Award for canal rescue boy

Cliff did not hesitate to jump into the canal

A schoolboy who jumped into a canal to save a four-year-old child is to receive a national award.

Thirteen-year-old Cliff Hope leapt into the water and pulled out the boy who had toppled from his bike after being startled by a dog.

Cliff, a pupil at Mangotsfield School, Bristol, is to receive a Royal Humane Society award on the recommendation of the chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Steve Pilkington.

The rescue took place as Cliff, from Downend, was cycling on a school outing along the towpath alongside the Kennet and Avon canal.

What is so remarkable about Cliff's performance is that he was the one who stepped forward and used his initiative

Major General Christopher Tyler, Royal Humane Society

The award citation says that the child's father, an American on holiday, had been too shocked to act and Cliff had leaped in as the boy started disappearing under the water.

He swam out and grabbed the child, pulled him to the edge and the father helped them both out of the water.

Cliff then went back in to retrieve the boy's bicycle.

The rescue took place while 23 pupils and four staff were approaching Bath on the return leg of a ride from Mangotsfield to Bradford-on-Avon.

Major General Christopher Tyler, secretary of the Royal Humane Society, told BBC News Online: "What is so remarkable about Cliff's performance is that he was the one who stepped forward and used his initiative.

Cliff is excited about getting the award

"Seeing this little boy go into the canal he, without any hesitation, jumped in after him and undoubtedly saved his life."

Cliff said: "I didn't think about it at the time.

"If I had just stood there and done nothing he could have died.

"I am excited about getting the award. Nothing like this has happened to me before."

The inscribed scroll with details of the rescue will be presented to Cliff by police.