Wobbling just a little as his mother’s coffin was lifted on to his shoulder, 14-year-old Hugo Poland Bowen began the slow, painful walk into church, demonstrating the same fierce courage Dame Deborah James had shown during years of illness with bowel cancer.
Dressed in black according to her wishes, the family had arrived walking behind the vintage Rolls-Royce hearse carrying her coffin, the peal of church bells the only sound on the suburban streets as people fell silent in respect while they passed. “She was full of character, you couldn’t help but want to follow and support her. She’s made me more aware, she wasn’t much younger than me. I’m now more cautious than I would have been.Judie Wraith, 55, from nearby Putney, said: “It’s such a sad story, but she made it such an inspiring story. The awareness for all cancers she has raised, and the way she lived her life, was so wonderful.”
Jazz singer Nathalie Rushdie, a family friend who is married to novelist Salman Rushdie’s son Zafar, sang Tell Me It’s Not True from Blood Brothers. She co-presented the BBC podcast You, Me, And The Big C and even in the weeks before her death, would not allow herself to let go. She raised £3million within 48 hours of revealing she had ended treatment, and received a damehood, presented by Prince William in her parents’ garden.