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Daily Record
Entertainment
Kirsten McStay

Dawn French reprises Vicar of Dibley role for friend's 'living FUNeral'

Dawn French put on her Vicar of Dibley costume once more for her beloved friend's 'living FUNeral'.

The actress and comedian wore her iconic full cassock and clerical collar as she returned to her role as Geraldine Granger to lead the ceremony.

The 65-year-old delivered an eulogy to her friend Kris Hallenga, 37, who is living with stage four breast cancer.

The unusual living funeral was organised for the CoppaFeel! founder so that she could be "drunk on love and gratitude" for the people who surround her and celebrate her life with her loved ones, writes The Mirror.

Dawn went on to share some lovely snaps from the day as she took to the lectern in church.

She penned: "It was my privilege & joy to Dibley it up at her FUNeral on Sat. She wanted to host the best possible party. She did. It was phenomenal."

"So much love filling @trurocathedral. It was her own festival celebrating an extraordinary life. What a total babe."

Kris praised her speech, saying she "blew my heart into smithereens" along with the "loving/ funny/ embarrassing speeches".

Dawn gave a touching eulogy to her friend Kris (DawnFrench/Instagram)

The campaigner was first diagnosed with incurable secondary breast cancer back in 2009, aged 23, and was told she only had roughly two years to live.

And almost 15 years later, she's still here and Kris and her twin sister Maren have made groundbreaking changes through their charity.

CoppaFeel! has created breast checking tools, projected onto the Houses of Parliament, and showed the first nipple on a billboard.

Explaining her living funeral decision, Kris said: "I want to be present at the event where my people have a thing or two to say about me, where I have the opportunity to show how much they mean to me."

She even got to 'Dibley it up' as she turned into her character Geraldine Granger (DawnFrench/Instagram)

After the event, she added: "I am still processing all the feelings, the wonder, the ridiculousness, the MAGNITUDE of Saturday (and my adrenaline hasn’t calmed the f down yet) but suffice to say it was THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

"If you’re a little behind, in January I decided I wanted to organise my own living funeral, my FUNeral, and in doing so celebrate a life that I have truly loved, surrounded by people I loved.

"It was during a psylocibin (magic [mushroom emoji]) journey later in January that my very wild and wonderful ideas were concocted and in March I started to organise the event of my life."

Kris continued: "I’ve never felt love like it. I’ve never felt joy like it. I’ve never felt such kinship with mortality. I’ve never felt so alive."

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.

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