A GROUP of brave pupils have spoken of the moment they came to the aid of an 85-year-old man who was found collapsed in a lane.

Joshua Harris, Sonny Webb, Skye Harvey, all 12, and Megan Leslie and Kenneth Gosho, both 11, were walking home from King Henry VIII School in Abergavenny when they saw the man who had collapsed on the pavement off Old Hereford Road onto Park Crescent in Abergavenny.

Joshua said: “We thought it was a dead man but we got closer and we saw it move and it was a man, an 85-year-old.”

The Year 7 pupils stopped a passing motorists to ask for help before calling for an ambulance. The elderly man was described as being “confused” but was fully responsive.

“He was a bit confused when he saw us,” added Joshua.

“He thought he was 99 and then he said he was 91.”

The man told one of the pupils, Megan, he lived nearby and would be able to “crawl” home.

Megan said: “He said ‘I will be fine, I will crawl home.’

“I said we are not going to let you crawl home.

“I felt really sorry for him. I was just really proud of my friends.”

As they waited for the ambulance, the quick-thinking students asked a pair of dog walkers if they could put out an appeal in the popular Facebook group, Abergavenny Voice. Meanwhile Kenneth made contact with his mother, who works as a radiographer, and she and others brought blankets and coats to keep the man warm.

The man was taken to Nevill Hall Hospital by his daughter who arrived after hearing about the incident on Monday, February 26.

Since the incident, the son of the elderly man contacted the school to express his thanks.

In an email to the head teacher, he said: “My father is 85 years of age and suffers with Alzheimer’s.

“They have restored my faith in the youth of today.

“My family are really grateful to them. They are a credit to their parents and your school.”

Head teacher Elspeth Lewis said the students had embodied the school’s values of being “ready, respectful and responsible”.

She added: “These young people have embodied what we preach.”