LEGS eleven took on a new meaning for Preston heart transplant recipient Peter Frost when he celebrated the 11th anniversary of his operation with a brisk walk.

Peter, and wife Anne, headed off for a bracing walk in the Yorkshire Dales on Monday to mark the day when, in 1988, he received a heart transplant.

Peter, 68, a former county council joiner, was only 39 when he suffered the first of four heart attacks and his health rapidly deteriorated to a point when only a transplant could save him.

He became Manchester's Wythenshawe Hospital's 22nd transplant recipient.

Having regained his health, Peter has become a keen bowler and regularly turns out for the veterans' team at Freckleton Bowling Club.

He became hooked on the game after entering a tournament, held each year to promote the hospital's New Heart-New Start Appeal.

He said: "I found that it was well within my capabilities and the more I played, the more I enjoyed it. Now I play whenever I can."

Ann Stuart, New Heart-New Start Appeal manager, said: "Peter is one of a rapidly-growing number of men and women throughout the region whose renewed health and zest for life clearly demonstrates the real benefits of transplantation in human terms.

"Unfortunately there are many others now on the waiting list for a transplant and our ability to give them this second chance depends entirely upon the availability of donor organs and the generosity of donor families."

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