GhLinks Media
The bereaved family of Matt Halford, a head chef who passed away unexpectedly at a popular beachside bar in Cornwall have paid tribute to a loving father, son, partner and brother.
38-year-old Matt Halford was discovered unconscious in the walk-in chiller of the Watering Hole on Perranporth Beach on Saturday morning, and despite efforts by medics and lifeguards from the nearby RNLI station to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the location.
The family has made it clear that no one was to blame for the incident, and the authorities have not deemed it to be suspicious.
Who was Matt Halford?
Matt Halford was a 38 year old popular chef at Watering Hole pub.
Matt had worked in the Watering Hole – which is the UK’s only bar on a beach – since he was a teenager along with brothers Jason, 41, and Lee, 42 and dad Mick.
Between them they clocked up over 100 years of service.
Matt leaves behind a partner Becky, 29, and three sons Jaden, 18, Harlyn, 16, and Mekhi, 14.
According to a tribute by Matt’s mum Joanne Ballinger, the popular chef was a caring and loving father.
Read tribute below
‘This place is a family, they all hold onto each other. It’s very comforting at the moment because this isn’t what we expected.
‘Matthew was caring, he was a loving father, son and brother. He would put anybody first and help anybody he possibly could. He was a hard worker but he liked to play hard too.
‘He played for Cornwall at basketball. He was vivacious, full of life and you would always know when he was around because you would hear him.
‘We are still trying to process his loss. It doesn’t feel real and we haven’t heard anything about why so we are waiting for that.
‘He was on duty with his chef friend Max just putting a delivery away, Matt had gone out to the chiller. Then Max just thought he’s been gone a while and went to look for him and found him on his back in the chiller. Bob the owner tried to do CPR and everybody pulled together to bring defibrillators but it was just too late.
‘He was a fit and healthy man, he last went to the doctor in 2016. He didn’t smoke and had stopped drinking, he never took drugs, he was really fit and healthy.’
