A kind teenager braved high winds and low temperatures to look after a stricken elderly woman.

Daniel Shynn, 17, of Coggeshall Road, Earls Colne, was on his way to a catch a bus at 7.30am when he spotted the 82-year-old woman holding on to the noticeboard in St Andrew’s church yard in the village.

He said: “She told me she had been blown over in the wind and had hurt her hip. I tried to see if she could walk but she was in too much pain and couldn’t move.

“I just couldn’t move her so I had to call an ambulance.

“I didn’t want to leave her, I was helping prop her up and I would have been horrified if she had collapsed.”

Mr Shynn, who attends Colchester Sixth Form College, shielded the pensioner from the wind with his coat until the ambulance arrived.

He said: “I used to be in the Scouts so tried to remember everything I learned.

“She was cold so I had to try to keep her warm. I was talking to her and trying to keep her going. Because it was so early there was noone around to help.

"It wasn’t until the school run an hour later people came by and helped.”

One passer-by who stopped to help was first aid trained and she offered medical support to the woman who, at this point, was becoming unresponsive.

Others went to the nearby Earls Colne Primary School where they collected a chair and blankets.

ambulance arrived just before 9am and paramedics took the elderly woman to hospital.

Mr Shynn was told to return home once the ambulance arrived after being exposed to the cold for more than two hours.

kind act was praised by Alicia Neave, who he works with at the Rainbow Fish Bar in Earls Colne.

She said: “He is a really lovely boy who showed terrific bravery and kindness.”

Melanie Vine, headteacher at Earls Colne Primary School, added: “What Daniel did was absolutely fantastic.

“He was so kind and he even stayed when the paramedics arrived.

“He’s a former pupil and we have been telling the story to our children as an example of fantastic community spirit.”