COUNTRYSIDE lover Colin Joyce, who cheated death 25 years ago when he was one of the first people in Wiltshire to be flown to hospital by air ambulance, has died aged 74.

This week his wife Pam re-lived the moment when Mr Joyce, who spent all of his life living in Rowde, near Devizes, 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.

She said: "It was a terrible accident. It made all of the national newspaper and was even on the TV as he was one of the first to be flown by the new air ambulance service.

"If it had not been available consultants said he would have died. We were very lucky that the helicopter managed to get to him quickly.

"I am so thankful for those extra 25 years we had together.

"My husband was a keen shot and the Redhorn Shooting Club raised quite a bit of money for the air ambulance and we also had events at the Cross Keys. We must have raised about £4,000 in total."

The family will continue to say thank you to Wiltshire Air Ambulance by splitting a collection at his funeral on June 16 with the charity and Cancer Care.

Mr Joyce, a retired carpenter, had spent the past 12 years battling cancer and had been in the Royal United Hospital, Bath, when it was realised he did not have long to live.

Mrs Joyce said: "He wanted to spend his last days at home and we managed to arrange that. He died on Sunday with all the family around him, which is what he wanted. It was very peaceful.

"He was a real family man who loved having everyone together, especially at Christmas."

He leaves sons Darren and Lee and daughter Julie as well as seven grandchildren.

His daughter said: "He loved his family and he loved the countryside. He grew up on a farm and he kept his love of everything to do with the rural way of life."

Mr Joyce's funeral will be held at 12.30pm, on Thursday, June 16, at St Matthew's Church, Rowde.