A charity has been set up in memory of a young Tyneside GP who collapsed and died during a game of squash. 

Dr Matthew Toppil, a health and fitness enthusiast, died a year ago at just 31 from ischaemic heart disease, a condition in which blood flow to the heart is restricted, starving it of vital oxygen. 

A fundraising curry night will be held in Ponteland on Saturday May 13 to honour the memory of Dr Thoppil , who was born in India.  And on May 27, the Matthew Thoppil Memorial Charitable Trust will be launched at St Matthew's Church Hall, Ponteland. 

It was to have been on the anniversary of his death on May 20, but Dr Thoppi's family decided it would b e too painful a time for them. 

The aim of the charity will be to raise funds towards a research programme that will raise awareness and understanding of the little understood condition that killed him. 

Dr Thoppil, a father-of-three was based at the Denton Turret practice in Scotswood Road, Newcastle, and married to Julie, a teacher at Western Community First School in Wallsend. 

His father, Dr Matthew Philip, 58, a consultant anaesthetist at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, said the death of his son was a tragedy for more than just his family. 

"The country invested so much in him to train him as a doctor and GP and just when he was due to pay that back, he is no more. 

"He thought he was living a very healthy lifestyle.  He loved sport and he exercised but he was completely unaware of this heart disease, which is why I think it is so important for as many young people as possible to be screened for such potential problems." 

He added: "If this saves just one young person in the future it will save their family from having the heartache we have gone through." 

Profits from the curry night will go towards hospitals and orphanages in India, where Dr Thoppil's grandfather founded the Christa Sishya Ashram charity.  Money from future fundraising will be used in Britain to help fund a research programme into the condition that killed Dr Thoppil during the game of squash at Eldon Square sports centre. 

The charity set up in Dr Thoppil's name will raise funds to help the work of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), set up in 1995 to raise awareness of heart-related sudden death in the young, support families affected by it and raise funds for research into its causes. 

Dr Thoppil was a student at Newcastle Medical School when he met his wife, Julie, then an A-level student.  The couple travelled to Australia and moved back to the North East in July 2004. 

The set up home at Newcastle Great Park in Gosforth and Dr Thoppil joined the Denton Turret Medical Centre where he was popular with patients and staff.  One of Dr Thoppil's other sporting passions was cricket.  A cricket tournament for a trophy in his name is in Oxford in July and Ponteland in 2008. 

A charity ball and squash tournament will be organised in the future.  Matthew Thoppil Memorial Charitable Trust is setting up www.matfund.com