THE fiancée of a carpenter who tragically drowned on his stag do has taken on his business.

Geoffrey Allen died in Hove at the end of July, aged 37, just weeks before he was due to get married to Clare Waldron.

The pair lived together in Mudeford along with Ms Waldron's daughter Sienna, seven, with Mr Allen supporting them through his growing business Allen Carpentry, which specialises in garden rooms and summer houses.

Now Ms Waldron, 33, is taking on her fiancé's business to keep his legacy alive.

"It would be such a shame to see all his hard work go to waste, his business was just taking off," she said.

"I had to think of how to keep a roof over mine and my daughter's heads. Normally I do childcare but that won't pay enough.

"It just twigged that the best way to do it would be to keep his legacy going."

Ms Waldron will be managing the firm - named Allen Carpentry Garden Rooms for legal reasons - and has taken on his three former staff, as well as a new member of staff with Mr Allen's level of experience.

"Geoff had always been a carpenter, it was in his blood. He was taken on by his late father," she said.

"He came up with the idea to do garden rooms and built a prototype to promote them.

"All the furniture in our house he built himself."

The couple had met in July 2014 and were due to get married on September 10 this year.

"He was so looking forward to having children, we wanted to wait and get married first," said Clare.

"I still can't believe he is gone."

Ms Waldron has been backed by her fiancé's sister Clare-Beth and her own cousin Grace, who have set up a crowdfunding appeal for help get the business back up and running at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/wesupportyouclare.

Mr Allen was found dead in the sea two miles from Brighton Pier on the afternoon of Sunday, July 31. Earlier this month an inquest into his death was opened and adjourned.