Reg Gardner, 90, dies after car plunges into pond near Gazeley Stud

The family of an elderly man who died after his car plunged into a pond in Gazeley want to say ‘thank you’ to a passerby who tried to save his life.

Reg Gardner, who was 90, was rescued from the pond near Gazeley Stud last Friday by Lakenheath man Brendon Hall, who carried out CPR until the ambulance arrived.

He was taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds where was put on life support. He died early on Monday morning.

Mr Gardner’s daughters Susan Gardner and Diana Chambers said they are hoping to meet Mr Hall whose actions, Susan said, would have saved her father’s life had he been younger.

“Sadly that wasn’t to be but we would like to thank him for what he did,” she said.

Mr Hall said: “I just jumped in and swam to him and dragged him back to the bank.

“I started CPR and could hear him breathing so I hoped he would be okay.

“I am very sorry indeed to hear that he has died.”

Mr Gardner’s car accident came less than an hour before his wife of 67 years lost her battle with cancer in the same hospital where he was treated.

Susan and Diana, who had been at the bedside of their mother Audrey, 82, were preparing to go home when they heard about the accident.

“We were with Mum when she passed at about 1.30 and we were ready to leave when my brother-in-law rang to say Dad had been in a car accident, so we went straight down to A&E to see him,” said Susan.

Describing her parents as inseparable, Susan said: “They had been together for nearly 70 years and for that to happen to them both at the same time is something you couldn’t write in a novel. It all feels very surreal but I think we are finding comfort in knowing that Mum and Dad are together and at peace.”

A double funeral will be held at West Suffolk Crematorium at 1pm on Tuesday, March 10.

Donations to the East Anglian Air Ambulance and the West Suffolk Hospital’s My Wish charity have been requested by the family instead of flowers.