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By Cara Sulieman
A GORDON Brown lookalike dressed as a life-guard hit a beach in the PM’s own back yard today (thurs) to send an SOS on climate change.
The giant headed doppelganger urged the real prime minister to become a ‘lifesaver’ ahead of the forthcoming climate conference in Copenhagen.
With 100 days until the talks – which aim to create a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol – campaigners from Oxfam gathered in Gordon Brown’s constituency to raise awareness of the issues at stake.
A VOLUNTEER lifeboat member narrowly avoided serious injury after being pushed off his vessel by a rowdy drunken youth.
William Black, the RNLI lifesaver, missed the vessel’s propeller by inches after being barged into the water by boozed up Andrew Wood, 18.
Police were forced to chase Wood and his pal Lee Mackie, 17, after receiving a call concerning alleged vandalism to a shop window in Anstruther, Fife, about 7.30pm on Wednesday evening.
The thugs tried to avoid capture by jumping into the town’s harbour and swimming out to a nearby rock crop.
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A HERO lifeboat man has been banned from the high seas after bosses ruled his new home is too far away for its rule book – at less than half a mile away.
Michael McErlane, 40, has been on the crew for almost 24 years and served on around 500 lifesaving rescues, personally saving 13 people and been presented with a bravery award from the Queen.
But now he has been told his services are no longer required after he moved his family to a larger house which falls just 0.2m outside the approved catchment area – or just a four minute drive to the boathouse.
Mr McErlane, a helmsman at the Kinghorn station, has been grounded for the past three weeks after the RNLI stuck by its decision that only residents of Kinghorn can serve on the boats.
By Cara Sulieman
A SUPERFIT boy hero saved his mum from drowning by hauling her out of the bath by her hair.
Aidan Smith, 10, found his mum Amanda unconscious and underwater in their bathroom in Galashiels.
But instead of panicking, the brave boy pulled the plug before using all his strength to drag the 30-year-old out on to the floor.
His relieved mum said: “If it hadn’t been for Aidan, I would have died – I am so proud of him.
“He is an amazing boy – I always knew he was intelligent and caring but I never thought he would save my life.”
Amanda had gone for a soak whilst Aidan and two of his sisters Madison, 7, and Lily-Ruth, 2, played downstairs.
She had asked her son to fetch her mobile phone while she relaxed in the bubbles.
But when he returned he found his mother under the water and not moving.
After shouting her name and getting no response, he tried to get her head above the water.
He yanked the plug out to empty the bath and then pulled her out of the tub by her hair.
Placing his mum in the recovery position, he covered her with a towel while calming his screaming young sisters down before he called his granny for help.
Amanda’s mother Sheila MacDonald works as a domestic porter at Borders General Hospital so Aidan knew she would know what to do.
Amanda said: “Water was spurting out of my mouth and I was coughing so Aidan banged my back.
“When my mum turned up, she said he had everything under control and was making sure I was kept warm.
“I don’t remember what happened at all until I was in the ambulance. They think it was a combination of my low blood pressure and the hot water which made me faint.”
The mother-of-four was given oxygen and rushed to hospital where she stayed under observation.
Amanda thinks it is partly down to her rugby-playing son’s weight-lifting which gave him the strength to remove all eight-stone of her from the bathtub on Tuesday February 10.
She said: “He plays rugby for the Mini Maroons and has little weights in his rooms that he uses trying to build up his muscles.
“It was probably a combination of fear, adrenalin and his weights-training that gave him the strength.”
And now Amanda is determined for her rugby-mad son to meet his hero – Scotland kicker Chris Paterson.
She said: “I went to school with Chris and bump into him from time-to-time but Aidan has never been with me.
“He would love to meet him and I think it is the least he deserves for what he has done.
“He’s just a special boy.”
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 