A man who helped to raise £47,000 for a child after reading about his horrific injuries is handing over the money – 13 years later.

Lewis Alston was just 18 months old when he fell off his bed at home and became stuck next to a hot radiator in 1998.

The accident effectively melted his nose and cheek and left terrible burn scars.

Doctors said Lewis would have to wait until he was a teenager for surgery to rebuild his nose, so family and friends in Ashton started raising money for him to attend the Shriners Burns Hospital, in Boston, USA.

Allen Reid, 69, who then lived at Adlington Road, Wilmslow, saw the story in our sister paper, the Manchester Evening News and decided to help.

He organised a special charity day at Mottram Hall Golf Club and with donations raised £32,000. Wilmslow man David Howarth, who has since died, raised £11,700 of that total through events at his Sleepdown Textiles business and England footballer Alan Ball donated memorabilia.

The Wilmslow Express reported on Allen’s efforts as he went on to raise another £13,000 at Tytherington Golf Club.

After years in the bank, the money sits at just over £47,000, which Allen is planning to hand over to Lewis, who is now 15 and living in Morecambe.

Allen, a grandfather of three, who is married to Lynne and now lives in Lymm but is still a member of the Mottram club, said: "I saw Lewis’s face in the paper and it broke my heart, I wanted to help.

"I just thought it was so cruel to send him to school without a nose and I wanted him to get all the treatment he could.

"I expected to raise about £600, but when I put Lewis’s face up around Wilmslow I started getting lots of phone calls from people wanting to donate and people from all over the place wanted to come and play golf. I was blown away."

The money has been in a bank account in Lewis’s name all this time.

Allen has been in touch with Lewis’s grandmother, Janet Alston and will meet the brave teenager and his family in the next few weeks to set up a trust fund for him until he is 21.

Allen said: "It’s time to hand over the money and for people who donated to know what is happening to it.

"The family are going to donate some of the money to the hospital in the States and I would like to see some money go on Lewis’s treatment. I’ve not seen Lewis since 1999 and every time I saw him it broke my heart. I’m excited to see him again and it will be good closure to see the money help him get the treatment he needs."