LIFE at the top was not so sweet for a Cookley teenager who got stuck up a tree.

After half-an-hour of shivering in his shorts 70ft up the tree in Lea Lane, Cookley, he decided to come down.

But Mark Wade, 17, of Elm Place, froze in panic and had to wait another half-an-hour until a friend came to his rescue.

Vickie Howie, 15, heard his cries for help as she came across fields behind the Parish Rooms.

She rushed inside and alerted Kidderminster fire brigade, who arrived in minutes to the scene.

Leading firefighter Tony Wilks was tied to a line to reach the frantic youngster.

Then the 14-stone firefighter tied the line around the quaking climber, before a hydraulic lift lowered him to safety.

Mr Wilks said: "It was a long way up and there were some rotten branches.

"I was concerned for the boy, and for myself as I am not as light as I used to be."

The youngster was still visibly shaken moments after his trauma.

He said he climbed the tree "for a laugh" but he advised other children to take a leaf out of his book and not do it again.

(from Kidderminster Shuttle, April 11, 1996)