Canal Rescue.

Although she is not an experienced swimmer and has never been taught how to live save, a 15 year old Denaby girl dived almost almost fully clothed into the canal in Swinton to rescue a woman who was in danger of drowning in the middle of the canal near the Dale Brown glassworks on Friday. The rescued woman was Mrs W. Howson, wife of Mr F. Howson, 15, Schofield Street, Mexborough.

The girl, Mary Logan, of 13, Edlington St, Denaby, a packer of the glassworks, was walking along the canal bank during her dinner break with three other workmates, when a boy ran up to them shouting that there was someone in the canal and asking if any of them could swim.

“I was the only one of the four of us who could swim so I took off my cardigan and shoes and dived into get her out,” Mary told a “Times” reporter. “She was just about in the middle of the canal I swam to her and she grabbed me round the neck with both her arms pulled me under once, but I managed to swim up again and get her to the side, where the others helped me. I thought she was going to choke me when she grabbed me round the neck.”

Mary is sixth child of Mr and Mrs William Logan. Her mother told a reporter that Mary had never been a keen swimmer and had never taken up swimming seriously but had just “picked it up” when she went to Denaby baths as a schoolgirl. Mary left Denaby St Alban’s Roman Catholic school at Easter. Mary modestly admitted that she had been able to swim only a matter of about 12 months.

And as a result of her bravery Mary spent a sleepless night in bed on Friday as she was kept awake by cramp. He said she had had cramp when learning to swim but never thought of it when she saved the woman in the middle of the canal. After the rescue a man came along and help the girl inside the Dale Brown factory. The woman recovered, and Mary went home to change.