FRIENDS of a popular dad-of-two who died aged 44 are to take on a cycle ride from London to Brighton in his memory.

Hamesh Patel ran several businesses in Colchester including @M.Y Convenience in East Street with his dad, Bhaskar Patel.

But he died from pneumonia, despite not having been treated for it previously.

Messages of sympathy were sent to Hamesh’s wife Rita and their children Milan, seven, and Yash, five, including one from Liverpool football legend Jamie Carragher.

Hamesh and his close-knit family have been long-time supporters of the club, which Carragher played at for 17 years before retiring.

Jason Nottage was one of Hamesh’s closest friends and one of the pall bearers at his funeral.

He will be leading the team of eight who will cycle in his memory on June 17.

He met Hamesh in Colchester 20 years ago and bonded over their love of football.

Jason, 43, from Eight Ash Green, said: “He was one of the first people I met when I moved to Colchester in 1996.

“We had Euro ’96 and I kept going to Fred’s bar on East Hill to watch the football.

“There was a group of friends, including Ben Goggin, who is doing the ride, and Hamesh and that’s where we all met up.

Halstead Gazette:

“The thing that really cemented us was around 2000 he got in touch with a TV show called Friends Like These. He got us an audition and we got on the first show.

“A bus of people from Colchester went to see us in the studio audience and we won the all expenses holiday to Buenos Aires. We flew business class and every day we had a butler.

"We had a motto that came out of that show - one team, one dream.”

The idea to cycle 54 miles in his memory came from another close pal, Pete Hanford.

The cycling team includes Jason, Ben and Pete as well as Steve Cooper, Matthew Tregoning, Neil Atkinson, Rachel Atkinson and Laura Beton. They all live in, or originate from, the Colchester area.

They set their fundraising target to raise money for the British Heart Foundation at £1,000 but that was reached in four days so was soon reset to £5,000.

Jason, a dad-of-three, added: “The challenge for me isn’t the ride, I love that. The challenge is to try to raise the money, we have set an ambitious target.”

The cause of Hamesh’s pneumonia is unknown but he had been suffering from a cold for about a fortnight before he deteriorated.

Hamesh was found by his dad at his home in Halstead Road, Stanway, unconscious and not breathing. He was rushed to Colchester General Hospital and was on a life support machine.

But after a day and a half, his family took the tough decision to allow him to pass away.

Hamesh attended Colchester High School, which is to name an annual football trophy after him. Donate here.

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