Dozens of people turned out to say a final goodbye to a young woman who died in a car crash.
Natalie Marshall lost her life after the Mercedes C Class which she was driving left the road and collided with a tree. The collision occurred on the on the A167 near Coatham Mundeville, on the outskirts of Darlington, at around 3.15am on Friday, June 17.
The 25-year-old lived in St Helen Auckland area of County Durham and worked as a phone sales advisor for EE in nearby Bishop Auckland. She had been granted special guardianship of her teenage sisters Corrina-Mae Marshall, 17, and Shannon Marshall, 14, just weeks before she passed away.
The young girls are now being cared for by their older sister Chloe Coleman, 28, from Crook, County Durham, who hopes to gain special guardianship of them. Natalie's best friend Shannon Murray, 25, from Billy Row, near Crook, has also been helping the family.
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On Friday morning, mourners gathered at Coundon Crematorium in Coundon, County Durham, for Natalie's funeral. Those who attended had been requested to wear all black with sunglasses and an umbrella.
At 11.30am on Friday, crowds lined the path to the crematorium as Natalie's coffin arrived in a grey hearse and was carried into the building. Family and friends of Natalie then took a seat inside for the service.
A number of unique floral tributes were created to remember Natalie on the day she was laid to rest. One was made to look like a bottle of apple flavoured Lucozade bottle and another was in the shape of a Heinz Mayonnaise bottle. Others were made to look like the Snapchat icon, the Swarovski logo and a pair of Gucci sunglasses.
There was also a black heart with white, cream and purple flowers and a ribbon with said 'Natalie', a tribute in the shape of wings which said 'my soul sister' and flowers with photographs attached to them.
Chloe previously told Chronicle Live: "The girls are very strong. They have a part of Natalie, as she was the strongest person I knew. I think we all have a bit of Natalie in us, I think if we didn't we wouldn't be able to cope."
Shannon, who had been friends with Natalie for eight years, added: "She was wonderful, she was always full of life and she had a big personality. When she walked into the room you could feel her presence. She could light up a room and she could make conversation with anyone, she was fearless."
Shannon has set up a Go Fund Me page to raise funds for Natalie's family and has already raised more than £5,600.
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