The family of a popular chef who died just before Mother’s Day has begun fundraising to help finish his dream project.

Matt Halford, head chef of the Watering Hole pub on Perranporth Beach, was found unresponsive last Saturday morning. Sadly, despite the best efforts of emergency services, he did not recover.

Now, Matt’s eldest son, Jaden Cole, has set up a crowdfunding page on Just Giving to help the family complete a project Matt had been working on at the time of his death.

Matt had been self-renovating a house for his family and was described as having “massive plans” that his family would like to finish off in his honour.

Jaden has written: “The reason behind this crowdfunding is to help raise as much money as [possible so] me and my family can help finish off the house that my dad worked so hard to self-renovate.

“The house was coming on exactly how dad wanted it to be and he still had massive plans but on Saturday, 18th March 2023, me and my family received the tragic news that dad had suddenly passed away.

“Life will never be the same without dad. He was a huge character who you would hear from a mile away! The one person anyone could go to and he would give his all to help and support you; from family and friends to work colleagues, he always just knew the right thing to say.”

Jaden also paid tribute the support the family had received since his dad’s death a week ago, adding: “I cannot fathom the outpouring of love our family has received and this shows how much my dad meant to so many people and how many lives he touched.

“Although we will have a hole in our hearts forever, he will never ever be forgotten. He has left behind a strong family who will always stick together and make him proud everyday.

“Thank you to each and every person who has offered love and support, your kindness will always be with us.”

As of this lunchtime (Saturday, March 25) more than £7,800 had been raised.

Earlier in the week The Watering Hole paid tribute to their “iconic, legendary” head chef.

A post on the Watering Hole’s Facebook page said: “With iconic legendary places that are larger than life like the Watering Hole, these places are made by iconic legendary characters and unfortunately we lost our MVP on Saturday.

“We always thought the most feared day would be washing away for us, but how wrong were we. We lost the best dad, friend, brother and worker this place will ever see and it's not easy saying this, but we will never find anyone like this again.”

It said Matt had worked at the Watering Hole all of his life, with his brothers Lee and Jason and three sons who have been there all of their life.

Their dad Mick, aka Mad Dog, who they described as “a character to say the least”, started the pub as a beach hut in 1978.