Meet the Cornwall lifeguard who has saved hundreds of lives
A Cornish lifeguard who has worked for the RNLI for nearly four decades has spoken to ITV News West Country about the rescues he has carried out.
Mini Fry is in his 38th year as a lifeguard working in Bude, having started in 1983.
At sixty-years-old, he is considered one of the longest-serving lifeguards in the UK - and is credited with saving hundreds, possibly even thousands, of lives.
They include the rescue of more than 30 schoolchildren and their teacher in 1995, and the rescue of a father and his five-year-old daughter in 2011.
He was back in action just earlier this month, coming to the aid of two people who had been caught in a rip tide.
Mini, whose son Tremaine is also a lifeguard, said he enjoys the job and hasn’t taken a day off sick since he started.
“I’ve not missed a summer season,” he said. “I have been very lucky, I’ve kept reasonably healthy and I’ve not had any issues with health or anything.
“It would certainly run into hundreds [the number of rescues]. It’s been a pleasure to have been involved and lucky enough to look after people.
During his time working for the RNLI, Mini says he has noticed changes to the way lifeguards work - including how they are paid.
“We didn’t have the manpower then [when I started],” he said. “We were all two-man beaches, with very little equipment.
“Every Friday, in 1983, he [his manager] would come to the cliff with our wages - which were paid in cash at the time - in a little brown envelope, he would wrap it with a little stone and he would throw our wages over the cliff.”
Thankfully, nowadays, his wages are paid directly into his bank account.