The Hunstanton team responded after Coastguards received a report of a radio transmission from an aircraft’s emergency beacon. Hunstanton inshore lifeboat, Sutton Bridge Pilot and helicopter Rescue 128 began searching an area approximately 5 km offshore. An hour later the aircraft in question was reported to be in the Netherlands, and the search was called off.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a report of a windsurfer in trouble near the sailing club ramp. By the time the team arrived on scene, the man in question was back on shore safe and well.

MRCC Yarmouth asked Hunstanton Coastguard to patrol the seafront when the coincidence of a storm surge and a high tide threatened water levels matching those of the 1953 floods.

Coastguards checked beach roads and promenades from Snettisham to Brancaster. Conditions on the seafront at Hunstanton were the worst for several years, but this area did not see serious flooding and the east coast in general had a lucky escape.

Around Hunstanton, the surge appeared to be running an hour or so ahead of the tide. High tide was due around 05:30, but by 03:30 the level was very high and did not increase noticeably in the following two hours. Coastguards and other emergency services from Humber to Essex were on alert. In Yarmouth and other places to the south and east the flooding was more serious, though not catastrophic.

Emergency service teams worked well together after a young man sustained back injuries when his car went over the cliff about 250 metres north of the end of the promenade. The incident apparently happened late the previous night, and the casualty lay on the beach until early the next morning.

Hunstanton Coastguard helped fire, police, ambulance and lifeboat crews evacuate the casualty. They then co-ordinated the use of the lifeboat launching tractor and a recovery vehicle to remove the car from the beach.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a report of a car upside down on the beach, possibly with people trapped. The team joined fire, police, and paramedic crews on scene at the base of the cliffs. A man and a dog inside the car were found to be dead. Coastguards moved the body to a waiting undertakers’ vehicle, and helped the Hunstanton Lifeboat tractor move the car to the north end of the promenade, from where it was later recovered.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a man injured his ankle on the beach. The team helped to transfer the casualty to a waiting ambulance.

Hunstanton Coastguard joined police in a search for a man thought to be in danger of harming himself following an argument with his wife. Police located the man at a caravan park.

Three children aged 8, 13 and 14 were found by Hunstanton Coastguard at Heacham North Beach after having been reported last seen near Hunstanton powerboat ramp. Following a search of the beach and promenade, Coastguards were able to reunite the children with their mother.

Hunstanton Coastguard was paged following a report that a kite surfer was being blown out to sea. When the team arrived on scene, Hunstanton Lifeboat had already rescued the man, and subsequently retrieved his kite from the sea.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton and Sutton Bridge Coastguard teams after a boat was reported aground at Denver Sluice. They located and secured the craft, which had been stranded in Bedford Drain by the falling tide. The owner, who had managed to get ashore safely, was going to wait for the incoming tide.

MRCC Yarmouth asked Hunstanton Coastguard for help with a vehicle stuck on the marsh. While the team was en route to Thornham, the police reported that the vehicle had been recovered safely.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a report of a missing child near the clifftop car park. The child was quickly found safe and well. The sea front was very busy, so the team took the opportunity to patrol the promenade.

While at Brancaster attending the previous incident, the Coastguard team learned from a member of the public that some people had walked out to the wreck and were in danger of being cut off by the tide. They were then seen to be safely on the landward side of the channel.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after reports of two separate missing children. Both were quickly found.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after an 8-year-old boy was reported missing on Hunstanton promenade. By the time the team arrived the child had been found.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a report of a missing child. By the time the team arrived on scene, the child had been found.

As the Coastguards were preparing to leave the beach after finding the girl in the previous incident, they were approached by a member of the public for help in locating a 3-year-old boy. Searching between the powerboat ramp and the pier, the Coastguards soon found the missing boy.

MRCC Yarmouth pages Hunstanton Coastguard to look for a missing girl. The team met up with the child’s mother and soon found her after searching the beach.

A 7-year-old boy from Suffolk was reported missing at Old Hunstanton. Costguards in two emergency vehicles searched as far as Holme, and found the boy safe and well.

A girl thought to be in trouble in the water triggered a callout for Hunstanton Coastguard. The team was stood down a few minutes later when the person was reported to be safe.

MRCC Yarmouth asked Hunstanton Coastguard to investigate following a report of a powerboat towing a broken-down jet ski, and a possible sighting of a red flare. The team searched from Hunstanton to Heacham South Beach, but found nothing and was stood down at 22:00.

Hunstanton Coastguard was paged to look for a missing child, but stood down after a few minutes when the child was reported safe and well.

Hunstanton Coastguard was asked to help after a dog was reported missing on Snettisham marshes, and staff at MRCC Yarmouth feared that its owners might get into trouble while searching. A Coastguard team searched the sea defence bank from Snettisham nearly to King’s Lynn, while Hunstanton RNLI hovercraft seached the tide line. The dog was not found that night, but turned up the next morning.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a report of children drifting out to sea in a dinghy. The team was stood down ten minutes later when the people involved returned safely to shore.

Hunstanton Coastguard followed up a report by the Wash Monster of a person climbing up and then down the cliff at the north end of the promenade. On the descent, the person was seen to jump the last five metres. Coastguards spoke to the Beach Patrol officers and kiosk staff, but could not locate the climber.

After Hunstanton Beach Patrol reported a drunk man in the water, MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard and Lifeboat. Despite a search of the beach and promenade, however, the person could not be found.

Police asked for Coastguard help to rescue a woman from a sluice at Common Staithe. Hunstanton Coastguard team members with ropes and lifejackets pulled the casualty out of the water and up a steep and muddy slope to safety. The woman, who was in a distressed state, has been rescued from the river before. Hunstanton RNLI hovercraft was paged but stood down before arriving on scene.

Two Coastguard Rescue Officers on a routine accident prevention patrol were asked by MRCC Yarmouth to investigate a report of a military phosphorus flare at the base of the cliffs at Hunstanton. They located the flare, which turned out to be of the Mark 6 type (grey wooden box with green bands).

By 19:00 the rest of the Coastguard team and a bomb disposal squad were on scene. Coastguards closed off the Clifton from the lighthouse to the car park, and the flare was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Hunstanton Coastguards were paged to an incident, but stood down immediately on arriving at the station.

Hunstanton’s Wash Monster pleasure craft was called out to rescue two boys whose dinghy had been carried onto a sandbank offshore. The crew of the Wash Monster did a fine job in bringing the children safely back to shore.

Please remember, though, that for all emergencies on the coast, your first action should be to call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. We can assess the situation rapidly and call out other services as necessary, including the lifeboat, RNLI hovercraft , helicopters … and the Wash Monster.

An elderly man collapsed and died after his accustomed cycle ride from Hunstanton to Heacham North Beach. Hunstanton Coastguard helped the ambulance crew and the local paramedic at the scene, and drove the paramedic’s vehicle to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where the casualty was taken by ambulance.

Hunstanton Coastguard was called out after Beach Patrol officers reported two jet skis and a motorboat on a sandbank. The boat had run aground, while at least one of the jet skis had been beached deliberately but would not re-start. Six people were involved altogether. Hunstanton hovercraft rescued three people from one jet ski, while the other craft managed to re-float and made their own way back to shore.

Returning to Titchwell beach to locate the shells remaining from the previous two days, Coastguards found more shells to a total of 28. The RAF bomb disposal crew attended.

The size of the charge needed to destroy them caused delays while an air exclusion zone was arranged. Thick fog again hampered operations. The big bang finally took place at 15:57, and was heard several miles away. The Coastguards then helped to fill the crater.

Hunstanton Coastguard was called out to find an artillery shell reported the previous day by a member of the public. The team found 20 shells in three groups. At 13:40 an RAF bomb disposal crew met the Coastguards at Brancaster, and in thick fog the two teams drove out to the site.

By this time the tide had turned and only one group of 10 shells could be reached. At 16:08 a controlled explosion destroyed the shells. On Friday Coastguards returned to locate the remaining shells, and found a further 10. The bomb disposal team was not able to return until Saturday, however.

Hunstanton Coastguard was called to give assistance to an ambulance crew when a woman apparently suffered a fit on the beach.

While attending an explosives incident at Holme (see previous entry), Coastguards were tasked to help an ambulance crew after an elderly man was injured in a fall. He had walked over the edge of the promenade, near the Sea Life Centre.

A Hunstanton Coastguard team was despatched to Holme Beach after a member of the public reported finding shells. These turned out to be approximately 15 rounds of rifle-calibre ammunition. Since the items would have been covered by the tide before a bomb disposal crew could arrive, they were placed in a purpose-designed container and removed to a safe place.

The operation was complicated by a call to give medical support at Hunstanton (see next entry).

Hunstanton Coastguard and Lifeboat were paged after a kite surfer got into trouble. The lifeboat crew picked up the 34-year-old man from the water. He was checked over by an ambulance crew and a First Responder, but did not need medical treatment.

Hunstanton and Wells Coastguard teams joined forces when a military phosphorus flare was reported near the The Firs. By 17:20 an RAF bomb disposal team was on scene, and at 19:05 the flare was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Hunstanton Sea Life Centre asked for Coastguard help after a member of the public reported a seal pup on the beach between Heacham and Snettisham. The informant had recorded the GPS position of the pup, allowing the Coastguard crew to locate it and bring it back for medical care.

Hunstanton Coastguard was paged following a report that a dog was stuck in the rocks near the golf club. Ten minutes later the team was stood down.

A routine training session was interrupted by a call from MRCC Yarmouth to say that a speedboat had broken down at Heacham. Hunstanton Lifeboat rescued the driver and the boat, which had suffered engine failure. Clothes and a mobile phone may have been lost overboard during the incident.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a kite surfer was reported missing. The team was stood down almost immediately.

Hunstanton Coastguard was paged after a child went missing. The child was soon found without Coastguard help, and the team was stood down.

Hunstanton Coastguard helped the crew of the Air Ambulance evacuate a woman with a suspected heart attack from the beach approximately 1 km east of the golf club.

Hunstanton Coastguard was called out following the discovery of a military phosphorus flare on the beach at Brancaster. The flare, which was near the golf club, was of the cylindrical aluminium type.

RAF bomb disposal experts later arrived from Burnham Overy, where they had been doing another job, and destroyed the flare in a controlled explosion at Titchwell Creek.

Hunstanton Coastguards helped an ambulance crew on Snettisham beach after a 15-year-old girl was kicked in the stomach by her brother.

Hunstanton Coastguard was paged following a report from the sailing club of a kite surfer in trouble. Coastguards conned the hovercraft crew onto a floating object which proved to be a kite. They then located its owner, a 26-year-old Coventry man, and found him to be unhurt.

A Hunstanton Coastguard team checked the state of the high tide. At Snettisham the water was nearly at the top of the sea wall.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard following a report of people in danger from the incoming tide. Arriving at Thornham harbour, the team found that cars in the lower car park had already been cut off by the rising water, and reassured their occupants that they were safe.

The team then checked water levels at Snettisham, Heacham and Hunstanton. Returning to Thornham at around 19:30 they found the cars now able to leave the area.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a windsurfer or kite surfer was reported to be in trouble. The Hunstanton RNLI hovercraft crew brought the 35-year-old man back to shore, and Coastguards arranged for an ambulance. The casualty was very cold but otherwise unhurt.

MRCC Yarmouth paged Hunstanton Coastguard after a member of the public reported seeing a muddy figure dressed in a trench coat trying to cross the Thornham harbour channel from the Brancaster side.

The Coastguard team watched the person appear to try to cross the channel before turning back. The team then searched the Brancaster side, including the car parks at Thornham harbour, RSPB Titchwell and Brancaster golf club, the Titchwell boardwalk and beach, and Thornham marsh. Nothing was found, and the search was stood down at 21:00.

Hunstanton Coastguard’s station officer met an RAF salvage team after part of the tailplane from the Tornado aircraft that crashed on 24 October last year was spotted approximately 1 km west of the point where the RSPB path reaches the beach.

A pair of jeans, socks and trainers found on the beach triggered a search involving Hunstanton Coastguard and police. The clothes contained nothing to identify the owner. A shoreline search from Heacham to Holme revealed nothing, and the team was stood down.

Hunstanton Coastguard was paged by MRCC Yarmouth after radio signals were received from a marine distress buoy (EPIRB). The signals were reported to be coming from the King’s Lynn area, so the team investigated the Fisher Fleet, the Cut Bridges area and the mouth of the Great Ouse. They also spoke to the Harbour Office and local chandlers. Nothing was found, and the radio signals stopped. Coastguards concluded that this was a false alarm and that the EPIRB had been switched off, so the search was stopped.