Thousands say farewell to Jade

Thousands of mourners said farewell today to reality TV star Jade Goody, the ’local girl made good’ whose death from cancer touched the hearts of millions.

Her widower Jack Tweed fought back tears at her funeral as he described the loss felt by him and Jade’s two young sons.

In a poem, he said: “My life will never be the same without you by my side,

“Grief almost too much to bear, pain difficult to hide.

“But when we look into the sky for the brightest star above,

“Bobby, me and Freddie will send you all our love.”

Mourners at the St John the Baptist Church, in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, watched a collection of images of Jade on giant screens while listening to The Beatles’ song She Loves You.

The montage ended with a film clip of Jade saying: “That’s it from me. See you around maybe. Bye.”

Paying tribute, her publicist Max Clifford said: “When we left the house it was cloudy and overcast. As we moved forwards the sun started to come through and that is what in many ways Jade’s life was like.

“It was difficult to start with but as she got older she took more and more control ... and people came to appreciate that.”

He added: “This is a girl who was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.”

He said she became a princess in Bermondsey, the tough inner London district where she was raised, and then a queen in Essex.

And he paid tribute to her success in encouraging women to go for checks against cervical cancer, the disease that killed her at the age of 27.

“She achieved in seven months what doctors, politicians and medical experts can only dream of achieving.

“Her legacy is a wonderful one. Because of Jade Goody, lots of women have had their lives saved,” he said.

The London Community Gospel Choir sang Amazing Grace as her white coffin was carried into the church shortly after midday. Mr Tweed, 21, was among the six pallbearers.

The service was relayed on two giant screens for the crowd of well-wishers outside the church.

Among Jade’s fans was mother-of-seven Kirsty Brooks, 34, of Westbury, Wiltshire, who travelled with her three sisters to watch the funeral.

She said: “She was just a real woman who always put her kids first to the end. She also shared the same birthday as my late daughter, who passed away.”

Jade’s sons Bobby, five, and Freddie, four, did not attend the funeral.

Thousands lined the streets as the 'Big Brother' star’s funeral cortege made its way from Bermondsey to her last home in Upshire, Essex.

Dozens of photographers followed the vintage Rolls-Royce hearse as it carried Jade’s coffin on a route that included Tower Bridge.

Police stopped traffic as the cortege, walked by funeral director Barry Albin-Dyer and the vicar of St James’s Church, Rev Stewart Hartley.

Fans tossed flowers onto the hearse as it passed by. Others stood applauding in the rain.

Jade’s mother Jackiey Budden, 51, was shaking and crying as she climbed into the car at the head of the funeral procession.

The cortege stopped outside a market on Southwark Park Road, known as The Blue, where Jade’s family used to have a stall.

Mr Albin-Dyer told the crowd: “I knew you’d be like this. I knew you’d come and say goodbye like this.

“So from everyone in Bermondsey, goodbye.”

He then released a single white dove which was greeted by loud cheering and applause.

Mr Hartley said a prayer before leading the crowd in “three cheers for Jade”.

He said: “I was watching the news before about when Michelle Obama went into the school in east London and wanted to be an inspiration and she said ’You’ve got a good school, you’ve got good brains, you can make a difference in the world’.

“Jade spoke to the girls who had dropped out of school or who had families young and she said ’There is a possibility, take your opportunities’.

“She was an inspiration and she was a local girl made good.”

Mr Albin-Dyer said: “Bermondsey is very kind to its dead. What’s happening with Jade here isn’t uncommon to Bermondsey people.

“They all come out to wish people well as they go.”

Jade died at home at the age of 27 on March 22 after losing a battle with cervical cancer.

The mother-of-two married Jack Tweed, 21, at a ceremony in a hotel near Hatfield Heath, Essex, on February 22 after being told that she had only weeks to live.