Southport: Funeral held for seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe

In a statement released by Elsie’s family earlier they said they would be celebrating her life “with positivity, hope and love”.

“‘We are the four best friends in the whole wide world’ – and that mantra will remain with us for the rest of our lives, sound in the knowledge that Elsie is here with us and forever will be in our hearts,” they said.

As well as those gathered in the church, others watched the service on screens at the church hall and Liverpool Road Methodist Church.

After the service, a funeral procession passed the site of floral tributes outside the Atkinson arts centre in Southport, with a tribute as part of the cortege from Royal Mail, where Elsie’s father, David, works.