Local entertainer Lee Dowse died suddenly on Tuesday in the garden of a Chippenham pub.

Mr Dowse, 44, was in the Old Road Tavern, Old Road, when he collapsed.

Staff called emergency services and Mr Dowse’s friends, along with pub manager Lindsey Miller, attempted to resuscitate him while they waited for an ambulance.

Two ambulance crews and the air ambulance attended the scene but attempts to revive Mr Dowse did not succeed.

A spokesperson for Great Western Ambulance said: “We were called at 5.26pm on Tuesday to say there was a male patient who collapsed, had a seizure and was having difficulty breathing.”

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Air Ambulance said: “We landed in John Coles Park and two paramedics assisted ground units.”

Mr Dowse was well known in the area for his musical and circus skills, along with his work with local organisation Kandu Arts for Sustainable Development.

He had suffered health problems in the past, including two kidney transplants. His mother was the donor the first time around, when he was 19, and in 2006 Mr Dowse’s friend Donna Mitchell gave him a kidney.

He had spent three years on dialysis and said at the time she had given him “a new life”.

Mr Miller, manager of the Old Road Tavern, said: “It is a great loss. Lee was a superstar and an inspiration to everyone that knew him.”