FRIENDS of a 35-year-old who died of a heart attack are to remember him with a pool tournament in his name to mark his first wedding anniversary.

Fun-loving Gerald 'Ged' Slevin, of Lincoln Court, Church, collapsed on Sunday, but shocked friends are already rallying round to organise the knockout competition at the Miners Arms, Blackburn Road, Accrington, where he was a member of the pool team.

Family and friends have been left shocked at his death just 10 months after marrying his wife, Heather, 43.

The tournament, which will raise money for the British Heart Foundation, has been provisionally arranged for June 28, the nearest Saturday to what would have been the couple's first wedding anniversary.

It is being organised by landlady Barbara Arbuary and her husband, Peter. Mrs Slevin said: "Barbara is gutted. They thought the world of him down there."

Meanwhile, family and friends have been paying tribute to the former Mount Carmel pupil who was a keen Chelsea fan.

Mrs Slevin said: "My children are gutted. My 10-year-old daughter, Katie, adored him. He used to call her Tweety Pie, and my little boy -- Adam, 8 -- used to call him his mate. Everybody loved him.

"He was lovable, cute and very easy going, very laid back. This is why I feel I have been robbed because he wasn't the sort to get nasty. His mum is devastated. She's just in a daze, gutted. And also his brother."

Mr Arbuary said: "I have known Ged for about five years. He was very popular, very friendly and we had a lot in common because we were both Chelsea fans. We went to occasional matches together when we had the chance. He even worked behind the bar for us for a while. He will be missed."

Workmate Lee Bentley, 34, will be one of the pall bearers at Mr Slevin's funeral at 10.30am on Thursday at Accrington's Cannon Street Baptist Church, where he married Heather last June.

Mr Bentley, 34, of Tennyson Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, said: "I'm honoured to carry his coffin. He was very quiet and very friendly. He would never do anybody any wrong. There are no words for it, there was just no-one like him."