It was a busy Remembrance Sunday in more ways than one for Falmouth lifeboat crew and the coastguard rescue team with two call outs in one day.

One of the calls was just minutes after the crew and Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team had attended the town's memorial parade in Kimberley Park.

The Falmouth Coastguard Rescue team had just had the honour or representing HM Coastguard at the Falmouth Cornwall UK Remembrance Parade alongside the lifeboat crew when the first call came in.

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It was particularly special one for the youngest rescue team member Adam Campbell, blue shirt with the wreath, who is leaving this week to start a career in the Royal Air Force.

He laid the wreath alongside his dad, Shaun Campbell, second from right, who’s currently the longest serving team member.

The first call came in at 11.54am from Falmouth Coastguard for a report of two people in the water after their kayak capsized off Trefusis Point. 

The station launched the Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Robina Nixon Chard at 12.04pm which arrived on scene at 12.08pm but nothing was found.

After liaising with the crew of a Border Force boat, it was established that a local dive boat had responded and quickly pulled the two people from the water.

The inshore lifeboat made contact with the dive boat and found them off Greenbank Hotel. The casualties had already gone ashore but two lifeboat crew members were landed to check them over for any medical issues.

They were found to be cold but otherwise well so the crew returned to the lifeboat which was then released from service at 12.45pm and returned to station.

The inshore lifeboat was tasked for the second time after the UK Coastguard received a report of two people stuck on a cliff after being cut off by the tide between Gyllyngvase Beach and Swanpool. Falmouth and Porthleven Coastguard Rescue Teams were also tasked to assist.

The inshore lifeboat was launched at 4.41pm with the lifeboat arriving on scene at 4.47pm. Weather conditions were overcast with good visibility and a force 3 to 4 onshore wind and a moderate sea.

The lifeboat crew quickly located the casualties stuck on the cliff face and also a dog on a ledge near the base of the cliff. They were clinging to the cliff face unable to go up or down.

However, due to the casualties position and because of the tide and swell conditions, it was decided that the best option was for the Coastguard Rescue Team to carry out a technical rope rescue to recover them.

As the light was fading, the lifeboat crew were able to assist by illuminating the cliff face with the lifeboat’s search light.

A specialist rope rescue technician was sent to stabilise the most time critical casualty and once safely in the team’s ‘Rescue Sling’ the first casualty was recovered to the cliff top.

The rope technician then descended to reach the second casualty and he was safely recovered to the cliff top and passed to a trained casualty carer. Both were checked over and found to be uninjured.

The rope technician then rigged the ‘animal rescue’ bag into the system and descended for a third and final time to recover the dog (also uninjured) back to the cliff top. He was passed over into the care of two very grateful owners.

With the casualties and dog successfully recovered, the lifeboat was released from service and returned to station at 6.02pm.

Falmouth lifeboats have now launched 81 times so far this year.

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A spokesperson for the coastguard rescue team said: “Unfortunately it was a simple mistake to have made to have got cut off where they were, but that location gets completely covered by water so the casualties really were in immediate trouble. Advice around the dangers of tides and cliffs was passed on.

“If you spot anyone in danger at the coast the advice is to call 999 and ask for COASTGUARD (Even if the operator doesn't offer that as an option). This couple had a mobile phone and were able to use it. Once the call was made, one of them was able to use the torch function to show their position on the cliff. This made spotting them a lot easier and ultimately made for a much quicker recovery.”