Whitby Schoolboy, Eli Harrison, has been named as a finalist in the Amplifon Awards For Brave Britons 2021 after jumping into Staithes harbour to save a toddler from drowning.
Eli Harrison was on a family day out in August 2020 when he spotted the small child splashing among the moored boats and jumped in to rescue the youngster.
Eli has now reached the final four of the Young Hero category in global-hearing specialist Amplifon’s search for the ‘Best of British’ heroes.
Eli was heading to the beach with his parents Kayleigh and Ian, brother Billy and sister Gypsie-Rose when the family saw the small boy in trouble in the water, around 30 feet away from where they were standing on the pier.
Within a split second of his dad shouting ‘There’s a kid drowning!’ Eli, who wants to be a lifeboat volunteer when he is older, jumped into the sea before anyone else even had time to think about what to do to help.
Eli, whose great grandad and grandad were local fisherman, managed to get hold of the little boy who had been clinging onto a fishing net after slipping out of sight of his parents. He then swam him safely back to the shore.
Eli’s mum Kayleigh said:
“He’s an amazing swimmer, a complete natural and it took him just a day to learn to dive a few years back.”
Eli immediately played down his heroic actions. Mum Kayleigh said:
“Since the incident last summer, I have asked Eli a number of times why he jumped in without a second thought and he is still so modest, he just says ‘well, because I can swim and he couldn’t and mam, you would have done it too.”
Eli will now be invited to the virtual awards presentation on Tuesday, October 5.
The Amplifon Awards For Brave Britons are in their sixth year and celebrate truly remarkable people and pets. The winners will be judged by a panel including Falklands War Hero Simon Weston.
Set up in honour of Amplifon’s founder, Second World War hero Major Charles Holland, the awards recognise courage and achievement in the categories of Against All Odds, Service To Country, Charity Champion, Active Agers, Young Hero, Hero Pet, Celebrity Hero and Coronavirus Hero. The judges will choose an Overall Hero Award winner from the category winners
Charles Holland was awarded the MBE and Military Cross and received the Bronze Star from the United States government in 1948 for his bravery behind enemy lines during the Second World War.
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