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Rachael saved drowning boy

by Kate Weir
8/10/2008

A 16-year-old girl who rescued a drowning boy from a hotel pool in Turkey has been honoured at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Rachael Sutton, of Baytree Avenue, Denton, was on holiday last August when she spotted a small boy lifeless on the bottom of the hotel pool.

She said: "I was in the pool, and he was kind of on the bottom. I lifted him out, put him on the side and put him in the recovery position, and he started to come round."

The boy, thought to be a seven-year-old Turkish boy from Istanbul, was taken to hospital and made a full recovery.

It was only when Rachael came home and was chatting about her holiday to her leader at Dukinfield and Ashton St John Ambulance Cadets that the importance of her actions were noted it led to her winning a St John Ambulance Young Achiever Award and spending the day at Buckingham Palace with Princess Anne.

"When I first heard I’d won, I didn't want to go! "I never expected to get anything for what I did."I just did something that anyone would do in that situation."

But Rachael, a student at Hyde Clarendon Sixth Form College, had a change of heart and headed to Buckingham Palace with other St John Ambulance Young Achievers from Greater Manchester.

Among them was nine-year-old Ben O’Connor from Ashton who was in the Advertiser last week when he won a different award for helping his sister, Hannah, when she passed out.

Maria Podlasiuk, from St John Ambulance Greater Manchester, said: "It is a testament to the hard work and skill of these young people that Her Royal Highness will welcome them to Buckingham Palace to recognise their outstanding work."