Hundreds of mourners say final goodbyes to much-loved Blackburn mother-of-four

Tina Rayson died aged 41 after falling from a canal bridge in Blackburn.

Yesterday her children were joined by friends and family for an emotional farewell at a packed crematorium, with every seat taken and dozens of people stood in the aisles and the foyer listening to the service by the Rev Terry Dyer.

After her death, Tina’s daughter Ebony had pinned a letter to the door of the family home in Exeter Street, Blackburn promising to look after her siblings and keep the loving memory of her mother alive.

Mr Dyer said: “Given the number of people here she was obviously someone loved by many, and she loved being with people.

“She was a Blackburn girl who was very family orientated – she loved her children.

“She was a lovely person who was always there to make you laugh.

“I gather when she was young she had her tantrums, but was a happy girl, always smiling.”

Mourners made their way into the crematorium to the sound of Passenger’s song Let Her Go.

They were asked to take time to remember their own memories of Miss Rayson while Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U was played, and the congregation left the church to Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol.

Miss Rayson died three days after she fell from the bridge last month. The family appealed for help in raising funds to pay for her funeral and over £3,000 was raised in less than a week.

Rev Dyer urged mourners to remember the “bubbly” Miss Rayson, and said society had failed her in her battle with depression following the death of her partner Stephen four years ago.

He said: “The turning point came when Steve, her soulmate, died four years ago. Somehow that changed Tina, and depression set in..

“But that’s not the Tina to remember, we should remember a bubbly and loving person.”