BY LUCY CAULKETT
Liverpool’s Cilla Black has finally been laid to rest and her funeral was attended by close friends and families. Attendees included Paul O’Grady, Sir Cliff Richard, Christopher Biggins, Singer, Tom Jones, Comedian Jimmy Tarbuck and others. Cilla Black died on the 1st of August in Spain when she fell, Spanish police said at the time. She will be sorely missed. Thousands have flocked to the streets to pay their tributes to Britain’s darling of television, many in tears as they said their last goodbyes.
After well wishers sang ”All things Bright and Beautiful” at St.Mary’s Church, she was eulogized by those who knew her. Paul O’Grady said “unfortunately she left us too early, its dreadful. If you knew Cilla, you liked her, that’s nice to know. She was a delightful girl. She will be remembered as the girl next door, somebody’s friend, aunty, just a nice, nice person.” Cliff Richard said he had been privileged to know her as a friend, and said ”I can’t think of Cilla in the past tense. There are people who will always be there. He described her detah” as a hiccup in their relationship and couldn’t wait to meet her again. Cilla Black was one of the first to publicly come to the defense of Sir Cliff Richard when West Yorkshire police disclosed to the media details of his home being searched following allegations of sexual abuse on a boy at Billy Graham’s Evangelical meeting in 1985, and surely appreciated her defense of him.
Paul O’Grady had the attendants in stitches when he delivered his funny and touching eulogy. He reminisced about taking her to bars in Newyork and breaking his nose in her Jacuzzi in Barbados, finally saying ”its right that she’s finally come home because she was a true daughter of London, then saying London? Of Liverpool, sorry Cilla! Cilla I would just like to say thanks for all the fun, the laughs, a ta-ra girl- I will see you on life’s highway”. Cilla truly was the Queen of Tara and is completely irreplaceable.
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Her son said Robert Willis said she celebrated her life in the living of it, adding that ”her pure enthusiasm, self belief and sense of humour made being with her a privilege”. He said it was never quite the same after her husband died, and added that she would now be with her late husband forever. Cilla was a treasure to British television, and had a very sweet infectious nature that makes her demise all the more painful, and marked with fond memories of her. The thought that she has gone is hard to sink in properly. Celebrities looked smart at the funeral but all we care about is the fact that our darling Cilla Black is no more.
Today, tributes continued to pour from her fans at the Allerton cemetry where she is buried next to her dad, John Patrick White and her mum Priscilla White. At 72 she could have still lived longer, but we will always remember the joy she brought to us in the comfort of our homes. Cilla Black was a national hit as a through her television shows, blind date and surprise surprise, which ran strong for 18 years entertaining millions at home, though she was first thrust into public life as a singer in the 60’s. We at eye of media will miss her deerly. May her soul rest in perfect peace
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