{"id":676550,"date":"2026-01-06T00:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676550\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T00:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:33:18","slug":"mum-adored-daughter-friend-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676550\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum adored daughter, friend says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phillip Norton,in Withernseaand<\/p>\n

Kevin Shoesmith,East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Joanne Gee, right, with her friend Sarah Keeling, who travelled to Withernsea to lay flowers<\/p>\n

A close friend has paid tribute to a mother and daughter who were swept away at a seaside resort.<\/p>\n

Sarah Keeling, 45, “adored” her daughter Grace, 15, who was her “whole world”, Joanne Gee said. <\/p>\n

The bodies of Sarah and Mark Ratcliffe \u2013 a passer-by who tried to help \u2013 were recovered on Friday, shortly after they entered heavy seas in Withernsea, East Yorkshire. Police said they were still searching for Grace.<\/p>\n

Fighting back tears as she placed flowers at the scene on Monday, Joanne said Sarah \u2013 who was a bridesmaid at her wedding \u2013 “left a mark with absolutely everyone she met”.<\/p>\n

\"FamilyFamily Handout<\/p>\n

Grace Keeling and Sarah Keeling went into the sea off the East Yorkshire coast on Friday with passer-by Mark Ratcliffe<\/p>\n

Joanne, who travelled from her home in Derby to pay her respects, said she had known Sarah, from Nottinghamshire, for 15 years, with the pair sharing a passion for running.<\/p>\n

She said: “Sarah was just always positive. I called her my ‘yes girl’ because if you ever wanted to do anything random she would be like ‘yeah’.<\/p>\n

“She was always doing things with family and friends. She definitely lived life to the full and took every opportunity to be happy.”<\/p>\n

Joanne, who had planned a weekend trip to London with Sarah in February, said she “could not comprehend” what the family was going through.<\/p>\n

“Sarah adored Grace. Grace was her whole world.”<\/p>\n

Police said Mark, 67, died after trying to help Joanne and Grace.<\/p>\n

“The poor man who gave his life to try and save them,” said Joanne. “It’s three beautiful souls lost.<\/p>\n

“My life is gloomier having lost such a shining, bright person.”<\/p>\n

Joanne said she reacted with disbelief to the news that Sarah had died and Grace was missing. <\/p>\n

She added: “When it’s someone you know and love… you just can’t put it into words.” <\/p>\n

On Sunday, Mark’s family described him as a “true hero and role model”.<\/p>\n

They said he was a “loving husband, father, son, brother and the best grandad anybody could ever wish for”.<\/p>\n

Police said both families were being supported by specially trained officers.<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/JoeBBC\/Joe Bilton<\/p>\n

The police said officers were continuing to search for Grace Keeling<\/p>\n

Emergency services said they were first alerted at 15:10 GMT on Friday to reports of a number of people in difficulty in the water.<\/p>\n

A huge search and rescue operation followed involving about 100 emergency workers, a rescue helicopter, air ambulance and RNLI crews from Withernsea, Bridlington, Skegness and Hornsea Inshore Rescue.<\/p>\n

The coastguard stood down their search for Grace at 16:00 on Saturday, although police said earlier they were continuing efforts to find her, with underwater search teams involved.<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/BeckiBBC\/Becki Bowden<\/p>\n

Floral tributes have been placed close to the scene on the promenade<\/p>\n

Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phillip Norton,in Withernseaand Kevin Shoesmith,East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire BBC Joanne Gee, right, with her friend Sarah Keeling, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-676550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115845346731423974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}