Fans of the singer Linda Nolan have gathered as her funeral took place in Blackpool.
People applauded as a hearse, carrying a pink glittery coffin lined with flowers, arrived at St Paul’s church in the Lancashire town.
Nolan’s sisters, Anne, Maureen, Coleen and Denisewalked to the church to say their goodbyes along with friends and relatives. Some wore traditional black outfits, while others sported pink ribbons or carried pink handbags. Mourners signed a book of condolence outside.
In a eulogy, Denise Nolan-Anderson said of Linda: “She really loved going to premieres and opening nights, having her beautiful hair and makeup done, and always was the life and soul of any big occasion. She would have loved all the fuss today.”
Entertainers including the EastEnders actor Shane Richie and Paul Elliott, the comedian better known as Paul Chuckle of the Chuckle Brothers, were among those who attended the service.
Elliott said of the singer: “She was just a fun, bubbly person. The world’s a darker place without her.”
Dublin-born Nolan along with her sisters was part of the pop group the Nolans, best known for their 70s hit, I’m in the Mood for Dancing. The singer died on 15 January, aged 65, two decades after being diagnosed with cancer.
Nolan lost her husband, Brian Hudson, to skin cancer in 2007. He was 60. A private service took place after the funeral at a crematorium, where she was laid to rest with her husband’s ashes.
Her sister Coleen told the Mirror: “My first thought after she died was to put Brian’s ashes with Linda’s. So that’s what we’re doing. In life, they were never apart, so I’m glad they’ll be together again.”
In 2005, Nolan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy in 2006 and was in remission in 2011.
In 2017, she fell on her hip and was taken to hospital, where doctors discovered an incurable secondary breast cancer on her pelvis. The tumours subsequently spread to her brain and ultimately stopped responding to regular treatment.
In 2023 Nolan said she was preparing for “the inevitable” and that she had “sobbed” to her consultant when she heard the treatment was ineffective.
“I had feared something was wrong. My balance has been getting worse, and my memory – my sisters have to prompt me when I get lost in the middle of a sentence,” she told the Mirror.
“Maureen came with me to the appointment and my Macmillan cancer support nurse was in the room, and I could just tell. I asked my consultant straight away: ‘Has it spread?’
“When he told me, I immediately asked: ‘What do we do now?’”
Nolan came down with double pneumonia earlier in January and was taken to Blackpool Victoria hospital, where she became comatose, her manager Dermot McNamara said. She died “with her loving siblings by her bedside”, he added.
Nolan’s sister Anne posted on social media before the funeral that Linda would be “thrilled” if her friends and fans came to say their goodbyes.
The Instagram message called Nolan a “beloved sister, friend and entertainer” and a “symbol of hope, humour and resilience”.
