THE mother and widow of a Ludgershall man who died suddenly last month have paid an emotional tribute to the fun-loving 43-year-old.

Russell Adrian Hill passed away at Salisbury District Hospital on 4 April after a short illness.

More than 300 people packed Ludgershall's St James' Church to say their goodbyes to Russ, who had lived in the village for more than 30 years.

"It was a magnificent day, even though it seems wrong to term a funeral like that," said his 34-year-old widow Lynne. "So many people turned out and we drew an enormous amount of support from that. To know he was respected and loved by so many was a great comfort," she said. Russ leaves his wife and two young daughters, Tanisha,aged six, and Chloe, aged three.

"It's so, so hard for us all, but the children don't really understand," said Lynne.

"Chloe thinks daddy's in an aeroplane and that he'll be back soon, and one minute Tani will be upset and the next she'll be playing," she added.

At the time of his death Russ was the commercial services manager at Stannah Lifts after starting as a trainee engineer at BOC Andover.

He was also in the Territorial Army and rose to the rank of Corporal, serving for seven years with the Wessex Mortar Platoon.

But perhaps his greatest love, aside from his family, was motorbikes.

A cavalcade of more than 45 machines paraded through Ludgershall to mark Russ' affiliation with both the Ogri MCC and the Rudi Max racing Team.

"He was such a fun, out-going and wonderful man," said Russ' mum Sheila.

"He had so many friends and I don't think Ludgershall had seen anything like his funeral," she added.

It was a particularly poignant day for Sheila and Russ' dad Dennis, as they lost Russ' brother Matthew 27 years ago, when he was only ten.

"I had four children and now I have two.

"I'll devote the rest of my life to looking after them, as well as Tani and Chloe," said Sheila.

Lynne Hill is making memory boxes for her girls so they can recall as much of their dad as possible in the coming years.

"We let off 16 balloons for daddy which floated up to the sky," said Lynne. "The girls told me he was the newest angel in heaven and a twinkly star in the sky.

"For us, he'll always keep on shining."

l Lynne and family have set up a collection in memory of Russell for the Save the Children Fund. Donations can be given to Halcrow & Sons, Bridge Street, Andover.