TWO boys from Tidworth have been praised for their actions after they discovered a live hand grenade while playing in the park.

Nine-year-old Luke McLuskey and eight-year-old Lucas Marsh were shocked to see the dangerous weapon lying in the bushes but instantly knew not to touch it.

While Luke stayed nearby to keep an eye on the area, Lucas ran to raise the alarm.

Luke's stepmum Toni said: “We live just around the corner from the play area which is next to Zouch Primary School and Lucas came back saying ‘we’ve found a hand grenade, we’ve found a hand grenade’.

“In all honesty I didn’t quite believe them, I went around to have a look and in actual fact it was a live hand grenade.

“When people think of a grenade they tend to picture one of those green tortoise shell ones used during World War Two but this was a metal tube with a trigger attached to it.

“They did really well to recognise it wasn’t right and to raise the alarm.”

The boys, who are both cubs in the 1st Tidworth Scout Group, were presented with certificates of outstanding achievement and engraved silver salvers by the Mayor of Tidworth, Chris Franklin earlier this month in recognition of their actions.

Mrs McLuskey, who is an assistant cub leader, said: “It was what they call a six bang grenade – if you went into a room and threw it, it would go off six times and clear the room.

“If the boys had picked it up and it went off, it could have killed them.

"We live on a military estate and it may have been that someone brought it home by mistake in their kits and then perhaps their child got hold of it and hid it outside.

“The boys were playing in the bushes and moving stuff around when they came across it.”

After the police were called, Luke’s dad, a sergeant in Battalion 5 Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) dealt with the grenade.