Candles burn brightly for Binchy’s final voyage

Prayer candles burned brightly in the church where Maeve Binchy’s funeral took place yesterday — a poignant reminder of the writer’s first book, Light a Penny Candle.

They had been lit by some of the hundreds of people who packed the Church of the Assumption in Dalkey, Co Dublin, to say a fond farewell to a much-loved author.

The ceremony was a simple affair, in keeping with Binchy’s wishes, with Mass concelebrated by former Dalkey parish priest Fr John McDonagh and visiting priest Fr William Stuart.