AMANDA Edwards was dubbed a pink angel by one of her young charges at the Little Foxes Nursery in Brinkworth.

Her family said no-one had been left with anything but good memories of her.

Having struggled all her life with dyslexia, she had just started to find the confidence to start enjoying life to the full only to have that life snatched away.

Born at Princess Margaret Hospital, she and her family moved into their Purton home when she was a baby. Already she was beginning to show the quirky nature that endeared her to people later in life.

Her father, Lee Edwards, said as a baby she was nicknamed Pud Pud.

"She had to have a pint of custard before she went to bed. Then she slept for the rest of the night. She was a very contented baby," he said.

She would also sleep with a picture of her beloved nanny on the pillow beside her.

At school her dyslexia gave her problems and dented her confidence badly. But eventually, with hard work and help from support teachers, she left Braydon Forest School with a couple of GCSEs. "It was an achievement," said her mother Beverley Edwards.

"She had struggled on and proved to herself she could do something."

It was also enough to set her on course for the only career she wanted. "Ever since I can remember she had always said she wanted to become a nursery nurse."

So Amanda went to college and wrestled the dyslexia yet again to pass a City and Guilds qualification in child care.

Armed with that she started working in local nurseries. It wasn't always easy and sometimes she made it tougher on herself.

"One of her downfalls was that she didn't want people to know about her dyslexia. She was a very private person, " said Mr Edwards.

"She didn't want it known that she was dyslexic and people used to think that she was lazy," added Mrs Edwards. "She didn't have the confidence to tell them."

When it came to the children themselves, she was in her element. "She had a way of coming down to their level and she knew how to deal with them. She never lost her temper with them even when they were screaming and having a tantrum. She just talked to them until they had calmed down. She just had that rapport," Mrs Edwards said.

Although she was very young she also had plans for a big family. "Amanda used to tell me that she was going to have three children by the age of 24. She was adamant that she wanted a big family," said her mother.

Children had been a major part of her life ever since she was old enough to babysit. Rather than spend a lot of evenings out with friends Amanda babysat.

"We have had some beautiful letters from the parents of children she babysat for," said Mrs Edwards.