Pensioner pals are on the hunt for twins who saved their lives

And online research has led them to believe that the brothers could be around the Fareham area.

Alan Whiting and his friend Bernard Schofield got into trouble while on a life boys’ camp at St Mary’s Bay on the Kent coast in 1957.

They went out for a swim when Bernard was pulled under by a current and by churned-up mud underfoot from a nearby sluice.

Alan tried to save his friend only to get into difficulty himself.

Luckily for the pair of boys, who were 11 at the time, twin brothers David and Barry Brooks, who were also just young boys, saw what was happening and rescued them.

Now, decades later, Alan is back in touch with Bernard and the pensioners would like to find the twins to thank them for saving their lives.

Alan, who now lives in Maidstone, said: ‘We were both in trouble and started waving and shouting but no-one saw us.

‘We were getting desperate and weak when one of the twins saw us and, being strong swimmers, they swam over and got Bernard on to the beach.

‘At that time they thought I was okay but they fortunately looked back and saw me trying to wave at them so swam back out and saved me.

‘The next thing I remember was being in bed back at the dormitory. My parents and sister were there having travelled down from Welling.

‘They were so grateful to the twins that they asked them if they could buy them a present.

‘When we got back home we all went shopping in Welling and they chose a guinea pig and a cage.’

Alan says that after the incident the boys kept in touch for a short while, but eventually contact fizzled out.

Now he has been reunited with his childhood friend Bernard, from Brixton, and they have been reminiscing and would like to find out what happened to the twins.

He said: ‘It would be great for Bernard and I to meet them and thank them again after nearly 60 years.

‘Our lives – and our family’s lives – could have been very different if it was not for them’

Alan has been researching online and he found an obituary for the twins’ mother Adelaide Victoria Brooks, who died on February 16, 2008 aged 90 at the Peel Nursing Home in Fareham.

He said: ‘It mentions David and Barry and their brother Dennis so I am assuming they live in the area.

‘Let’s hope we have some luck in finding them.’

Anyone who knows the family, is asked to e-mail [email protected] or call Alan on 01622 746171.