TWO big-hearted residents have raised hundreds of pounds to thank NHS staff who helped a close friend recover following a serious illness.

Simon Burrows, from Burnley, suffered an unexpected stroke on Boxing Day 2015 at his home aged just 42 and was rushed to hospital.

Fortunately he pulled through and then underwent several weeks of treatment and rehabilitation at Pendle Community Hospital and more recently from its community stroke rehabilitation team

It has seen Mr Burrows recover amazing well, to the point where he was even goalkeeping for his veteran's football team in a national competition earlier this month.

And when his friends Paul and Clare Earnshaw heard about his plight, they decided to transform their front garden into a winter wonderland, and have raised £720 for East Lancashire Stroke Therapy Team who helped Simon during his rehabilitation.

The couple, of Gisburn Road, Barrowford, have given their garden a Christmas makeover complete with thousands of decorations, snowmen and reindeer for the past eight years.

But this year, they decided to make their Christmas spectacular a charitable one to help Simon.

I’ve known Simon since we were at Edge End school together,” said Mr Earnshaw, who together with wife Clare own Nelson-based Fresh Fire and Security.

“When we heard about Simon’s illness, we were both shocked – you don’t expect to have a stroke at such a young age.”

“Every year people travel miles to see our winter wonderland and they were exceptionally generous last Christmas for our first Christmas fundraising effort.”

Mr Burrows, now 44, said: "It’s been a difficult 18 months and I want to thank my friends Paul and Clare for their brilliant fundraising idea, as well as the therapy team at the hospital and the community team for their expert advice and support that has really helped my recovery."

Mr Burrows also wants to raise awareness of FAST, an acronym used as a mnemonic to help detect and enhance responsiveness to stroke victim needs.

The acronym stands for Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties and Time to call emergency services.

A stroke is the sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen, caused by blockage of blood flow or the rupture of an artery to the brain.

For more information about strokes, people can visit the website https://www.stroke.org.uk/