Hero pensioners save man from freezing lake on Canadian holiday

Janet Readymarcher, 63, and partner Peter Edwards, 70, had been enjoying the last evening of their trip and were walking back to their accommodation along the side of the lake when they heard the man’s desperate cries for help.

The couple had been in a nearby pub – ironically named the Lucky Clover – on Tuesday before flying home to Seaham, the following day.

They became involved in a dramatic rescue in freezing temperatures as they and another passer-by battled to keep hold of the man to prevent him from going under, while Peter also called the emergency services for help.

Janet, a retired machinist and grandmother-of-five, had visited Canada for 10 days with Peter, a retired roofer, who attended a karate course there.

She said: “It was our last night and we had been to the pub – it was called the Lucky Clover.

“At 1am, we were just walking home by Lake Ontario when we heard somebody shouting ‘help, I’m in the water’.

“We went over to the boardwalk and he was hanging onto a tyre. He said ‘I can’t feel my legs’.

“I went and got a buoy with a rope and he held onto it. I then got a ladder to try and get him out of the water.

“Peter held onto his arm and I was grabbing his legs to keep him from falling in.”

By this point another bystander intervened, and together they held on to the man until help arrived.

Janet said: “I thought he was dead, he was absolutely white and he was unconscious by this point.

“The fire bridge and the police came and they got him out.

“We heard that he survived, but if we hadn’t been walking past at that time he wouldn’t have made it.

“I was terrified for the man and I got really upset afterwards. It was just an adrenaline rush at the time.

“It was really cold so the water must have been absolutely freezing, which is why he couldn’t feel his legs.

“He is a lucky boy.”

Constable Jen Sidhu, of Toronto Police, told globalnews.ca: “These three individuals are heroes. They saved a man who was drowning.”