TEN years after the death of Tim Goggs, the Easterton man who died while helping rid Afghanistan of its legacy of minefields, the fund that bears his name is still helping the people of the war-torn country.

Mr Goggs was 23 when he went to Afghanistan, initially for four months between graduating and going on to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.

He applied to the Halo Trust, an organisation that was helping to clear mines in Afghanistan.

By the middle of 1992 he was in charge of field operations in the north of the country. To speed up the work, he resurrected an ex-Russian engineering tank that pushed two eight-tonne rollers.

In July that year the United Nations asked him to clear an important road 25 miles north west of Kabul, outside his normal area of operation.

Three anti-tank mines detonated under his vehicle and it caught fire. He got out safely but but returned to rescue his colleague, Julian Gregson. Neither man survived. He was awarded the George Medal posthumously.

Mr Goggs' mother Henrietta, who sits on the Kennet magistrates bench, said: "I can't believe it will be ten years on Monday since Tim died. Time has passed so quickly. Tim was such a charismatic personality, always engaged on a new project."

Mr Goggs' father Quentin added: "He was a natural leader. People always looked to him. At the age of 23 to have a team of Afghans working under him was a remarkable thing. He had a great sense of responsibility as well as a sense of adventure."

Among the tributes his parents received was one from Hamed Karzai, then acting deputy foreign minister, now the leader of the Afghan people.

Mr Karzai wrote: "His memory shall be enshrined in our hearts for ever."

Mr Goggs' memory also lives on through Tim's Fund. It sprang from a will left by him, in which he bequeathed his student house in Newcastle, which fetched £38,000, to Christian Aid. The Goggs family raised another £250,000.

The Princess of Wales Memorial Fund provided £70,000 for mine awareness classes for the Afghan people.But Christian Aid raised £6.5 million through a bequest scheme and this money is now being used to improve the lot of the Afghans, through job creation projects.

The anniversary of Mr Goggs' death has stimulated a burst of fundraising activity. His brother Dominic, a Captain in the 9/12 Lancers, ran the London Marathon last year while his sister, Nicola, raised £43,000 from two dances she and her friends organised.

The latest event is being undertaken by James Malcolmson, who was in the TA with Mr Goggs. He is planning a sponsored dive to the wreck of the liner Lusitania, torpedoed by a German U-boat in the First World War.

Anyone who wants to sponsor Mr Malcolmson or raise money for Tim's Fund in some other way can contact Quentin Goggs on (01380) 813736.