ONE midsummer evening, three years ago, Charlotte Powell climbed on board a quad bike for the very first time. She's still not sure what happened next. Because all she can remember is waking up, staring at the sky and feeling like she was lying on a rock.

Except there was no stone on the ground. The sharp pain was a broken back.

Two of Charlotte's vertebrae had snapped and dislocated and her legs were numb.

Fortunately, friends who rushed to help had the good sense not to move her and make things worse. Even so, hospital specialists had to break the news to her parents that their daughter may never walk again.

What was meant to be a bit of harmless fun at a barbecue had gone horribly wrong.

Fortunately this story has a happy ending. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be re-visiting it. For not only did Charlotte make a remarkable recovery, but she has now starred in a DVD alongside professional stunt rider Matt Coulter - otherwise known as the Kangaroo Kid - emphasising the need for care when riding quads, the four-wheel drive get-abouts that have claimed a number of high profile casualties, including Ozzie Osbourne and Rik Mayall.

The Kangaroo Kid DVD is released this Christmas and while realistically, not many people will find Santa Claus has stuffed a quad bike in their stocking, it is the time of the year for parties, family gatherings and other very social events when bravado gets the better of common sense and accidents happen.

Just like they did at that summer barbie when someone suggested they get the quad bike out and have a race around the field.

Charlotte's accident and battle to regain her health attracted considerable column inches in the local press and caught the eye of Clare Foster, who although she lives near Bromyard, is the PA to Matt Coulter, the world famous quad biking dare-devil from Mornington, Victoria on Australia's Gold Coast.

Matt makes a living from doing dangerous things on quads - such as jumping over a paddle steamer on a lake and a jet plane - parked on the ground, it should be added - and his skill easily disguises how lethal these machines can be.

"There seems to be a lack of awareness where quads are concerned," said Clare. "People think that because they have four wheels they can't tip over.

"Riding a quad is completely different from riding a two-wheel machine or driving a car. Some of them have 500cc engines and can go more than 100mph.

"Like any powerful vehicle you must learn how to use it and wear the correct safety equipment."

In all innocence, Charlotte was ignorant on both counts when she sat behind the controls of the quad that fateful evening.

"I had never been on one before," she said. "In fact, I'm not the sort of person who loves doing dangerous things. I'm safety conscious really. I mean, I'll never travel in a car without doing up the seat-belt."

The accident cost her dearly.

In a series of operations, surgeons inserted metal rods in her spine to keep the bones together and removed a bone from her hip to put in her back.

But any hopes this was going to be a miracle cure were soon dashed.

Charlotte was distraught to find that after all her time on the operating table, she still couldn't feel any sensation in her legs.

"I didn't know then doctors had told my parents I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life," she added. "Mind you, I think it helped I didn't know. I'm not sure how I would have coped."

It was more than a month after her last operation that feeling began to return to her legs.

Then it was onwards and upwards and driven by an inner strength Charlotte admits she never knew she had - "I wouldn't consider myself to be a strong person" - she made some of the swiftest progress specialists had ever seen from her type of injuries.

Even so recovery took many months and it was with some trepidation she took up the Kangaroo Kid's invitation to appear in his DVD.

The filming took place last year at a show in Hertfordshire, where Matt was appearing.

"I was incredibly nervous," said Charlotte. "Very scared. The last time I had been anywhere near one of these things I had nearly been killed.

"But Matt was brilliant, he took me through all the safety measures and explained how quads should be ridden. At the end of the day, I even rode the quad with his support."

One positive to come out of this is that Charlotte has launched an £8,000 fund-raising campaign to provide a spinal bed for Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where she was taken after her accident.

She is already more than half way there and hopes publicity surrounding the DVD will encourage more contributions.

If you want to ring, her number is 01684 562353.

Go on. Do something useful this Christmas.

l The Kangaroo Kid DVD featuring Matt Coulter and Charlotte Powell costs £19.99 plus p&p and is available from www.kangarookid.com