A GIRL aged eight is recovering in hospital today after impaling her leg on a metal railing as she tried to retrieve a ball.

She slipped onto the spike on a three-foot high wall in Wilton Gardens, Radcliffe, at 3pm yesterday.

It stuck in her thigh above her right knee. Residents rushed to hold the youngster up before fire crews arrived. They cut down the railing and took the spike came out of her leg.

The girl, who has not been named, was taken to Bury's Fairfield General Hospital.

She was still in hospital recovering today. Her injuries are not life-threatening.