A QUICK-thinking mother has described how she rescued her 13-month-old son from drowning, after he fell into a trough full of water, near their home.

Tina Schafroth has described the sheer ‘panic’ of turning around to see that her son George had toppled into the trough, as she was feeding her pet goats near the family home in Little Somerford.

She said: “He’d leant in and gone over the tipping point. The water butt is not big but it was big enough that he couldn’t reach enough to hold himself out.

“I ran over screaming and pulled him out and I just remember his eyes, they were glassy like a doll’s.

“I had my hand on his wrist and couldn’t feel a pulse, he wasn’t breathing so I kept hitting his back really hard and there was just water going everywhere.

“There was no coughing like you see in movies and that’s when I really started to panic and think he wasn’t coming back and that was it.

“My neighbour is a sister at Great Western Hospital and we’d walked past them on the way to the field so I knew she was in, so I started doing mouth-to-mouth while running across the field.

“I ran from the field to the road and there was a car coming. I flagged it down and he brought me home and my neighbours phoned 999.

“He’d started breathing again and taking little breaths but I remember him flopping.

“The ambulance was only in Malmesbury so they were here in less than 10 minutes; we were so lucky.”

George was taken to Great Western Hospital in Swindon and has made a full recovery.

“He was running around triage with not a care in the world, I was still sat there in tears but he was absolutely fine”, said Tina.

“He still loves water, he doesn’t seem to have any memories or concerns.

“It’s like it never happened to him which is the best possible outcome.”

Tina and her partner Neil have now organised free paediatric first aid courses in Malmesbury, to give other parents the same life-saving skills.

The first session is being held on Saturday, at the Activity Zone from 3.15-5.15pm and there are still place available.

Tina said: “We had done a first aid course when I was pregnant. It was only a short one but it was free and offered via the children’s centre in Malmesbury.

“We’d gone over choking and an unresponsive child and talked about children in the bath, that quite often if they get water on their faces they have a reflex where they close off oesophagus.

“You take it in but sometimes you need to be reminded and we’d kept meaning to do it but then the children’s centre closed. There are so many occasions when your child might be with someone so it’s not just parents.”

To book a place on the first aid course, which is completely free, contact Andy Donald, manager of the Activity Zone, on 01666 822533.

“For the initial ones we need to just get people learning basic first aid, even if it’s enough to just keep someone alive until the paramedics arrive, to know enough to make a difference,” Tina added.

She will also be raising money on the day to help cover the £180 cost of a trainer to run future courses that will be accredited.