FRIENDS gathered on Teignmouth seafront to unveil a memorial bench for a popular resident, and toasted him in champagne.

Peter Hockings, 66, who died last year of an aggressive form of cancer ran a guest house in Brunswick Street with his Danish wife Margrethe.

They met when she had a summer job at Stratford-upon-Avon to improve her English, and he was taking part in a Morris dancing competition. They clicked and he followed her back to Denmark where he worked as a graphic designer for many years, and also started a Morris dancing troupe, Silkeborg.

The couple, who have a son and daughter in Denmark, returned to the UK and settled in Teignmouth where Peter had spent many childhood family holidays.