SO many mourners turned up to pay their last respects to Cheryl Lewis at Great Malvern Cemetery last Friday (January 11) that some were forced to stand outside.

A secular ceremony was conducted by Thelma Brazier, a British Humanist officiant. Tributes were paid to the popular 22-year-old - killed in a road accident near Upton on December 29 - by friends, family and work colleagues.

Mourners heard how her life was cut short just as she had realised her lifetime's dream of landing a full-time position as a hairdresser.

In a message read out by Ms Brazier, Miss Lewis' sister, Christine, said: "I will remember everything you told me, everything you said, but that won't stop me from thinking what you would have told me if you were here.

"You were always there when I was upset about something, like a boy that I liked, but no matter what, you made it OK for me again and I could always get up after we had talked. I will love you always."

Two of Cheryl's favourite songs, Circle of Life from the Lion King and Boyzone's No Matter What, were played. A memorial book was opened and taken back to the family's Assarts Road home. Donations will go towards a memorial stone on her grave.

The previous day her fiance, Paul Kitsull, was buried after a ceremony at St Mathias' Church. Both were killed when Paul's Mazda RX7 car overturned and hit a barn wall on the A4104.

The couple, who shared a home in Wells Road, Malvern, were on the way back from the Drum and Monkey pub.

An inquest was opened on December 31, for purposes of identification and adjourned to a date to be fixed.