A CADMORE End man is set to pledge more than £10,000 to a lifeboat charity tomorrow in memory of his brother who died after suffering an epileptic fit while surfing.

Jonathan Stott, 27, along with family, friends and villagers have raised the funds needed for a new lifeboat as a tribute to James Stott who died in 2006.

This follows a fundraising evening organised by villagers last night which raised around £2,500, bringing them to their target.

An RNLI lifeguard team came to the aid of the 21-year-old watersports enthusiast and attempted to resuscitate him on the beach. He died four days later in hospital.

James's brother Jonathan said: "The RNLI gave us the opportunity to spend three days with him, albeit he was in a coma. There's always a worry that if you stick in £20 to a charity, it disappears. We wanted to have something material to show."

Members of the community and complete strangers became aware of the family's appeal after launching a publicity campaign on televison, radio and on the Internet.

Jonathan, described the 'Vaguely Valentines' evening last night as "amazing". He said: "I would just like to pass on my heartfelt thanks from me and the family to the organisers and the band and everyone who attended.

"It was quite hard to balance the tone as everyone knew why the do was organised but everyone also wanted to have a knees up. Everyone became so emotionally attached to the story."

He gave a short speech, telling the audience that they were only initially going to raise £400 until they found out a lifeboat woud cost £10,000 and that became their aim.

"It's likely we are going to name the lifeboat Jimmi after James," he added.

But their efforts are not quite finished yet. James's 18-year-old sister Emily, who studies at Henley College, also where her brother James attended, is set to complete a half marathon in Bath next month and a friend is currently trekking across Vietnam for the cause. It is hoped the extra funds can go towards training lifeguards and maintaining the boats.

They hope to launch it near the time of what would have been James's 23rd birthday in August.