STAFF from Somerfield in Malvern came to the rescue when a family of ducks got into trouble.

The drama started at about 8am on Sunday as staff member Pat Smith was on the way to work.

She saw a mother duck with two chicks at the junction of Graham Road and Edith Walk.

"She was dithering around with her two little ducklings and I was afraid they would get run over," said Mrs Smith.

She fetched assistant manager Nikki Watkins and they picked up the ducks and took them back to the pool at Priory Park.

But as they returned to the supermarket in Church Walk they found the rescue was by no means over.

"We were walking past the hotel and Nikki asked if I could hear anything," said Mrs Smith.

They traced the sound to a drain and saw more ducklings trapped in it.

"They must have fallen through the grating and that must have been why the mother was dithering there," said Mrs Smith. "We couldn't hear them earlier because she was making such a fuss."

The pair then got extra help from the store in the shape of Lauren Rhodes, Simon Bingham, Gerald Whitcombe, Paul Butler and Rob Evans.

Together, they used a crowbar to open the drain, carefully picked out the six ducklings and carried them back to Priory Park.

"As we got close to the pond, they started quacking and it was like their mum could definitely recognise their voices," said Mrs Smith. "She quacked back and the ducklings were almost jumping out of our hands, they were so excited. It was absolutely amazing," said Mrs Smith.

"We all felt really great about rescuing them. If we hadn't done it, goodness knows what would have happened to them."