LOVED ones of a caring young woman who lost a four year battle with cervical cancer smiled through their tears as they gathered to say a final farewell.

A white carriage drawn by two Andalusian horses carried Amber Rose Cliff’s pink coffin for her send off at Sunderland Crematorium yesterday morning.

The Northern Echo: FESTIVE: A picture or Amber Rose with her brother Josh taken at Christmas

Amber Rose with her brother Josh

The rain was unrelenting, but hundreds of her friends and family packed the place out to show their respects to the 25-year-old housing officer, from Ashbrooke, Sunderland, who died last weekend, prompting a campaign calling for a change in the law regarding smear testing. 

The carriage was adorned with huge floral displays and many of her loved ones granted her wish to wear pink for the occasion.

Ellie Goulding’s song Still Falling For You was played as she was carried into crematorium chapel and photographs from her life were shown throughout the service.

It was led by family friend Charlie Thompson, who said: “Each and everyone here was touched by the life of Amber. 

“What she put into your life cannot be measured.”

He said Amber, was a “vibrant girl” who went to Thornhill School, had gone on to study business management at university after leaving Bede College and had kept the friends she made a primary school.

He relayed their feelings and memories of their ‘loyal’ friend, her great sense of humour, selfless personality who enjoyed concerts and holidays in Madeira and Ibiza.

Mr Thompson said: “Every time you saw her, she would give you a cuddle and told you that she loved you.”

He also told how work colleagues at Gentoo said she was a “beautiful girl, inside and out, had a smile that was infectious, and was loving and very caring.

“She was the light of the office and an inspiration.”

Amber’s boyfriend Charlie had said he had met the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and how he would treasure the pictures and videos taken from “two beautiful holidays together”.

Amber was diagnosed only after she went for a private smear test because women under 25 are not screened on the NHS.

Her family is fighting to create Amber’s Law, a change in Government policy which would give younger women the option to get tested if they want to.

The petition has now got more than 175,000 signatures.

The service concluded with Boom Boom Boom by the Outhere Brothers followed by a gathering at the Barnes, where a collection was held for Cancer Research.