WATCHING members of her beloved canoe club compete one last time was a fitting moment for a well-liked personality.

On Saturday, the day following her release from hospital, committed chairwoman Lorraine Murray-Glendenning (50), of Wark, headed straight to Fairnilee, in Scotland, to watch Hexham Canoe Club members, including husband David and daughters Anna-Louise and Chloe, take to the water.

While heavy rain was forecast all day, the sun came out which allowed Lorraine to sit and watch from the riverside.

It was one of her final acts, as the following morning she died in her sleep overnight, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in June.

Her husband David said: “The canoe club was her life and she was always at the river. Even when our two grew up, she would be down coaching the other children as if they were her own.

“She thought about the club 24-7 and never switched off, and she would always be looking at how she could help the club or members.”

Lorraine’s love affair with the canoe club started when Anna-Louise and Chloe asked to join in 2001.

Things snowballed from there and she and David were both invited to join the club committee two years later, with Lorraine going on to become chairwoman.

She was instrumental in organising the annual Tyne Tour event, which attracts canoeists from far and wide to Hexham each year, and she also became vice-chairwoman of Wark Sports Club to enable her to start an annual canoe slalom event from her home village.

In addition, she organised Halloween, Christmas and Easter parties for the younger members of the club.

Even throughout her illness, Lorraine busied herself with club issues and still set a course at Wark last week to allow an event to take place.

Anna-Louise said: “She always put other people first and always thought about making them happy.

“She was like that with everything in life and wanted the best for everybody before her happiness. A lot of people always said to her that the club would never be in as good as a position as it was without her.

“I always said to her that, for somebody who didn’t work, she was the busiest person I knew.”

Away from the river, Lorraine was obsessed with dogs and was praised for the love she showered on her pets.