GREAT grandmother Lily Winchcombe, who was one of the first people ever to be flown to hospital by Wiltshire Air Ambulance, has died aged 84.

Mrs Winchcombe, who lived for many years in Forty Acres Road, Devizes, was seriously injured when she was hit by a lorry as she cycled to work at the old Roundway Hospital 25 years ago.

The new air ambulance was quickly at the scene and she was flown to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol for an emergency operation on her brain.

This week her daughter Denise Hocquard from Bromham said: "If it hadn't been for the air ambulance we would have lost her 25 years ago. It was only because they managed to get her to Bristol so quickly that she lived. She had to have three operations on her brain and was in hospital for six weeks.

"The accident did change her personality completely but she still enjoyed life. She was never quite the same again. Before it she had hundreds of friends and was very sociable. Afterwards she wouldn't always know who everyone was and would be found wandering around in town.

"But people knew her and she always got home safely. She was a big character and loved her family."

In recent times she had suffered ill health and moved into The Firs nursing home in Calne. She died on July 15.

After the accident Mrs Winchcombe, who had worked in the kitchens at Roundway, was looked after by her husband Dennis who was a carpenter with Wadworth but he died six years after the accident.

Mrs Hocquard said that the day before the accident her mother had been out on a skateboard with her grandchildren. She said: "She loved doing things with the grandchildren. Afterwards she didn't always know which great grandchild was which but she still took an interest."

She said the family have always been grateful to the air ambulance, which this year celebrated its silver anniversary.

In June the family of Colin Joyce spoke about how he was the first person to be airlifted after he died aged 74. Mr Joyce from Rowde was involved in a horrific accident which left him impaled on spikes attached to the front of a tractor.

The metal crashed through the windscreen of his car causing severe chest injuries. The accident made headline news around the country as he was the first to be airlifted by the new helicopter.

Mrs Winchcombe, who leaves three children, two grandchildren and six great grandchildren, will be cremated at West Wiltshire Crematorium on August 3 at 10.45am. This will be followed by a wake at The Crown in New Park Street, Devizes.