A helicopter and lifeboats were sent to rescue five people who became stranded on a beach.

They were below the cliffs about 150 metres south of The Coastguard Restaurant in St Margaret’s Bay.

Crews from RNLI Walmer Lifeboat battled through strong winds and choppy seas to reach the people who were in danger of being cut off by the rising tide.

They used Atlantic lifeboat Donald McLauchlan and a smaller D Class lifeboat Duggie Rodbard II.

A Coastguard Rescue team was also in attendance during the incidnet on Saturday and the Coastguard helicopter was called to help.

A discussion between the two lifeboat helms saw two crew transfer from the Atlantic to the smaller lifeboat which was nosed into the beach to begin transferring the people to a larger boat waiting off-shore.

The helicopter also lowered a winchman, though the downdraft caused a small amount of debris and loose chalk to fall.

As a result, crews decided to extract the casualties and the winchman via the lifeboat for safety.

Three runs were made ashore to pick up casualties, the winchman and the shore-side lifeboat crew.

After transferring crew, the casualties were taken to Dover lifeboat station.

During the journey back to harbour, the five people rescued were warned to check weather conditions and tide times before embarking on any coastal activities in the future.

This was just one of three incidents RNLI Walmer Lifeboat crews were called to over three days.

On Sunday evening, a lifeboat was launched following a request from the Coastguard to a vessel with five people on board that was stuck in shallow water in the River Stour near Richborough Fort.

But, due to a lack of water in the river, down to millimetres in places, the lifeboat was unable to reach the scene.

The incident was instead dealt with by a Coastguard Rescue team and Kent Fire and Rescue.

The third call was to an unidentified object seen in the water around the old Kingsdown lifeboat station.

An extensive search was carried out between the station and Deal Pier.

Nothing untoward was discovered and the lifeboat returned to station at 4pm to be washed down, refuelled and made ready for service.