A GROUND Force-style garden makeover left a cancer victim stunned but delighted after she returned home from hospital following major surgery.

Christine Burston little realised that while she was in hospital having a breast removed her son, Mark, had arranged for a group of his school friends to go round to their Stourport home to overhaul their garden.

Before Christine went into hospital, she had already had an insight into the trials of fighting cancer.

Her husband, Reg, had battled the disease for more than a decade so she was aware of the devastating effect her operation would have on their 16-year-old son.

The 53-year-old Stourport woman was therefore amazed to return from hospital and find the family garden completely made over by Mark and his school friends.

Mrs Burston, of Dorsett Road, said: "I couldn't believe it. I had no idea at all. I just could not believe it when I came home. It is beautiful.

"They have done a brilliant job. It was such a mess before so what they did was absolutely amazing. It was wonderful.

"They worked really hard. They had put an awful lot of effort in because it is a big garden and it was very overgrown, particularly at the bottom. They have dug it all and put flower beds in.

"I couldn't take it in really. It is like having Ground Force around your home."

Mark rounded up friends from Stourport High School and was given time off from lessons for the two-day makeover.

"I just wanted to do something for my mum when she got out of hospital," he said.

"We thought it was good because of all the bad things that you hear about children nowadays.

"We wanted to do something that was good and that would generally be a good laugh. It was brilliant - hard work but brilliant."

His father, who has had 13 mouth and throat cancer operations over 11 years, said: "They did an absolutely marvellous job.

"They all came round and did the business. I think it would be rather refreshing for people in Stourport to realise there are some good kids out there. They are not all bad kids."

He said he was proud of his son's thoughtfulness, which came as the group were revising for their GCSE exams.

"It was totally unrequested," he said. "My son took it on himself to organise it and his friends, who slept over, took it upon themselves to make over the garden.

"They did it out of pure respect for my wife."