TRIBUTES have today been paid to a woman who died in a tragic walking accident on the Dorset coast.

Cattrin Wickens, 82, was using walking poles as she followed husband Robert down a set of steps above Winspit Quarry when she suddenly lost her balance.

Mr Wickens, known as Bob, only realised his 'active and popular' wife had fallen when he turned around to see she was no longer behind him.

She suffered fatal injuries in the sheer fall and died at the scene.

Mrs Wickens, a keen rambler and past ladies' captain of Parkstone Golf Club in Poole, had been walking with her husband on part of the South West Coast Path last Saturday when the tragedy happened.

Mrs Wickens, a mother of three and grandmother of seven was born in Wilmslow, Cheshire, but moved with her family to Kent and met her husband in 1965 when they both played for a mixed hockey team.

They moved to Poole in the late 1970s and she worked as a domestic sciences teacher at Ashley Cross Girls School.

After she retired she led an active social life. She joined Parkstone Golf Club with her husband 30 years ago, played bridge and ran an alternative WI group.

She was actively involved in their local church, organising the flowers and serving on the parish council.

Mr Wickens said: "She was very active, she looked after herself and enjoyed walking. Everyone loved her. We had 57 years together, three lovely kids, five lovely grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

"I miss her terribly, in the circumstances it is awful, but life has to go on and you have to focus on the good times you had, we had a good marriage.

"She was very popular and the church will be overflowing for the celebration of her life."

Mr Wickens, 84, said he does not know what led his wife to fall.

He said: "We were 70ft above sea level on the coast path. There were steps to get down to the bottom and Cattrin was about three to five yards behind me.

"She had poles and we weren't right by the edge, I don't know how she fell. She didn't call out or make any noise, if I had heard a call I would have turned round.

"The steps were dry and not slippery.

"I looked back and she wasn't there. I couldn't see her but I feared the worst. I managed to get down to where she was in about three minutes.

"There was a holiday maker who happened to be a first responder who did CPR. I had a mobile phone but the signal was not good at the bottom. I think someone at the top of the cliff called the emergency services.

"It was quite an inaccessible area, I think we waited about 20 minutes. But I'm most grateful for all the emergency services. There was nothing they could do to help her and they were a great support."

In a statement a spokesperson for Parkstone Golf Club said: "We are shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Cattrin as a result of a tragic accident.

"Cattrin had been a member of the club for nearly 30 years and was ladies' captain in 2011.

"An active member, often volunteering at club events who will be fondly remembered by staff and members.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with her husband Bob and their family."

In 2011 Mrs Wickens helped organise a naked charity calendar of female members of the club.

Police confirmed that her death is not being treated as suspicious.

An inquest into her death opened on Friday, June 28.