A TEENAGER today spoke of the moment he cheated death after falling 25ft from a tree.

Fraser Lucas, of Cecilia Road, Cherry Tree, Blackburn, was found unconscious after the accident in Pleasington playing fields.

The 14-year-old was collecting conkers at around 2.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday. He remembers dropping his hat and his next memory is of waking up in hospital.

He spent a week at Blackburn Royal Infirmary but there was a special welcome home present for him.

Children from the area raised enough cash to replace his new Arsenal football top which paramedics had to cut off.

Youngsters aged between eight and 15 have spent the week cleaning cars to raise the £30 they needed. Fraser, a St Wilfrid's CE High School and Technology College pupil, said he was made-up by the big-hearted gift.

He said: "I am very very sore and am just trying to stay still. I just remember dropping my hat then waking up in hospital. I am really proud of what they have done.

"It's absolutely brilliant and I am chuffed to have friends like them. I had only had my Arsenal top for a week. I don't think I will go conkering again for a while." Mum Sandra said said she was still in shock after the accident. She said it had been a lesson to youngsters in the area who had been scared by what happened.

She said: "He has been so lucky. A passer-by saw him and alerted me and the two ambulances. He was unconscious, frothing at the mouth. At hospital they took him into resuscitation and wouldn't let me see him so I knew it was bad. By 10pm that night he was stable but I really thought I was going to lose him.

"Even the paramedics rang up to find out if he made it. They said he must have had a guardian an angel and now I believe that to be true. It doesn't bare thinking about what could have happened."

"The children who have done this deserve a really big thankyou. It came as a big shock to the whole community and many youngsters have been really upset."

Fraser suffered a broken rib and punctured a lung but is set to make a full recovery.