DIANA Ralls, assistant to Kennet chief executive Mark Boden, is urging local people to come to the aid of a rehabilitation unit that has helped her recover from a freak accident in her home.

Mrs Ralls, who has worked for Kennet District Council for over 24 years, feared she had lost the use of her right hand forever after a decorative wine stopper shattered in her hand as she pushed it into place.

The accident happened at Mrs Ralls' home in the Devizes area just after New Year and she has only just returned to work after the apparently minor mishap turned into something much more sinister.

She said: "The wound was absolutely minute, but the next day my whole hand was swollen up and I made an appointment to see the practice nurse at my local GP surgery."

The nurse took one look at Mrs Ralls' inflamed hand and alerted Dr James Flood, the senior partner at the former Littleton Panell Surgery who sent her to Salisbury District Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery that afternoon for a broken tendon in her middle finger.

She said: "My arm was plastered up to my elbow and my hand was wrapped in a sling and strapped across my chest. For the first month I could do nothing, and for a right-handed person life became very difficult."

She then went to the Wessex Rehabilitation Centre at Salisbury District Hospital. The unit, which has been based at the former Odstock Hospital since 1956, caters for adults with physical disabilities, such as chronic back and neck pain, and multiple orthopaedic trauma, many resulting from road crashes.

Mrs Ralls spent six weeks in the centre, staying overnight in a special hostel-style "bungalow," only returning home at weekends.

Now she is back to work at Browfort, Kennet's headquarters in Devizes, Mrs Ralls continues to improve but has been told it could take up to two years for her hand to regain its former strength.

But she has not been forgotten by the rehab centre. They have offered to adapt her golf clubs so that she can pursue her favourite sport at Erlestoke Sands Golf Club.

And she is backing a campaign at the centre to replace its ageing gymnasium floor which could cost up to £11,000.

Anyone wishing to help with fundraising should call Sue Ford, the centre manager, on (01722) 336262, extension 2371.