Beatrice Millar

A HEROIC woman in her 70s has told how instinct took over when she jumped into the canal at Camden Lock to rescue a drowning man.

Beatrice Millar, 71, who lives in Islington, was walking along the towpath with her husband at lunchtime on Friday when she heard a splash, and saw a small crowd of people gathered at the edge of the murky water, where a man could be seen floating face down.

“When I realised no one was going to get in and this man was dying in front of our eyes, I just had to do it,” she told the Tribune.

“Someone was asking, ‘can anyone swim?’ People weren’t saying no, but they were probably thinking, ‘I don’t want to get in’. It didn’t feel like a choice for me.

“I remembered the life-saving drills I learned in school when I was about nine and just took my shoes off and jumped in. It was amazing how my body remembered what to do in those circumstances.”

Ms Millar, a psychotherapist who has become involved with revolutionary communism since herretirement, held the man’s head out of the water and brought him to the side, where they were both pulled from the canal.

The canal water where Ms Millar saw a man floating unconscious before diving in

The man was treated by paramedics before he came to.

“It was hard work I have to say, I was puffing and panting, he wasn’t a small man,” Ms Millar said.

“I was in a real daze afterwards. It’s like, ‘did that really happen? Did I just jump in the canal and save a man’s life?’

“They are so intense those moments, when you have somebody’s life in your hands and you don’t know whether they are going to make it or not.”

Ms Millar initially wanted to carry on with her walk, but her husband persuaded her to head back home to dry off instead.

“As I was walking along the towpath to get the bus, all these people were saying, ‘you’re a hero!’ It was very touching.

“I just did what had to be done, there wasn’t a lot of forethought, there wasn’t a lot of time to be scared.”

Ms Millar, who lives in Brecknock Road, told the Tribune that she retired from her work as a therapist about six years ago, and has since become a revolutionary communist – a learning process that has been hugely uplifting and involves knocking on doors, selling newspapers and talking to people about the causes of their deprivation.

“I wasn’t very involved in politics, I was always very unhappy about the state of the world and wanting to change things but I didn’t know how to.”

Ms Millar added: “It’s not the migrants that are causing the terrible inequalities in society, it’s the millionaires and the chief executives. We need a different social system.”

Her canal rescue is a reminder that “senior women are powerful”, Ms Millar said.