HUNDREDS of mourners today turned out for the funeral of a traveller family matriarch who boasted an astonishing 119 great-grandchildren.
Doreen Ward’s family put on a spectacle ‘fit for a queen’, with six jet black horses carrying her golden coffin in a glass case through the city she lived in.
Doreen Ward’s coffin was paraded through the streets inside a horse-drawn carriage[/caption]
A convoy of Mercedes touting Republic of Ireland flags followed the coffin[/caption]
More than 100 people attended the church service, with dozens spilling out of the doors[/caption]
Doreen died following a long battle with dementia[/caption]
The funeral ceremony had to be played on loudspeakers outside the church so that people outside could hear it because so many of her loved ones attended.
Over 200 family members and friends were in Southampton, Hants, today for the funeral after Mrs Ward died following a long battle with dementia on February 6.
Mrs Ward, originally from County Cork in Ireland, had 11 children, 47 grandchildren, 119 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
Flower displays outside St Edmund’s Catholic Church read ‘Cork girl’, ‘Nanny’ and ‘Our queen’.
The funeral ceremony started and ended with the Irish country music song Noreen Bawn by Dominic Kirwan.
This song features the line ‘Happy laughing, Noreen Bawn’ which was on a five-foot-high picture of Ms Ward displayed in a golden frame outside the church.
More than a hundred people were able to fit in the church for the funeral, while the rest of the attendees stood outside.
In Mrs Ward’s eulogy, read by her niece Kathleen O’Driscoll, it was said that she had ‘love at first sight’ with her husband who sadly died at the age of 57.
She ‘stayed strong for her children and her grandchildren’ after this, and her niece added that she ‘wasn’t going down without a fight’ when she got diagnosed with dementia.
About fifty cars were parked on the green outside the church, and they followed the procession which came after the funeral.
Several young girls holding teddy bears cried after the coffin was placed in the glass case.
The display case for Mrs Ward’s coffin was topped with a large purple crown, purple and white flowers and a flower display which said ‘Mummy’.
It had a red and white flag attached to it, referencing the Cork county hurling team, and another flag representing Cork city.
Ten black Mercedes cars with Irish and Cork flags stuck out of the passenger seat windows began to follow the horse-drawn coffin just after 2pm.
The horses each had a fringed piece of purple fabric draped over its back.
Ms Ward’s initials and a crown were both embroidered in gold on the purple fabric, and the horses also wore purple feather headdresses.
The horses arrived while Holy Communion was given at the funeral, and a woman was singing Ave Maria.
Another set of flowers read ‘She’s a lady’.
Her daughter Noreen, 54, said she had a ‘heart of gold’.
“She was so well known in and outside of the traveller community in Southampton,” Noreen said.
“She was the kind of person who just wanted to do anything to help others.
“Mum helped the council with travellers in the city during her life and dedicated her time to help other travellers learn to read and write.”
The service had to be played over speakers for those unable to fit inside the church[/caption]
Doreen’s daughter, Noreen, said she was well known outside the traveller community too[/caption]
She was born in Cork, Ireland, before moving to Southampton[/caption]
