GAZETTE & HERALD: DEVOTED family man Tony Read, who died when his motorcycle collided with a car, would have celebrated his youngest daughter's first birthday next week.

Mr Read, 48, died at around midday on May 30, when his Ducati motorbike collided with a silver Mondeo, at Blacklands, just outside Calne.

Speaking this week from their home in Lacock, Mr Read's widow Katy paid tribute to her 'kind and gentle' husband, whose life revolved around her and his daughters, three-year-old Daisy, and Abby, who will be one next week.

"Tony loved his motorbike and had been riding since his late teens," she said. "He had only gone out for an hour's ride when the accident happened."

Mr Read had told his wife he would be back for lunch, but when he hadn't returned after two hours she knew that something had happened to him and rang the police and the hospitals.

"He was so safety conscious and what actually happened to make him crash is a mystery," said Mrs Read.

The Ducati motorbike had only just come out of the garage where it had been for nine weeks.

The Reads met at an advertising company in Bristol, where he had interviewed her for a job. "It was Valentine's Day, I fell in love with him instantly and he later told a colleague that he would go on to marry me," said Mrs Read.

"He was a wonderful husband and

father to our two daughters. No-one ever guessed his age correctly he looked a lot younger than 48. As well as being her daddy, he was also a real 'buddie' to our daughter Daisy.

Mrs Read said their daughter Abby is too young to know what has happened, but that she had explained to Daisy that her daddy is gone.

"We are just trying to keep things as normal as possible for both of them at the moment," she said.

The funeral will be held at St

Cyriac's Church in Lacock tomorrow at 10.30am, followed by a cremation at Semington. Mrs Read intends to wear pink and other family members will also be wearing bright colours.

Instead of a wake, the family will be holding a party at The Bell Inn at Lacock, with music and a bouncy castle. Anyone who knew Mr Read is

invited to attend his funeral. Donations will be collected for Children in Need and the National Association of Bikers with a Disability.