Hundreds gathered for the funeral of popular Calne man Alan Gordine last week.

There was standing room only at St Mary’s Church on Friday as friends and family paid tribute to the sports mad Mr Gordine, who died suddenly on July 12 at the age of 49.

Mr Gordine was a Ministry of Defence firefighter based in Middle Wallop near Andover and lived in Wessington Avenue with his wife Sharon, 44, daughter Trudy, 21, and son Karl, 18.

He was born the youngest of four to Sid and Joyce in Cowes in the Isle of Wight.

He and Sharon were married in Cowes in 1986, Sharon arriving at the church in a white fire engine.

The couple moved to St Mawgan in Newquay when Mr Gordine joined the RAF and then to Germany, where the couple’s daughter Trudy was born.

His final RAF posting was to Brize Norton, after which he joined the MOD as a fireman at RAF Lyneham.

In 1990 the couple moved to Calne where Mr Gordine was for many years a retained firefighter.

The couple’s son Karl, was born in 1992 but suffers from epilepsy, cirrhosis of the liver, severe learning difficulties, reflux, recurring chest infections, and Pyoderma gangrenosum, which causes abscesses in the body.

Mr Gordine dedicated a lot of his spare time to caring for his son and took part in a number of London Marathons to raise money for the Naomi House Hospice which has helped care for Karl.

Last year, Mr Gordine took part in the Iron Man UK triathlon and has also competed in the Firefighters Triathlon in Germany.

Donations in memory of Mr Gordine can be made to SNAP, the St Nicholas special School hydrotherapy pool fund, care of E Wootten and Son, 1 North Street, Calne, SN11 0HQ.