A PUPIL of the King's Junior School in Chester and his family helped come to the aid of horses stranded in the flooded Chester Meadows as a result of Storm Christoph.

Following persistent torrential downpours, the River Dee had swollen massively around the Chester Meadows on Friday and resulted in a team of horses being stuck in high levels of floodwater.

King’s Junior School pupil Patrick Stananought, of class J3B, and his family soon became aware that their neighbours’ horses were missing.

They took on the task to save them.

Patrick said: “On Friday, one of our neighbours came and told us that a couple of other neighbours had spent ages trying to find the horses on the meadows because they were worried they might be in danger because of the flooding.

“When they couldn’t find them, they came and asked us whether we could use our drone to search for the horses.

“We found them really quickly and just as one of our neighbours were going to swim to the gate and try and cut the chain, another man called Jeff came along with a paddleboard and we spoke to him about going to help them.”

After guiding the horses to freedom, the horses were filmed making their great escape, with video footage picked up from the Facebook group, Friends of the Meadows.

A spokesperson for the King's School Chester said: "Well done to Patrick, his family and the paddleboarder, Jeff! During such an uncertain time of lockdown and flooding in Chester, it is fantastic to see that the neighbourhood spirit is still alive and well."