HUNDREDS of people gathered to say their last goodbye to beloved Poole head teacher Ally Mullany yesterday.

More than 600 people including family, friends, colleagues and pupils of the St Joseph’s Catholic Combined School head came together to celebrate the life of the inspirational and popular head mistress.

Mrs Mullany, 50, died following a head-on-collision involving a fire engine responding to a 999 call near Morden Park Corner earlier this month.

Yesterday, her family – husband Brendan and their four children – joined the hundreds of mourners for the service at St Joseph and St Walburga Roman Catholic Church in Branksome, in a fitting tribute to a woman who touched so many lives.

Mrs Mullany’s natural woven coffin, covered with yellow and white blooms and green foliage, was carried into the church to the hymn I Watch the Sunrise.

Father Barry Hallett said in his reflection, hers was “a life fully lived”.

"She certainly found a full life in her experience of family and of education. She took our gospel to heart and lived it – red hair and doc Martin boots and all.”

He spoke of her work- her belief in others and how she helped them to believe in "the incredible possibilities they had within themselves".

Father Hallett also spoke about how she was an ‘inclusive person’ who saw no ‘them and us’ and of her laugh – adding: “I can still hear it. The thought of it keeps me going.”

He added: "For the most part we know what she would say. She would say ‘don't just stand there, get on with it!'

“God bless you Ally, and thank you for being you."

Mention was also made of the overwhelming number of letters, emails, flowers and the ‘lovely things said’ by so many her following her death.

A message from the family on the order of service adds: “It is a huge comfort to know that Ally’s life touched so many and that her boundless energy will be fondly remembered.”

Readings and prayers were interspersed with moving songs from the children of the school choir including ‘God I Look to You’ and ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’.

At the close, Louis Armstrong’s ‘We Have All the Time in the World” was played as Ally’s casket was carried out, followed by her family.

She was then laid to rest at Harbour view Woodland Burial Ground at Lytchett Minster.

Speaking outside the church some of the mourners paid personal tributes to Mrs Mullany.

Rachel Cooper was there with her 10-year-old son Tyler, a pupil at St Joseph’s. She said: “She was an absolutely fantastic person – and that was a wonderful send off which just goes to show what a wonderful woman she was. It is such a shame – my heart is really with her family today.”

Joseph Marenda, a volunteer marshal at St Joseph’s who helps shepherd the children safely from the school to church, said: “She was really so warm and friendly – you can’t say any more than has already been said. She was so kind to everyone – whether she knew them or not.”

Patrick Leonard said his grandchildren had attended St Joseph’s. He said: “She was such a wonderful person – which is why so many people came today.”

Ally's final message: "Love never dies at all"

A message in the Order of Service, believed to be from Ally’s husband Brendan, said:
“Like many, I keep thinking that Ally will simply walk in; with her wonderful red hair, wearing her infectious smile and colourful DMs.
“She might have seemed extravagant to some; her passion for horses, her inability to pass a clothes shop, or her absolute delight in a plate of oysters with one, or perhaps two, glasses of wine.
“In truth these were her simple, honest pleasures; she had no affectations; what you saw was what Ally was.
“Ally was extravagant in only one way: She was extravagant in her love for others; the children at school, the people she worked with, and as is clear to us all, the friends and family she held dear.
“Whilst sorting out a few things, as ever left untidily on the bedside table, I came across a book into which Ally had inserted a single green tab. The page read:

“So what is Love? If thou wouldst know
“The heart alone can tell:
“Two minds with but a single thought,
“Two hearts that beat as one.
“And whence comes Love? Like morning bright,
“Love comes without thy call.
“And how dies Love? A spirit bright,
“Love never dies at all.”