BEACH patrollers have been involved in more than a hundred rescues over the summer season, Tendring Council reveals.

The Tendring Beach Patrol team, which monitors main tourist beaches and assists with rescues, had a busy year after being called to almost 150 incidents.

In total, the beach patrol team has carried out 75 rescues, was tasked by HM Coastguard to support 24 incidents, and helped in the search for 48 missing people.

The volunteers have also administered minor first aid 412 times and gave advice to dog owners about seasonal beach bans on 465 occasions.

Councillor Alex Porter, responsible for leisure and tourism, said: “TDC Beach Patrol is a real asset to our community, not only working to keep people safe – both before they go in the water and once they are in the sea – but also making our Essex Sunshine Coast an attractive option for visitors as it gives them peace of mind.

“While it has been a busy season it has been a relatively quiet one in terms of major incidents, and it is pleasing to see that steps we have taken such as introducing a new station at Clacton and rescue boards have reduced potential rescues to simple advice."

This year teams were also provided with new rescue boards, meaning patrollers could react more quickly if necessary.

The patrol has also delivered live safety talks to 38 schools in the area, both on the beach and online.

Mr Porter added: “Our ongoing education work with the local community is also going from strength to strength, and though it remains challenging to give safety advice to visitors from outside of our area we can be assured we are helping our district residents to make sensible decisions when enjoying the seafront.

“As always we will continue to work with our partners in the Tendring Water Safety Forum to both review this year and look ahead to future seasons, to ensure we keep our coastline as safe as it can be for everyone to enjoy.”