Paul Wheeler, 54, from Market Lane, was hit by a car while pushing his bike across the A27 at 10.10pm.

He and his wife Dawn were on the way home from a friend's 60th birthday party in Long Hill.

Tributes have flooded in for Paul, a well-known and popular member of the Lewes community who was to due to celebrate his 50th year with Commercial Square Bonfire Society.

He enjoyed a number of important roles with the society and for the last 18-years was its Honourable Archbishop.

Dawn told the Express: 'He loved life and really lived it to the full.

'He was a very sociable person and had an infectious laugh.

'The Gardener's Arms was his local and you could hear his laugh as you walked across Cliffe Bridge!'

He was a member of host of local clubs including the Lewes Operatic Society, Lewes Mummers, Lewes Cycling Club and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

He worked as an usher at Lewes Crown Court and also worked for Royal Mail for more than 20 years. In the 1980s he was a retained firefighter at Lewes Fire Station.

Paul and Dawn were also 1940s enthusiasts and had period-themed wedding in 2005.

Paul was a Bonfire Boy since the age of five and missed just one celebration in 49-years, when a delayed flight left him stranded overseas.

This year his eldest son Sam, 22, was due to share the clergy platform with his dad on November 5.

Sam said: 'I was going to be up there with him for the first time and he was a bit worried about me and thought he was going to have to look after me.

'He always said he wanted me and Joe (his younger son aged 21) up there and this year one of the members of the bonfire clergy stepped down, so I'm taking over.

'Every year he used to worry and say the bangers were getting bigger but when he got up there he loved it and used to laugh his head off.

'He never got hurt, which was amazing really, just had a few cuts and bruises.

'I hope it's not quiet this year he would have wanted it as noisy as possible!'

One year Paul even calmly rolled a cigarette as the bangers rained down on him and this year he planned smoke a cigar amid the chaos.

Jim Leaney, Paul's friend of more than 20 years and fellow Bonfire Boy, said he liked anarchy and doing outrageous things.

He said: 'When the smoking ban was introduced he deliberately carried on smoking for a while because he didn't agree with it, and he liked to tell everyone he was a "true-blue" and he was always having a pop at the Labour Government.

'He also loved collecting things, he didn't like cars, he said they were horrible tin cans but he had an vintage Enfield motorbike and a Massey Ferguson tractor and when he went to Steam Shows he would deliberately drive it up Lewes High Street to slow the traffic down.

'He wouldn't like you to say it but he really was a larger than life character.'

Paul is survived by wife Dawn, first wife Wendy and sons Sam and Joe.

EXPECT to hear some loud bangers on Tuesday (August 26) as family and friends hold a celebration of Paul's life.
A service takes place at St John Sub Castro at 12.30pm followed by a get-together at 2pm in the Elephant and Castle pub, the headquarters of Commercial Square Bonfire Society. All are welcome. The family has requested no flowers.