THE heroic efforts of the region's RNLI volunteers are to be broadcast to the nation.

Crews from the Redcar lifeboat unit will be on BBC 1's Close Calls: On Camera when it airs for the first time on Monday morning (October 27).

Viewers will see the volunteers go to the rescue of a horse rider who was injured while riding on the beach near Redcar, in May this year.

The crew's inshore lifeboat was already at sea on a training exercise when coastguards asked them to search along the shoreline between Redcar and the South Gare after reports of a riderless horse being seen on the beach.

While the lifeboat was on its way, volunteers from the lifeboat station loaded First Aid and rescue equipment into a 4x4 vehicle and began a search of the beach.

They found the female horse rider injured on the beach and were able to direct the lifeboat to the location.

The rider told RNLI crew members that she had fallen from the horse. She had lost consciousness for a period and was suffering from numbness in her neck.

Dave Cocks, lifeboat operations manager at Redcar, said: "‘We were pleased to get involved with the production company who made the series. Much of the work on our volunteer crew goes unseen by the public.

"The two rescues show the variety of incidents our crews have to train for, and the fact that everyone involved lived to tell the tale is a testament to the skill and courage of RNLI volunteers everywhere."

Later in the series the volunteers will feature again when they were called out to rescue a father and son, Neil and Daniel Westmorland, who had been caught up in a freak accident, in June, when the pair were thrown into the sea from their fishing boat off the Redcar coast.

The men were fishing off Redcar when their craft’s outboard engine broke down. While they were attempting to fix it, the engine restarted, in gear and set to full speed, immediately throwing both men into the sea.

The fishing boat then circled the two men for 40 minutes until it ran out of fuel. The younger man was then able to climb back into the boat and send out a Mayday distress call. Meanwhile, his father had been carried nearly a quarter-of-a-mile away from the boat by the tide.

The Redcar RNLI lifeboat was immediately tasked. As it was proceeding, a nearby fishing boat, with RNLI volunteer Cameron Bond and his son Jordan on board, also responded to the Mayday.

Cameron found the man in the water about 300 yards away from his boat.

The first rescue can be seen on BBC 1 at 11.45am on Monday and the second will be broadcast on November 6.