Chatteris widow raises cash for the RNLI crew in Skegness which tried to save her husband

A Chatteris woman whose husband died in a freak boating accident has raised nearly £200 for the lifeboat crew that tried to save him.

Caroline De Lloyd raised the money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) through two raffles run via Islas Emporium and Café in the town. The first was held over Christmas and the second was held for Valentine's Day.

Her husband, Canadian-born 56-year-old Tudor De Lloyd died on March 20 last year - just 10 days before the couple were due to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

Caroline explained her husband, a keen deep sea fisherman, got into difficulties as he was testing his 18ft Shetland boat for a suspected leak off the beach at Skegness, where the couple were living at the time.

She said: "He had been out fishing the day before and so went down to the yard to clean it. There was some water on the boat and he wasn't sure whether it was rain water or whether there was a leak, so he took it out just a short distance - he wasn't far off the shore.

"He thought he was on a sandbank and jumped into the water but there was a gully caused by the tide and he quickly got into trouble because the water was deeper than he thought.

"A member of the Skegness Lifeboat crew swam out to help him, the lifeboat was already in the water because they were doing one of their regular trials. They managed to pull my husband from the water and they tried to save him, but he died on his way to hospital in the air ambulance helicopter.

"I have always supported the RNLI, I think they do a fantastic job, and I'm grateful for what they did for my husband, which is why I wanted to raise money to help them. After Tudor died I donated the boat, which was worth about £2,500, to the Skegness RNLI Cubs so they could use it for training - they are the life-savers of the future and it is useful for them to have a boat to practice on.

"I was born and brought up in Chatteris and have all my family here, I moved to Skegness after I met my husband, so when Tudor died it was better for me to come home to be near my family so they could help look after me. I'm disabled and Tudor was my full-time carer.

"I'm planning to hold more raffles in the future, and I have two shelves in Islas Emporium selling bits for the RNLI. If anyone would like to donate things for me to sell they can drop them off at the café, which has been fantastically supportive to me."