Martin Nash, 52, Gloucestershire, recalls the day he almost died as an eight year old at Gyllyngvase Beach in the summer of 1976.

He has journeyed back down to Falmouth, selling some of his belongings to afford the travel, in order to find some final closure to what happened to him here.

He was completely alone on the day in question and has had to overcome the childhood trauma without any witnesses. He has put out an appeal for anyone who might have been there and can remember what happened.

I met Martin at Gylly Beach Cafe to learn more about his story.

Martin described the summer of 1976 as long and hot. He had come to Falmouth to visit his older brother who was studying boat building at the time and stayed at a b&b with the family he lived with.

He remembers how excited he was about the prospect of his brother teaching him how to swim and pestered him until one day they all went down to the beach.

Original plans quickly changed, and his brother left Martin to go and meet friends, leaving him alone with the family, a husband, wife and two daughters who were his age.

Martin remembers how angry he was that his brother had left, after hours of pestering to spend time in the water with him.

He tells me how he walked to the water, assuring the adult's concerns that he wouldn't go out too far.

He remembers going up to waist length. Not to go too deep but still determined to not have his fun spoiled by his brother's change of plans. He was convinced that at this depth he would be fine.

Within seconds, Martin was dragged underwater, like an invisible hand had snatched at his legs and pulled him out into the depths.

He remembers fighting for his life, lashing out and screaming underwater. Then he remembers sinking.

The next thing he can recall is being carried by a woman onto the beach and beginning to flail as oxygen came back into his lungs.

He doesn't know if he accidentally hit the woman, but he does know that he was dropped onto the ground and pulled by his leg or arm to safety.

He now lay on the beach surrounded by strangers who were keeping a steady distance back from his traumatised body, saying nothing.

Martin explained to me how things in his life could have been so different if he had been given a source of comfort at that moment.

He told me how if someone had given him a hug or a little bit of validation for the trauma he had just experienced, maybe he wouldn't have been the person he was for so many years.

No comfort came. Martin was left to deal with the trauma on his own. He didn't want to tell his mum as he didn't want to get his brother in trouble.

He was left with years of guilt for what happened on the beach that day - he took total responsibility for the accident. The suppression of anger and determination to not wait for the family when going into the sea was something he laid heavy on to himself.

In his young mind, the only thing he could do was bury it - and the rest of the world told him too as well.

Martin and I sat in the corner of Gylly Beach Cafe as he told me his story.

When he spoke, his eyes wandered from me to the sea.

He explained to me how when he returned home from the trip, he arrived in a place that he didn't feel he belonged in. The act of acting like nothing had happened separated him from the reality of his trauma.

He told me how it felt like he really had died that day, in that long hot summer of 1976.

His emotional maturity was blocked at the age of eight as he wasn't able to process what he had gone through - he began to see things in black and white - he told me he only saw the shades of a world that didn't care what had happened to him.

It has taken Martin 43 and a half years to get to this moment, sitting with me facing the sea of Gylly beach and the sea of emotions he'd previously blocked off.

Help from his partner and the push from his new job to get grief counselling sessions has given Martin a new outlook on everything that happened to him.

He told me he no longer carries the weight of guilt that he had for so long and he is able to recognise the damage the trauma did to the handling of his emotions.

Martin wants to move forward and bring some closure to his demons.

He has put out an appeal for anyone who might have been there on that day in the summer of 1976.