A MUSIC teacher has told how he rescued a girl from drowning in a village pond.

Tom Stapleton was paddling with his own children when he noticed the youngster was in difficulty in Mill Pond, Dedham, on Saturday.

The dad-of-two swam out to her as she struggled to tread water, which was about five metres deep.

Tom, 37, and from Dedham, said: "She was on a big inflatable rubber ring and I realised it was quite easy for people to fall through it.

"I was almost waiting for it to happen - I thought if she fell out I bet she couldn't swim.

"Then I saw she was in front of this rubber ring and just looking fairly panicked and she was sinking, just trying to tread water but not safely and just dipping under.

"I just swam out to her, for about five metres or something.

"I could only just touch the bottom. I swam to her and lifted her head up.

"I swam her back and said "whose daughter is this who was drowning?"

The girl's mother responded and Tom walked the girl over to her.

She had been distracted as she was letting the air out of an inflatable at the water's edge and thanked Tom.

Tom, who teaches singing at Holmwood House School, Lexden, said the girl's father had been sat in a car at the time.

He said the girl's parents scolded her for not swimming with arm bands on.

Tom's wife Laura posted what happened on Facebook and dozens of people shared and commented on her post.

She wrote: "I post this to highlight just how easy it is to take your eye off your children and to emphasise that it can get very deep in the pond. Things could have turned out very different today!"

Tracey Newman commented: "My brother Darren drowned there when he was only 17 in one of the rowing boats.

"The mill pond is so dangerous and you just get dragged down. I don't normally comment about my brother who would have been 53 in November but I was just so upset reading about parents who are so lucky someone else saved their child."

Linda Hill added: "Growing up we knew of several who sadly lost their life due to the undercurrent in the pond."

And Mark Sycamore said: "Professional swimmers and divers have lost their lives there too, so just highlights how dangerous these waters are.

"They should have a 'no swimming' sign from where the new duck feeding jetty is in the car park to the meadow side, which is where it becomes treacherous."