre-warning."
Will, his brothers, and friends, have been wind and kite surfing in Aberdovey for years, which he says helped in that situation because they know the environment.
He said it also helped they are all strong swimmers. Josh, Ollie and Drew have also worked for Will's swimming school.
