A teenager left paralysed after a horse riding accident six months ago has thanked village communities that have raised thousands of pounds to help her buy a wheelchair.

Laura Coward, 17, of Codford, near Warminster, needs a £3,500 wheelchair and specialist furniture to help make life more comfortable for her, when she comes out of Salisbury District Hospital within the next two weeks.

Villagers in Codford and surrounding villages have been rallying around to help holding a host of fundraising events, including a village lunch, and raising about £4,000 so far, The former Kingdown School student has been in and out of hospitals across the south west since she severed her spinal cord after falling from a race horse in Sutton Veny on November 20.

Miss Coward said: “I would like to thank everybody really. There are even people who I have never met who are doing things to raise money.

“I’m fine about things now. It’s not great but you don’t need to have legs to live your life. I’m still going to carry on.”

Despite being unable to walk, Miss Coward is determined to continue with driving lessons, having been only two weeks away from her driving test before the fall.

The brave teenager also plans to start riding again and was given an assessment last month at a horse riding centre for the disabled in Wilton.

“I was there when she fell from her horse. It was awful,” Laura’s mum Denise said tearfully.

“She was going to have a horse on loan but they wanted to see her riding it first. As she was riding round the horse started going faster and she lost one of her stirrups and then her foot came out of the other stirrup and she fell off straight in to a post.”

Miss Coward has been transferred between the Royal United Hospital in Bath, Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and the Salisbury hospital.

Showing a sheer determination not to let anything hold her back, Miss Coward played and won in the final of a table tennis competition in London last week representing the Salisbury hospital, despite only taking up the sport over the last month or so.

Denise, 48, said: “She really is fantastic.

“This is typical of Laura. If she wants to do it, she will do it.”

So far the Laura Coward Fundraising account has been boosted by a £2,700 donation from the Codford Ladies Circle, after they held a village lunch on April 25 and collected donations. A further £1,300 is from other fundraising events and donations from Codford and surrounding villages.

A hog roast, silent auction and raffle will be held at The Angel Pub in Heytesbury from 4pm on Sunday, May 10.