Hundreds attend funeral of tragic marathon runner

Some 700 family, friends and well-wishers packed into St Andrew’s Church in North Kilworth, Leicestershire, for a service to celebrate the life of hairdresser Claire Squires, who collapsed and died less than a mile from the finishing line of the 26.2-mile course on Birdcage Walk near Buckingham Palace on April 22.

The congregation wore touches of red, the 30-year-old’s favourite colour, at the request of the family.

Since her death, her supporters have helped to raise more than £1m for the Samaritans.

Miss Squires was running for the Samaritans in recognition of work done by her mother, who volunteered for the charity for 24 years.

Leading the service, Baptist minister and family friend Pastor Johnny Hutton said: “Many people have said that Claire was so much like that Samaritan who was prepared to help someone regardless of who they were or where they came from.”

Some 200 people packed into the 150-seater church, while hundreds more listened to the service outside through a speaker system.

The service followed a private burial which saw Miss Squires laid to rest in the same grave as her brother Grant, who died at the age of 25 in 2001.

Miss Squires’s parents Priscilla, known as Cilla, and Paul were not present at the burial but attended the funeral service afterwards with her sisters Maxine, Nicola and Penny.

There was laughter, tears and applause during tributes read out by family and friends at the service.

Miss Squires’s youngest sister, Penny, tearfully told the congregation: “She has left a huge legacy in her footsteps with over a million pounds raised for charity and she has become the nation’s sweetheart. I’m so proud to call her my sister.”

She said Claire, known as “Bear” to friends and family, was “beautiful, inside and out”, “lived life to the full” and was a “go-getter”.

Miss Squires’s partner, Simon Van Herrewege, also struggled to read out his tribute during the service.

“I would like to recognise the overwhelming amount of support from people across the world who have taken Claire into their hearts,” he said. “Everyone who knew Claire knew what a beautiful, fun and caring girl she was; now it seems like an awful lot more people know that.”

He added that the level of generosity had been “mind-blowing” and that her legacy would make life “better for other people, just like she did ours”.