A SWARTHMOOR widow has paid tribute to her late husband who died less than two years after they tied the knot.

David Diggle, who ran Ulverston-based petroleum and diesel solutions company Arnold Diggle and Son, was diagnosed with cancer in May 2013 just months after proposing to his then-fiancée Nicky on Valentine's Day.

They married the following October and made the most of their time until Mr Diggle died peacefully at St Mary's Hospice in Ulverston on March 10.

They hastily arranged the wedding after hearing the news of his illness to have as long as possible as husband and wife.

"He proposed to me in February 2013 and we planned to get married in Summer 2014," said Mrs Diggle. "But he was diagnosed in the May and he said he wasn't a gambling man and we brought it forward.

"I have to say it was absolutely perfect, I couldn't have asked for anything better."

The couple had been together for 17 years in total after they met on stage as a pair of amateur actors with Ulverston Amateur Operatic Society. Seven years before they became a couple they were partners on stage for a performance of Fiddler on the Roof, and Mrs Diggle admits she had no idea they would eventually get together.

"Little did we know seven years down the line we would be together. Neither of us were looking for anything we just clicked, and the rest as they say is history," she said.

Mrs Diggle praised her husband's brave attitude to his illness and cherished the memories they were able to make together.

She added: "He just got on with things even when we were told is wasn't going away, he never once complained.

"For the first 18 months we got a few things done that we wanted to do together. It was really important to me because I have made some lovely memories.

"Although I thought I had prepared myself it still totally knocked me off my feet because you can never actually prepare for that moment when it happens.

"I think in my head I still think he's there and I'll be going to visit him."