A GRIEVING widow says Christmas will continue for the sake of the children after the sudden death of her huntsman husband.

Graeme Chapman, 39, was joint master of Northumbria's Haydon Hunt and a popular Consett mechanic.

His wife, Diane, told how she found him collapsed on the floor at their home in Rowley, near Consett, after he suffered a massive brain haemorrhage on Wednesday last week.

Despite the unexpected death of their father, Diane says children Ross, four, and Philip, two, will still have a Christmas with all the trimmings.

Diane, 35, said: "I'm still having Christmas for the children. Ross understands what happened to his dad - he tells everyone he's gone to heaven - but Philip is too young to understand.

"There have been four generations of huntsmen in the Chapman family and it looks like we might have another in Ross. He's only four, but he's riding already."

Described as a superb horseman, Graeme had been riding with the Haydon Hunt for more than ten years and was a joint master for the last two years.

Fellow huntsmen postponed their hunts as a mark of respect for a man who brought town and country together through his work in Consett and rural interests.

Despite running a successful garage, Braefield, in Shotley Bridge, he still found time to organise three hunts a week, play five-a-side football and look after his family.

Diane said: "The fact that about 700 people turned up at his funeral shows what kind of man he was.

"He had a real cross-section of friends and I think, because of what he did and who he was, he managed to bring town and country together."

A former pupil of Moorside Comprehensive School, Consett, Graeme also leaves two older brothers, Alan and Robert.