OUR photograph of Rudheath Secondary Modern School has revived memories of a daring rescue.

Gerald Stubbs (on the photograph), who unfortunately died last year, was one of a quartet of Rudheath teenagers who risked their lives by diving into the River Dane to rescue a drowning boy in 1950.

The others were Neville Palin, who was in Gerald's class but wasn't on the photograph, David Barker and Ronald Thompson.

They were presented with the Royal Humane Society's testimonial for their achievements.

This extract from the Northwich Guardian dated June 10, 1950 recalls the dramatic events of the rescue:

'When four Rudheath boys began to take swimming lessons, less than one year ago, they little dreamt what they learned would enable them to save another boy's life.

'On Thursday last week, David Crank was saved from death by 10 seconds - because the four boys had learnt to swim.

'The four boys, Gerald Stubbs, aged 14, Neville Palin, aged 14, David Baker, aged 13 and Ronald Thompson, aged 15, decided to take advantage of the sunshine by setting up a tent on the banks of the River Dane.

'Neville Palin was about 100 yards from the tent when a small boy, John Christie, dashed up to him and said a boy was drowning in the river.

'They followed John Christie, who pointed out the spot

'The lads dived into the water and Gerald Stubbs, the strongest swimmer, reached David as he came up for the second time.

'He tried to seize the drowning boy by the hair but finding he could not do so caught him under the arm and swam with him to the bank where Ronald, Neville and David were waiting.

'They experienced difficulty in hauling Crank up the steep bank of the river but after struggling for a few minutes managed to bring him to safety.

'They wrapped him with towels and Ronald Thompson applied artificial respiration.'