THE father of a 13-year-old boy who died suddenly as a result of a congenital heart defect last week presented Wiltshire Air Ambulance with a cheque for £400 in his son's memory.

Matthew Pidduck, from Erlestoke, collapsed at the end of a basketball session at Dauntsey's School in West Lavington just two weeks before Christmas 2002.

The air ambulance flew him to the Royal United Hospital in Bath but, despite the efforts of staff there, Matthew died later that day.

Just a few weeks before Matthew had taken part in a village pantomime written by his father, Bill, playing the part of Jesse James in the Wild West parody Pasta La Vista.

Mr Pidduck continues to write pantos for the village and the £400 he handed over to paramedic Shaun Russell last week was part of the proceeds of last year's offering, entitled David Copperbottom, subtitled A Dickensian Melodrama.

Mr Pidduck said: "We raised £1,000 from the show but as we are building a new village hall at the moment, we put £600 towards that and the other £400 to the air ambulance appeal.

"Hopefully, this will be the first of many cheques we will be presenting to the air ambulance. Sadly, it wasn't able to save Matthew but at least it was there."

This November's panto at Erlestoke village hall is You Only Live 21 Times.