Family and friends will gather later this month to remember a Huddersfield man who died in a fall while hiking in Russia.

The funeral of Anthony Cashin, 60, who was known as Tony, will take place on Friday September 22 with a requiem mass at St Patrick’s Church on New North Road, followed by cremation at Huddersfield Crematorium.

Mr Cashin, a painter and decorator from Longwood, was just a few weeks into a three-month trip when he is believed to have lost his balance and fell on August 11 while walking on a mountain path on the edge of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.

His body was recovered from a rocky beach at the edge of the lake.

He was accompanied by a 56-year-old friend from Huddersfield identified only as ‘Andrew D’.

The friends had been travelling on the Trans-Siberia railway and had intended to visit Mongolia and China.

Mr Cashin’s brother Michael said: “He was three or four weeks into a three-month trip which he had organised with Andrew who he had known a long time.

“Andrew is upset, he is traumatised. They were very good mates and it was a trip of a lifetime for both of them. They were going to go to Mongolia and to China on the expedition.”

“He (Tony) had been excited and looking forward to his trip - it was a while in the planning.”

Michael, of Skelmanthorpe, described his brother as a keen and experienced walker with a wide circle of friends.

“It has been comforting to know that he had a lot of friends who cared about him. He will be sorely missed.”

Mr Cashin’s nephew Mark said Tony had taken on the role of a ‘grandad’ to his children, watching them play football and taking them to the cinema.

“He would bend over backwards to help others, putting other people before himself.”

Other friends paid tribute on Facebook, saying they remembered Mr Cashin as a “kind and funny” man.

Mr Cashin was a former pupil at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic school (now All Saints) and Greenhead College. Later in life he worked at the Bridgewood Trust, assisting people with learning disabilities, and had run his own painting and decorating business. He was also known as a regular at Lockwood Gym.

The service at St Patrick’s Church is taking place from 11.30am, followed by cremation at 12.30pm.