A WOMAN has thanked a community after they rallied round to support her father when he collapsed.

Martin Cairns visited Lyme Regis for the bank holiday weekend with his wife, daughter and granddaughter when he fainted on the beach.

The group had been having their lunch, when Mr Cairns mentioned he didn't feel well and began to go very quiet. He then began shaking and rocking backwards and forwards.

Mr Cairns, 78, from Maidenhead, has a history of heart problems so his family were understandably very concerned.

His daughter, Laura Cairns, said: "It was really worrying as we didn't know what was going on. His eyes were open and I was trying to talk to him but he wasn't responding.

"People walking past realised there was something wrong. A man said he was a first aider and asked to help and seconds later another lady who was a nurse came over and asked if she could help. This was all within around 30 seconds."

As the pair looked after Mr Cairns, they advised Laura to unlock the defibrillator at the town council building as a precaution. She forgot her phone in the rush but two council employees stepped in to help, with one alerting the beach lifeguards and the other unlocking the defibrillator.

By the time Laura returned to the beach, paramedics had arrived and were able to determine Mr Cairns had fainted as a result of dehydration so the defibrillator was not needed.

The paramedics checked him over and gave him plenty of water.

Laura said: "When my dad came out of the ambulance he was a bit embarrassed with the attention and insisted that he was fine.

"It was a bit scary for us, we didn't know what was happening so to have people there who know what to do and could take control was fantastic.

"It was a real community effort, everyone seemed to appear out of nowhere and banded together to help my dad. People just wanted to help and they were amazing."

She added: "I really want to thank the people who came to help without a second thought."

Mr Cairns said: “So many great people stopped to help me and my family and I am so grateful to everyone who offered their help in one way or another.”