When keen angler Peter Hodge learned he had terminal motor neurone disease, he requested that his remains be mixed with the special groundbait he used to catch fish in his local river. The 61-year-old, from Puriton, near Bridgewater in Somerset said he wanted to swim with the fish in the spot where he spent 40 happy years.

So, after Mr Hodge's death last month, he was cremated in a wicker fishing basket coffin and his ashes were mixed with 30lb of fish food. Mr Hodge's widow Caroline and daughter Sally were the first to catapult balls of the bait into the River Huntspill to signal the start of an angling competition among Mr Hodge's friends. Before he died Mr Hodge said: "It may sound strange but it is my dream; to be back in the river catching fish is where I belong. I hope my friends make me proud with their catches."

Mrs Hodge, 56, said: "Pete wanted the fish to gobble him up so he could swim up and down the river after his death. Everything that he wished for was done right down to the last. It was only right for us to carry out his final wishes."

Mr Hodge, a gents hairdresser, took up fishing at the age of 20 and went to his favourite spot on the river several times a week. Nearly 1,000 mourners packed St Mary's Church in Bridgewater for his funeral.

I should try and think of something to do with maggots but can't be bothered.

It was what he would have wanted.

The original was here.