Ivor Weatherley, 78, of Starston, was told in March last year he could have just three weeks to live after doctors found he was suffering with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

But after undergoing chemotherapy, he managed to drive 16-year-old Alice-Poppy and her date Alex Labouchardiere to the Archbishop Sancroft High School prom in his prized JCB digger.

"Taking Alice-Poppy to her prom was something I wouldn't have dreamed of last June but here I am, more than a year on," said Mr Weatherley.

"Words cannot express my feelings when I took them up the driveway to Gissing Hall."

Thanks to her grandad's effort, Alice-Poppy also picked up the award for Most Original Transport on the night.

Teacher Gill Caldwell, who helped organise the prom, said: "We have had some amazing transport over the years from tanks to rickshaws but the sight of Alice-Poppy and Alex arriving on a JCB digger was one of the best I have seen yet."

Mr Weatherley, who has been a JCB driver since 1960, went to the doctors after being in such pain he could not get out of his digger.

After being diagnosed with the rare form of cancer, he opted to have chemotherapy and was given the all-clear before Christmas.

His daughter Carole, who is known as Kookie, said: "The JCBs are Dad's life but after he was diagnosed, he wouldn't even talk about them, let alone drive one.

"He completely blocked it out.

"Alice-Poppy asked him if he was still going to take her to the prom in his digger and he couldn't answer because he didn't think he'd be here."

But his granddaughter stayed positive throughout.

"I asked him because I didn't think he was going to die," she said.

"When he did take me to the prom, I was so proud because he's my grandad and it's something that we shared."