COASTGUARDS from Bigbury and Hope Cove led a dramatic helicopter rescue after a young child and his mother became trapped 30 feet up a cliff.

Kate Ormsby and her nine year old son Sam were stuck for two and a half hours on a rock stack at Westcombe Beach near Kingston before being plucked to safety by the chopper from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall.

Sam had climbed more than 30 feet up the rock and shale cliffs before finding he could not get down.

His mum Kate climbed up after him and became trapped herself, before husband Richard ran a mile back to the family car and then drove into the village to call for help.

When rescuers from Bigbury Coastguard Search and Rescue team, backed up by Hope Cove Coastguard arrived at the scene they immediately called in a rescue helicopter to lift the mother and son to safety.

Kate, who is originally a South Hams girl although she now lives in West Yorkshire, was holidaying in the area when the drama unfolded.

She was staying with mum Jenny Hazell in South Brent, and visiting old friends from her school days at King Edward VI Commu-nity College in Totnes.

Kate had nothing but praise for the coastguard team.

'She said: 'I was so relieved and grateful to the emergency service. They were absolutely amazing and so lovely with Sam. He thought he was going to be told off and they were so kind to him.'

She added: 'Sam was very scared and very sorry to cause so much trouble. He will never climb rocks again by himself.'

The family were walking along the beach when Sam ran ahead and began climbing the cliff before getting stuck.

Kate told how she managed to climb up and reach him before becoming trapped herself on a sloping ledge.

'I just panicked and felt I had to get to him and just started climbing. Sam was really upset by then.'

For more on this story, see this week's Ivybridge & South Brent Gazette