TRAGEDY struck at a fishing match on Sunday when Westbury angler Richard Brimble died after collapsing at the lakeside with a heart attack, despite the efforts of paramedics to save him.

Mr Brimble, 58, was taking part in a Wilts Angling Open match at Shearwater Lake on the Longleat estate when he collapsed at his peg.

Paramedics were called and the Wiltshire Air Ambulance arrived to help revive him, but Mr Brimble was pronounced dead at the scene around midday. Fishing was abandoned, and the match fees promptly donated to the air ambulance.

This week his wife, Lorraine, 55, said the only thing that is consoling her is that her husband, who she described as “a good family man”, had been doing something he loved.

She and the family, son Jamie, 40, daughters Kelly, 31, and Holly, 29, as well as two-year-old granddaughter Charlie, have been overwhelmed by the hundreds of cards and messages of support which have poured into the family home on Dartmoor Road, Westbury.

“He was quite an outspoken person who had a sharp wit, but was a funny person and a bit of a character,” she said.

“He took the children fishing with him several times. He was so happy to be a grandfather to Charlie and went round on Saturday to ask to look after her because he hadn’t seen her in a few days.

“He went to the doctors back in August with an irregular heartbeat but we thought he was doing all right really.

“On the day he died and I got a call about 10.30am to say that he’d taken a turn. It was just horrendous and a complete shock."

“We’ve had hundreds of cards and messages from his fishing friends and old school friends who I don’t even know. Probably the only consolation really out of all of this is that he died doing something he loved.”

Born in Devizes, Mr Brimble joined the Royal Navy at the age of 15 and served between 1972-74 before returning to Trowbridge.

He met Mrs Brimble in July, 1979, and they married in 1980 at St James’ Church in Trowbridge and had their first child, Kelly, in 1984.

Mr Brimble held several jobs throughout his life, including working at Avon Tyres, as a caretaker at Ethendune Hostel on Hilperton Road, Trowbridge, and eventually ran his own business fitting bathrooms for disabled people.

A keen fisherman, he also enjoyed shooting and entered a number of competitions in both as well as being a supporter of Bristol City Football Club and Somerset County Cricket Club.

Among Mr Brimble’s many friends who paid tribute to him this week, Paul Cooper, who knew Mr Brimble for more than 20 years, said: “I was there when he died and it was horrible.

“He enjoyed match fishing and it was something he did from a young age. He enjoyed a good laugh and what you saw is what you got, he was absolutely spot on and he will be sadly missed.”

Pete Mills, a childhood friend of Mr Brimble’s, said: “I’d known him since we were born basically, everyone fished when we were kids and so that’s where he got the love of it from."

“We fished together many times and he was really well known in the community.”

Mr Brimble’s funeral service will be held at the West Wiltshire Crematorium, Semington, on January 12 at 1pm.