Three children carried out a courageous river rescue, bravely racing to save a young girl and boy from deep water.

Brothers Aaron Studholme, 13, and Corey Studholme, 11, and their friend, Euan Jackson, 13, swiftly went to the aid of the younger children after they got into difficulty in the river Caldew, near Dalston.

Thanks to their quick thinking and swimming skills, they were able to bring the two children back to the riverbank safely.

The two, who couldn't swim, were alright apart from being in shock and the boy had a nose bleed.

Aaron and Corey's mum, Kerry Gibson, 34, of Wigton, is very proud of how her sons and Euan saved the children.

She said: "I was so proud. It's nice to know you raised them right.

"Euan's mum was so proud as well. It could have been a completely different story."

Aaron said: "If we'd got out a moment before them then . . ."

"It's not even worth thinking about," said Kerry.

Aaron, Euan and Corey, who learnt to swim when they were about five-years-old, were down at the River Caldew near the bridge with Aaron and Corey's dad Steven.

The two children, who were about five or six, came down to the river with a relative at about 5pm.

They were fishing with nets in the shallow water near the bridge but then suddenly the girl slipped into deeper water and as she tried to get up, the boy slipped into her.

The two started splashing around against the current and Steven shouted at the three boys to go help.

"We swam over and she grabbed me by the neck, trying to hold on," said Aaron. "She just wrapped herself around me."

Aaron swam back with all his strength to the river bank as the girl held on tightly.

Meanwhile, the drowning boy in his panic started to push Euan under water so Corey went to help.

Euan said: "I tried to swim as hard as I could. When I couldn't go any further, I just chucked him at Aaron."

The rescue was over in less than a minute.

Afterwards the children and their relative were very grateful to the boys and kept thanking them.

Aaron said: "We just felt better helping them and then we went back to swimming."

Kerry believes everyone should learn to swim and take care around rivers.

She was also pleased that Aaron, Euan and Corey had done something positive to counter the bad reputation teenage boys in Wigton are often saddled with.

In May, Cumbria Police said they were prioritising the fight against anti-social behaviour in Wigton after an increasing number of reports of large groups of youths aged between 12 and 17 gathering in the town in the evening.

Kerry said: "I just think teenage boys - they get a lot of slack for being bad, especially in Wigton - but they are not all bad."