DURING last Thursday’s discussion on RNLI plans to axe New Quay’s all-weather lifeboat, Ceredigion County Council chairman Lynford Thomas recalled his own dramatic rescue of a young girl in the sea off Aberaeron’s South Beach back in the 1970s.

By a remarkable coincidence, it emerged that the youngster was Karen Evans – now Karen Davies, living in Cardiff – the cousin of Aberaeron councillor Elizabeth Evans who had put forward the motion calling on the local authority to opp­ose the RNLI’s plans.

A stunned Cllr Evans had no idea of the identity of her cousin’s mystery saviour until Cllr Thomas’s shock revelation which came as members discussed the dangers the sea posed to Cardigan Bay users.

“Back at home I have a Royal Humane Society certificate given to me for pulling a young girl out of the water off Aberaeron,” Cllr Thomas told colleagues.

“The sea was like a lake that day, but what shocked me was the strength of the undertow pulling her out.

“Luckily, I was a strong swimmer back in those days and I managed to get out to her and pull her back to the beach – I’m not such a strong swimmer nowadays.”

Shaking her head in amazement, a visibly moved Cllr Evans replied: “That girl you saved that day was my cousin.”

Speaking to the Cambrian News afterwards, Cllr Thomas stressed he had merely brought up the incident to highlight the dangers of the sea.

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