Porthcawl RNLI lifeboat crew's rescue dash from wedding

Five lifeboat volunteers had to leave their friends' wedding to save two people cut off by the tide.

The crew from Porthcawl RNLI in Bridgend county were called out as a fellow volunteer was saying his vows.

They swung into action after two people were cut off by the incoming tide about 10 miles (16k) away at Southerndown.

It came after the vicar had said at the start of the ceremony: "Switch off your phones, unless you're lifeboat crew and might get a shout".

The Reverend Wayne Massey, who conducted Saturday's wedding between the Reverend Mark Broadway and Jessie Broadway, said: "I didn't really expect that 17 minutes into the ceremony the pagers really would sound followed by crew rushing out of the church".

The crew left All Saint's Church in Porthcawl, and arrived at the lifeboat station to swap their suits for dry suits before launching to sea.

They were first on the scene at Dunraven Bay, and crew member Luke Anderson went ashore to reassure the stranded pair.

"Within the space of an hour I was sat in a church for one of the crew's weddings, then I found myself on the lifeboat," he said.

The two cut off by the tide were rescued using a Coastguard helicopter, which located a rock slab nearby.

It took the two people and the crew members onboard and dropped them off in a field above the cliff top where the coastguard teams had secured a landing site.

Groom Mark said: "Thankfully I wasn't on call during my wedding to Jessie but many of the crew who were at our wedding were.

"It's the first church service I was involved in where the pagers have gone off.

"It was quite fitting for our guests to see how RNLI volunteers will drop everything to respond when the call comes as we'd asked guests to donate to our chosen charities rather than give gifts and the RNLI was one."