A GREAT grandmother has come forward as one of the rescuers of dog walker Maureen Wick, who fell in the river at Godmanchester.

Ruth Moore, 73, is a great grandmother of one and grandmother of nine but that didn’t stop her or her friend, 75-year-old Shirley Clarbour springing into action when they heard Mrs Wick’s cries for help.

Mrs Wick had been walking her dog Penny, into the River Ouse near Godmanchester recreation ground on Wednesday, November 30, when she noticed Penny’s lead had become loose.

As she bent to retrieve it, both Mrs Wick and Penny who has suffered a stroke and is blind in one eye, fell into the icy water.

The friends, from Hemingford Grey, had been waiting to go into their weekly art group at the Queen Elizabeth School Hall in the town.

Mrs Moore said: “We heard someone shouting for help and shouted back and ran over the bridge to see what was happening.

“I was a little bit behind because I stopped to put my handbag down. When I got to the other side, my friend and another lady were knelt on the river bank, which was very steep.

“A lady was stuck in the mud. They had got the dog out and gave me instructions to run and get the lady’s husband from the car park nearby.

“It was the dog that I was worried about. It was a little Yorkshire terrier and it was shaking with cold.”

Mrs Clarbour said: “I was just pleased that we were in the area and we were able to help – you never know what you are going to come up against. Anyone would have done the same thing in that situation.”

She added: “It all ended up happily.”

Mrs Wick, who recounted her ordeal in The Hunts Post last week, has already been reunited with her rescuers. She said: “It was lovely to meet them again. It was a bit emotional for me because it all came back to me. I thought I was going to perish, it was so cold.”