The coffin of teenage cancer victim Emily Paxford arrived in a carriage drawn by horses bedecked with pink plumes as hundreds of people gathered to say farewell to the girl who touched many people’s lives.

Pride of place inside the church was given to her pet rabbit Nibbles who was in a cage tied with a pink ribbon.

The congregation at the funeral at Christ Church, in Derry Hill, on Friday, also dressed in her favourite colour pink to remember the Sheldon schoolgirl who lost her battle with illness on January 28.

Emily, 13, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in October 2009 and died three weeks short of her 14th birthday.

Friends and family from Derry Hill were joined by school friends and teachers from Sheldon and pals from her old Brownie group.

Almost everybody wore pink, Emily’s favourite colour, at the request of her parents Mark and Christine, and many carried pink flowers. The church hall was also covered with Emily’s teddy bears.

Mr Paxford spoke with pride about his daughter, who he called “a wonderful and thoughtful girl”.

He told how she begged him to buy her a pet and how much she loved Nibbles. And he said throughout her illness she seemed more concerned with how her family were coping than with what was happening to her.

“There will never be a father who loves his daughter more than I love you,” he said.

Friends from her school and Brownies talked of times shared at each other’s houses, playing with Barbie dolls and bouncing on their trampoline.

They said she was a brilliant best friend who “never grew up too quickly.”

Friends and family also said Emily was an animal lover, who, as well as caring for Nibbles, had handled snakes, cockroaches and even a tarantula at events while at hospital.

There was a reading from Emily’s twin brother George, who read She is Gone, and some of her favourite music was played, including Over the Rainbow, Abba’s I Have a Dream and Take That’s Hold Up a Light.

The family also asked the congregation to write down their favourite memories of Emily on pieces of paper and leave them for them to read.

Emily had received a Little Star award from Cancer Research UK in December, marking her bravery in her fight against the cancer.

George himself picked up the same award three years earlier after his own battle with a rare leg cancer.

All the donations given at the church will be given to Children’s Hospice South West and Clic Sargent.