A WOMAN who tragically lost her sister when she suddenly collapsed on the street in Bridport last week wants to say thank you to the town for its kind support.

Mary Toffell, from Somerset, was waiting for the bus with her sister, Beryl Dury, aged 77, outside Waitrose in Bridport on Monday August 1, when Mrs Dury suffered a cardiac arrest.

Emergency services rushed to Mrs Dury’s aid but sadly she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs Toffell was on holiday with her sister at the time, staying at her caravan in West Bay.

The two sisters, both widows, had been travelling together each weekend from Somerset to Dorset to holiday together.

Mrs Toffell said: “I would just like to thank everyone that helped as she collapsed on the pavement.

“The police came and paramedics and the shop Punch and Judy helped and made tea for me and I would just like to say thank you.

“I have a caravan in West Bay and we had been coming for the last three months and we were about to get the bus back.

“We’d had a lovely weekend.

“We had watched a raft race in West Bay on the Thursday and went to Bridport around the market stalls.”

Mrs Toffell has since returned to Bridport.

She said: “It’s been very sad.

“I came down and I could picture her on the pavement.

“I’m finding it hard at the moment.

“She was younger than me.”

What has helped Mrs Toffell is the wonderful memories of the time she spent with her sister at the caravan and in Dorset over the last few months – though she said initially her sister needed some persuading.

She said: “I kept on at her to come to the caravan and it was lovely to have the company. “For three months she really enjoyed it and we were spending time together.

“Years ago, my dad had a caravan down at West Bay and we have been coming down for 30 years.”

Mrs Toffell and her sister each weekend took a three and a half hours bus journey from Somerset to Dorset to get to the holiday home, but says she quite likes it and so did her sister.

“We were both on our own so it was nice for us to have each other.

“Thank you to all my friends at West Bay who have helped.”