BEST-SELLING author Kate Furnivall will never forget the day the Appledore lifeboat team saved her life and that of her young son 26 years ago.

So when, by a quirk of fate, a chance came to show her gratitude at the Appledore Book Festival, she grabbed at it and donated her appearance fee to the village's RNLI station.

She said: "I was delighted when I was invited to give a talk at the Appledore Book Festival. It gave me an opportunity to return a little of the debt I owe to the Appledore Lifeboat by donating my fee to their station."

Kate's dramatic rescue happened while she was holidaying in Appledore in 1983 with her husband and sons.

She was living in Wiltshire at the time and said: "While my husband stayed in the sand dunes playing with our younger son, I took our older son Edward, who was then five years old, out in our inflatable dingy to teach him to row.

I am ashamed to say I was unaware of the fact that the tide had turned and was starting to ebb, and I hadn't realised that the wind was off-shore.

"We spent some time rowing happily up and down parallel to the beach only a few feet away from the sand, but after a while I realised we had been swept further out, so I took the oars and tried to row us back in.

"To my horror, the harder I rowed, the more we drifted out into the current. I realised we were in serious trouble. I started waving and shouting but by then the boat had been carried quite a way out.

"It all happened with frightening speed.

"I honestly didn't know what would happen, but I didn't panic. My overriding concern was for my young son who was very cold and I kept telling him a boat would come along and tow us back to shore. He must have been extremely frightened but he didn't show it.

"When the maroon went up, he thought it was a firework. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. I knew without a shadow of doubt that it was for us. The word 'relief' doesn't even come close to describing what I felt."

Within minutes a yellow helicopter was hovering overhead and a fishing boat appeared and threw a line for Kate.

"They were all so courteous, so caring, so helpful, which made me feel dreadful. I wanted them to shout at me and tell me how stupid I'd been. Nothing they could say to me would be worse than what I was saying to myself. But they were lovely men whom I owed my life and more to the point, the life of my child."

Martin Cox, the coxswain in charge of the present 19 crew members and eight shore crew at Appledore's lifeboat station, said: "I knew all the crew back in those days and they were, as Kate suggests, friendly and caring, especially where children were involved or anyone struggling in the water. The first thing to do is look after them.

"The incident would have happened when my father Desmond was coxswain at Appledore so it is more than likely that he was involved in the rescue. I'd like to meet Kate sometime and she's very welcome to come down to the station any time and talk about what happened. Her donation is a very kind gesture."