HUNDREDS followed the little white coffin into the church, some in silence, others quietly weeping.

Led in their grief by parents David Jenkins and Abigail Wilson they had come to celebrate the life of Jacob Jenkins, the “cheeky, smiley” two-year-old who had died after choking on a grape.

Jacob’s coffin, with its Spiderman stickers stuck to the side, had been taken earlier today to St Joseph’s in Hartlepool in a horse-drawn, white carriage.

As it slowly made its way through the town centre streets the bustling town centre streets had also fallen quiet, people stopping in the rain and bowing their heads at the loss of one of the town’s toddler’s.

There were splashes of brightness in those sad streets. Bright yellow balloons were taped to pubs and shops on Victoria Road and beyond in his memory. Many mourners even wore yellow hairbands and ties. The happy, bright colours beloved of little children.

The story of Jacob’s death, how he had choked on a grape at an ordinary family visit to Pizza Hut at Hartlepool Marina and fought for life for five days in a coma had touched the people of the Hartlepool and across the entire North-East. More than £20,000 has been raised on the gofundme website.

But at the traditional, Catholic service today it was Jacob’s life and his emerging, exuberant personality that was the focus.

He was remembered by Abigail and David at the requiem. Too devastated to speak themselves their words were read by Father Michael Griffiths Abigail recalled "gorgeous" Jacob’s cheeky smile and how he loved his friends at nursery where he went as his parents worked. How he loved going to his nana’s and loved his family. “He did more in his two years than others in their whole childhood,” she said.

David remembered his little boy sneaking into his parents’ bedroom with a big smile before curling up with his mam and dad. Father and toddler-son would watch Match of the Day in the bedroom.

“How you’d shout and go crazy when there was a goal,” said David. He remembered Jacob waving goodbye when he had to go to work and running down to the path to greet him on his return.

“Mammy and Daddy love you very much,” he said. “Be a good boy, my son, up there.”

Fr Griffiths compared Jacob’s life to a shooting star: beautiful, seemingly brief but never to be forgotten. A blazing light in the dark sky. “Now we need to hold on to the light in each other,” he said.

After the service the hundreds of mourners left the large church, among them two men dressed as Jacob’s beloved Spiderman, their heads bowed. They pushed so much money into a charity box for the Great North Air Ambulance and a children’s hospice another had to be found.

One of the large wreaths of flowers on the spelt a single word: Son. Jacob’s mother, Abigail, inconsolable, walked behind it, her partner, David, holding her hand.The sad procession walked out the church, into the rain to get in their cars and follow Jacob on his final journey.

*The Northern Echo attended with the permission of the family.