TRIBUTE has been paid to the ‘bubbly and lively’ former Mayoress of Clitheroe who died from coronavirus last week.

Singapore-born Maria Berryman passed away in the Royal Blackburn Hospital on January 4 having fallen ill on December 20.

The 57-year-old leaves her husband, Ribble Valley Councillor David Berryman, and two children - Andrew, 34, and Jennifer,31.

Mrs Berryman worked for Hain Daniels in Clitheroe and volunteered at the local RSPCA branch.

She was her husband’s Mayoress when he was Mayor of Clitheroe Town Council from 2007 to 2009.

His successor in the post and current leader of the town council Cllr Mary Robinson said: “She was very popular in Clitheroe.

“She had a very bubbly and lively personality and helped raise a lot of money for the Mayoral charities.

“Maria had to stand in for David quite a lot when he was away. Her death was a great shock. She will be much-missed.”

Whalley Nethertown’s Cllr Berryman met his wife, original given name Yin Fun or Fragrant Swallow, while working in Singapore in the oil industry, in 1981 and they married in 1985 moving to Clitheroe in 1998.

The Read-born 62-year-old said: “I had to go a long way to find a good ‘un. She was the love of my life.

“When I was Mayor she had to stand in for me a lot.

“She was very popular in Clitheroe'.

“Maria was a very happy person who smiled a lot and was very hard-working.

“She was very keen on animal welfare and at one point we had six cats,

“She was very well-known and I and our children miss her greatly.

“Covid-19 is real and horrible .Please obey the rules.”

Mrs Berryman’s funeral will be at Hyndburn Crematorium at 1pm on Friday June 22 by invitation only. It will be live-streamed. Donations are requested for the RSPCA.