A bride will be reunited with the fearless woman who saved her life as a child more than three decades ago.

Louise Carter was just seven when she slipped and fell in the lake at Mote Park in Maidstone.

She had tried to cross the lake at the weir but was swept deep into the water on October 17, 1987 - the day after the Great Storm had battered the country.

But a nearby dog walker immediately jumped in and swam over to rescue the youngster.

Miss Carter, now 38, is preparing to tie the knot in July.

Her father, David Carter, remembered the woman’s act of heroism while preparing his speech for the wedding.

The 62-year-old said: “I never properly thanked her at the time, but I’d really like to now."

Mr Carter got in touch with the KM asking for our help in tracking down his daughter’s rescuer, so he could extend an invite to his daughter’s big day.

And we found Pamela Kelly, now a 79 year-old great-grandmother to four children, living in Poole.

Mrs Kelly, who regularly brought her border collie to the park, recalled the fateful day.

She said: “I just happened to be walking my dog when I heard a child screaming. She was out in the water, hooked up in wood.

“After I got her out of the lake, I carried her to Mote House, where they called an ambulance for Louise.

“When I got home I remember sitting there dripping wet and I just burst into tears.

“All of what had just happened hit me.”

Mrs Kelly had previously lived in Egremont Road, Bearsted and worked in Kent County Council’s transport department.

However, she was in the process of relocating to Dorset and left the county only a month after saving Miss Carter.

Mrs Kelly said: “I remember a policeman thanked me for doing it - you’d hope anyone would do it, but he said that not everybody would have done.

“You don’t just leave a child in the lake.”

She later received a bravery award from the Royal Humane Society in recognition of her heroic act.

Miss Carter, who works as a commercial property lawyer in Maidstone said: “It was sheer luck I was on the side of the lake that she was.

"Without her I genuinely wouldn’t be here today.

“I’d love to be able to see her and say thank you.”

Miss Carter will meet her lifesaver when she marries in Hoo.