Stunned bingo players arrived at the Gala Club in Colchester where bomb blast victims Andrea Dykes and John Light worked, unable to come to terms with the tragedy.

Regulars descended on the Osborne Street club yesterday and left flowers, cards and messages of sympathy before the 1.15pm session.

One, who did not wish to be named, is a close friend of Gary Partridge, who was with the couple when the Soho bomb struck last Friday.

Mr Partridge was today receiving treatment in the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

His friend said simply: "It's a tragedy - a terrible tragedy. I feel so bad about what's happened. They were both such smiley, cheery people."

The man saw Mr Light about a week before he was killed in the blast at the Admiral Duncan pub.

"You just don't think it'll ever happen to someone you know," he said.

"Mick" McKea, of Alresford, knew the pair well through her visits to the bingo club. She said: "John used to jokingly call me 'trouble' and he was always a real laugh.

"He was a very nice, polite gentleman who could always take a joke. I'll miss him. They were two lovely people."

Peter Riley, of Ayloffe Road, Colchester, described the pair as "chatty" and "so friendly".

He added: "If you asked a hundred people, no-one would say any different. If you needed any help, they were always there."

Another woman, who preferred not to give her name, said the Gala club would not be the same. She added: "Andrea always had a smile behind that desk. There must have been days when she was not feeling so great, like all of us, but she would never show it.

"You couldn't have met a sunnier person."

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