LANDSCAPE gardener Chris Burton was able to thank the three people who helped keep him alive after he had a heart attack.

The 50-year-old from Lydbrook was working on the new Poppy Fields estate at Coalway in January when he collapsed.

A colleague of Mr Burton ran to the home of Two Rivers Housing tenant Tiffany Prosser to get help after Mr Burton collapsed.

She alerted decorator Paul Stevens, another Two Rivers tenant at Poppy Fields, who was working on the estate.

He said: “I was taking a break when I saw a couple of people running, saying a man in a van had stopped breathing. I sprinted over there and he was slumped over the wheel,”

Mr Stevens gave CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) under direction from paramedic Paul Nicholls who is based at Coleford.

Two Rivers Housing has installed 11 defibrillators in its housing schemes – including one at Wynols Close, near to where Mr Burton was taken ill.

Mr Burton said: “I don’t remember anything of what happened on that day, but I’m starting to piece things together from what I’ve been told.

“The people who helped to save my life should be recognised for what they did.”

For the full story see next week’s Forest Review.