HUNDREDS of colourfully-dressed friends and loved ones of Swindon journalist Kelly Jobanputra attended a thanksgiving service in Old Town to celebrate the 40-year-old’s life.

Full of tears and laughs, it included moving tributes and fond anecdotes from Kelly’s husband, sister, close friends and radio colleagues.

Her eight-year-old daughter Mya gave a brief introduction saying: “Thank you for coming. We are here to celebrate the life of a pretty, kind and beautiful girl who was my mum.”

Kelly’s husband of nine years Vikesh recalled how they first met, saying: “She gave me a good reason to wake up in the morning, she was my confidant, my muse.

"We drank and danced and sang and laughed. I fell for her the moment I saw her and I felt like the king of the world with her by my side. The love she showed me was enough to last a lifetime. This is not goodbye, I will find you again, sleep tight.”

Her father John Stooke said: “She was legendary for the way she could walk up to strangers and start a conversation like she had known them forever.”

Claire Bentley read a poem about her “bright, clever, kind and driven” sister who was “always a sheer delight’ and “creative, carefree and happy”.

Carla Stooke read Jane Girgis’ amusing recollections of what it was like to live with Kelly at university and how they became best friends. Jane wrote: “I had never met anyone my age with such ambition, she was one of the strongest women I knew, we laughed and cried together. I would like to thank her for being such a good friend and for the amazing fun memories.”

Radio Wiltshire presenter Graham Seaman recalled good times co-presenting an afternoon show with Kelly and played a clip where she called her mum live on-air to tell her that she had finally passed her driving test.

He added: “She was witty, intelligent and articulate, she liked a good laugh but she could connect and empathise with people because she cared.”

Fellow presenter Dan Chisholm said: “She was committed, hardworking, courageous, supportive, loyal and playful, always prepared to have a go and never afraid to laugh at herself.”

Cameras recorded the service so that Kelly’s youngest Kishan can watch it when he’s older and see how much his mother meant to people. Guests wrote messages for Mya and Kishan to read.

Take That songs bookended the service to reflect Kelly’s lifelong love of the band, William Forty and Sheila Harrod performed You Raise Me Up, Paul Thorne played Beatles songs, and Mya’s violin teacher Wendy Clarke played Ave Maria.

Mya planted a cherry tree at the interment in Whitworth Road cemetery before the Christ Church service.

Kelly Michelle Anna Jobanputra, nee Stooke, was born on April 23 1979.

She studied journalism at Bournemouth University, wrote for the student union magazine and hosted a student radio show.

Kelly began her career on hospital radio and regularly volunteered at BBC Wiltshire. In 2000, she became a full-time reporter and spent 11 happy years at the station.

In 2007, Kelly left Wiltshire to produce programmes at BBC Radio 6 Music, then briefly returned to her home county in 2009 before working as a bereavement councillor and fundraiser for the Meningitis Trust in Bristol.

She married Vikesh in 2010, then worked in PR roles at the National Trust, Arval Vehicle Leasing, Swindon College, Oxford University and the British Computer Society.

She regularly wrote reviews for the Advertiser, wrote on Swindon Web as Mum About Town and freelanced for the website 365 Bristol.

A loving mother, daughter and sister, Kelly died on April 26 after being hit by a train.