Brave@Heart: girls honoured for saving bridge leap woman

TWO teenage girls who stopped a woman jumping off a bridge are to receive a new award for bravery which officially recognises Scotland's heroes.

Fifteen-year-olds Riah Holland and Kirsten Elder, from Glenrothes in Fife, will be among 50 Scots who will be presented with a Brave@Heart award in recognition of their courage, by First Minister Alex Salmond at Edinburgh Castle next month.

Those who have demonstrated exceptional bravery will also receive a St Andrew's Award medal.

The recipients in the first year of the awards include 26 members of the emergency services and 24 members of the public.

Riah and Kirsten, who were 14 at the time of the incident, were heading out to meet friends on the evening of 29 May last year when they spotted the woman sitting crying on a ledge of New Bridge in Glenrothes.

Riah, who is afraid of heights and was on her first night out after being "grounded" by her parents, said she climbed over the ledge of the bridge and spent agonising minutes supporting the woman's bodyweight with just her arm until emergency services arrived.

"She was just sitting at the edge crying and she kept edging closer to the ledge. I climbed over the ledge to get nearer to her. She had cuts up her arm and was looking down about 200 feet into the river. I kept saying, 'It'll be OK' but she kept saying 'No, it won't'.

"I grabbed her with my left arm and held on to the barrier with the other but she was moving closer to the edge and leaning over into the river.

"I held on to her like that for a couple of minutes until the police arrived."

Meanwhile, Kirsten had used her mobile phone to call the emergency services who asked her to describe what was happening and stay on the line while they gave her advice.

"I was watching Riah and the woman and was telling the police on the phone, 'She's moving forward' and what she was saying. The police arrived after about three or four minutes. Some of them were scared of heights so they decided which one of them would help and one climbed over and pulled the woman up," she said.

Both teenagers, pupils at Glenwood High School, were nominated for the award by Fife Police. They later received a letter from the woman thanking them for saving her life.

Announcing the awards yesterday at Alex Kirkwood & Sons, the Edinburgh engravers who are making the medals, Mr Salmond said: "Scotland should be proud of its heroes and recognise their achievements. An annual awards ceremony is a fitting way to give those responsible for outstanding acts of courage the recognition they deserve."