Groom Reunited with life-saving Bridlington hero on wedding day

Dale Clegg, 35, was on a caravan holiday at Barmston Beach Holiday Park in 1989 with his mum Kath Farley, 59, when he fell into a pool.

Kath said Dale “basically drowned” but was saved by a lifeguard named Ian Deakin, 55, who performed CPR on him.

Years later, Dale, from Potternewton, Leeds, found Ian on Facebook to thank him but the pair never met.

However, in an amazing twist of fate, Kath – while she was on another holiday – “bumped into” Ian and had an “emotional reunion”.

Kath and her husband Paul Farley decided to ask Ian if he would attend Dale’s wedding to his fiancee Patsy on Saturday August 21.

He agreed and guests captured the incredible moment the pair reunited.

Kath said her son’s wedding day would never have happened without the Ian’s vital intervention that day in 1989.

She said: “How do you thank somebody I owe everything? He is our family hero.”

Emotional video footage captured by wedding guests shows the moment Dale and Ian were reunited, with the groom “overwhelmed” by the surprise.

Kath added: “There were only a few in the room who knew the story but I think everybody got the gist.”

Dale said “not all heroes wear capes” and said he “couldn’t describe” how he felt.

Mr Deakin said after the event: “I bumped into Dale’s mother by chance and she invited me to the wedding.

“Not many people knew I would be there, so it was a surprise for the guests.

“During the wedding it was said that it would not have happened if I hadn’t saved Dale. This was the first time I had met him in person.

“Dale’s rescue was on my very first day of becoming a lifeguard. The first rescue and the first life saved.”

Mr Deakin, who lived in Flamborough for many years before moving into Bridlington served 17 years as a lifeguard, saving 47 people during that time.

Go to hwww.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/watch-emotional-moment-leeds-groom-reunited-with-hero-who-saved-him-from-drowning-as-child-3358055 to see the reunion video