Northumberland woman facing long recovery from serious injuries sustained in fall from castle ruins

Tina Bates, 35, broke her sternum and a bone in her back when falling 15ft on to mud and rocks by the River Tweed on Saturday, April 25.

She had gone for a walk with her partner, Hollie Gregory, to watch the sunset on a beautiful evening.

“After walking along the river we stopped under the railway bridge at the old castle ruins to take the perfect pic,” she recalled.

“I was climbing the ruins stupidly and lost my footing which led me to fall approximately 15ft onto the river bed.”

She revealed that a male runner witnessed the fall and called emergency services whilst another couple who were out walking kindly walked up to the train station to direct paramedics. The coastguard and lifeboat were also called to her rescue.

“I was admitted to the Northumbria Specialist Care Emergency Hospital in Cramlington then transferred to Newcastle RVI as I had broken the L4 bone in my back and also my sternum,” revealed Tina.

“I spent a week there and am now back at home recovering. It could have been a great deal worse and I'm one lucky woman.

“I don’t know the names of all the people who helped in my rescue but I want to say thanks from myself and my partner.”

Tina, who works as a forklift/mill operative at Silvery Tweed in Tweedmouth, is still taking strong painkillers.

Her recovery is expected to take up to 12 weeks.

“If I don’t heal properly then I will need to be operated on which would then be a longer recovery period,” she explained. “All I can do is hope and pray that my body heals right so that I can get some normality back.”

Tina, who lives on Marygate, admitted that lockdown had been hard without having a garden.

“That’s why we’ve been walking so much for our daily exercise,” she said. “I know the castle ruins/river is a popular walk but I can’t stress enough as to how dangerous it can be too.”

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