A brave teenager who saved the lives of a young boy and her dad was lost for words when Lewis Capaldi serenaded her.
Lucy Montgomery thought she had won a tour of the ITV studios and was going to take part in a documentary about inspirational people. But there was far more in store for the heroic 15-year-old.
She was taken to the Jonathan Ross Show set where she met Lewis, who sang his new single for her.
Lewis, 26, also gave her a gold envelope revealing she had won a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award and said: “We’ve all heard about how incredible you are, so you’ve been given this.”
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Stunned Lucy, who also met TV chat show host Jonathan, could not stop smiling. She said: “I was shocked, it all happened so fast. I never expected to be nominated for any kind of award for doing what I did.
“I wasn’t expecting Lewis to come out and sing to me, I just couldn’t believe it. It was overwhelming.”
Lucy had been paddle-boarding in the Charente river during a holiday in France in July 2021, when she noticed family friend Mathieu, aged eight, starting to drift into far deeper, more dangerous waters.
Lucy, then 14, and her father Graham, 50, who cannot swim, walked into the nearby shallows and tried to keep the lad calm. But as the flow grew stronger Mathieu was swept away.
Lucy, from Armagh in Northern Ireland, reacted instantly and swam out into the treacherous river and dragged Mathieu to the bank.
As she was saving the boy’s life, Graham was dragged off his feet and into the deeper part of the river.
Seeing that her dad was also now in grave danger, the teenager swam to him and urged him to turn on to his back so he would float.
Graham said: “Before Lucy intervened I was thinking that I was going to drown.
“Then Lucy was there, she was very calm and in control.”
The youngster said there had been “no time to be scared” and added: “All I was thinking about was trying to find a way to get him to safety.”
She managed to rescue her father but then was in trouble herself. Exhausted Lucy had no energy left to swim and was being pulled into deep water.
But she spotted her paddleboard and managed to grab it. It drifted back to dry land with her on it.
Graham, a headteacher, said he had no doubt her courage and decisive actions had saved him and Mathieu from drowning.
He said: “We are very proud of Lucy, absolutely. We are shocked that our incident has got the attention that it has. She is really wonderful, and very humble.”
Lucy had no idea that she had won the Teenager of Courage Pride of Britain award before she was summoned to London on October 14. She believed she would be helping make a documentary about inspirational people, and that her prize was to see the studios.
Mum Lynn, a teacher aged 48, said: “She was brought on to the set of the Jonathan Ross Show, which she watches – she told me she was excited enough just to sit on the sofa where it’s filmed.
“Then Jonathan himself appeared and he was just so lovely.
“He admitted that he knew all about her, and Lucy loved that.”
The TV host told the teenager: “While you’re here, you can do my job. Have you read autocue?”
Reading from the device, Lucy said: “On the show tonight, it’s one of my favourite artists, Lewis Capaldi!” and the star walked on.
He “joked around” with Lucy and her parents – who also have a 17-year-old son, Sam – before performing his new single Forget Me.
Lucy said: “It only sank in the next day. I told my closest friends – they were pretty jealous as they like him, too.”
Afterwards, Lewis said of Lucy: “She’s a hero, so to be a small part of this is a massive honour.”
Jonathan, 61, added: “What she did was absolutely amazing.”
