SHOCKED friends, family and colleagues are preparing for the funeral of “beautiful, kind-hearted” Anna Mathias who rose to the heights of the legal profession by becoming a barrister at a leading London law firm.

Anna, 50, a Wroughton girl and the daughter of retired Adver journalist and long-time columnist Shirley Mathias, who still lives in the village, died suddenly on Saturday, September 1.

The service will take place at Wroughton Church where Anna was due to be married in May next year to her partner of 14 years, Vivian Launchbury.

While the exact cause of Anna’s death is inconclusive tributes have poured in for the “lovely, big-hearted and hugely talented” lawyer whose work included advising some of the UK’s biggest charities.

She was recently appointed as a director of the Lotteries Council after serving for several years as an advisor.

Viv, a construction manager, said: “I’m honestly flabbergasted with the amount of people contacting me offering their condolences.

“Anna was a truly remarkable person. She moved in so many circles and always left an impression with everyone she met.

“She was a truly unique, wonderful individual who squeezed every last drop out of life.”

Anna was also a staunch Swindon Town fan and among the many tributes and messages of condolences were more than 200 from Town supporters’ on various FB sites.

She was a regular at the County Ground, happy to make the costly, time-consuming journey from her job and home in London.

Anna, whose late father John was also an Adver journalist, attended Ridgeway School before studying at Warwick University and then at the Honourable Society at Lincoln’s Inn.

After lecturing at English Law at the University of Bordeaux she became a barrister specialising in licensing which encapsulated numerous aspects of the leisure and entertainments industries, ranging from pubs and restaurants to bingo halls and casinos.

A barrister for 20 years, her expertise helped guide some of the UK’s major charities from Comic Relief, Cancer Research, Marie Curie and Macmillan to the British Red Cross, the Air Ambulance Society and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Specialist law firm Woods Whur, where Anna worked since February 2015, issued a heartfelt tribute to “a fabulous work colleague and friend.”

“Not only was Anna a superb technical lawyer, an immensely hard worker who was loved by her clients she was most of all, a beautiful kind-hearted person that lit up our office.”

Anna has a younger brother Andrew, an electrical engineer, who lives in Swindon.

The funeral will take place at 1pm on Thursday, October 4, followed by cremation at Kingsdown Crematorium at 2.15pm.

Her family have asked for no flowers but donations can be made to a JustGiving page for Diabetes UK set up in Anna’s memory.

https://www.justgiving.com/anna-h-mathias