He was set upon by three bullies who took his beloved hat and threw it into a river.

But thanks to a few kind-hearted actions and a donation, 13-year-old Michael is once again feeling on top of the world with a bright new cap.

The Thetford youngster was in town riding his bike on Friday afternoon when he was set upon by thee older boys.

His foster mum, Mandy, who did not want to give her surname, said the bullies assaulted Michael before throwing his cap into the Little Ouse River near the Argos store.

She said: 'They started punching him and he punched one of them back. Then they took off his hat and threw it into the river and Michael rode off on his bike.

'He was going to go back and look for his hat but he can't swim.'

Mandy said that while the hat was not expensive, it had a lot of sentimental value to Michael.

She said: 'He loved it because he had saved up for it with his own money.'

Sean Ready, a volunteer who keeps the rivers in Thetford clean using his canoe to retrieve items, searched for the cap after hearing about the incident from Maria Ress, who was helping Michael find his hat.

But when Mr Ready couldn't find the cap, Shane Hunter , the owner of Thetford hat shop Hat's Don't Sell, decided to let Michael pick out a new cap from his range.

Mr Hunter said he was happy donate a new hat to Michael.

He said: 'I seemed a bit unfair on the poor lad to loose his hat so this seemed like a way to make it up to him and help him out.

'It seemed like the right thing to do. He was over the moon when he got his new hat.'

Michael said: 'I felt sad about losing the hat because I saved up for it myself.

'I want to say thank you to the people who helped me. I was really excited and I didn't believe that people would help like that.

'I was shocked to get the hat - but in a nice way.'

Michael said he picked out his new hat after doing some research online and seeing what designs were popular.

Mandy said: 'It was a really lovely gesture and we want to say thank you to everyone who helped.'