The incident happened when Alex and Candice Mitchel, and their family, were walking down the promenade from Newburn Bridge.
Alex said: “Once we approached the toilets, the pathway felt very busy, so I took Bobby down on the beach to see the other dogs. We were halfway between the two sets of stairs when Bobby spotted Candice again. He went straight towards the rockery. I shouted to encourage him back, but within a second, he had vanished. I climbed up on the rocks and reached down, but he was still inches away. Bobby tried to jump up to me and lost his footing, then slid down further to the bottom. In that second, no one seemed to be around to ask for help.”
He went on: “I shouted to a man, passing by on his bike, and he immediately got off and jumped over the wall. I didn’t catch his name. We tried lifting the rock, and he suggested trying a big stick to wedge under which didn’t work. Tracy Irwin stayed with Candice whilst Kenny Irwin climbed over to assist. Jonathan Cockburn tried to reach down the hole but also couldn’t reach him, so Natalie Cockburn called her friend to help. Debra and Shaun Hickey – who were passing by with their dachshund – tried to encourage Bobby up with treats, but that didn’t work either. Finally, Adam Armstrong, an off-duty firefighter, and his partner Rosie were passing by. He calmly came and assessed what was happening. He decided he was going in head first. Jonathan and I held his feet, and he grabbed onto Bobby. Someone shouted: ‘He’s got the dog!’ and there was cheering and congratulations all round!”
A hugely relieved Alex and Candice decided to treat everyone to a gift voucher for a coffee shop.
Alex added: “All respectfully declined the offer and were just happy to have helped. Rosie suggested taking some biscuits down to the fire station, and then Adam could meet Bobby again in a calmer environment. So it’s all set for giving a hamper to the fire brigade on Wednesday evening. We just feel like this isn’t enough given the circumstances. We will forever be grateful”.
