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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Sophie Corcoran & Tom Kershaw & Lucy Thornton & Simon Smith

£4m Lottery winner buried with cans of Red Bull, Farm Food vouchers and McDonald's loyalty stickers

£4m Lottery winner Melissa Ede was buried with a collection of Farm Food vouchers, McDonald's loyalty stickers and cans of Red Bull.

Her heartbroken fiancee said the Lotto winner was the “star of her own reality show” as she spoke at her funeral in Hull.

The scratchcard winner wanted to be buried with newspapers detailing her whirlwind lifestyle, as well as a collection of other unusual items, the Hull Daily Mail reports .

Her casket contained copies of the Mail - her local newspaper - a phone, phone charger, Pokemon: Go collection, tab ends, a lighter, a torch, Farm Food vouchers, McDonald’s loyalty stickers, candles that read "c**t", a crucifix, coins, cans of Red Bull, Quality Streets and a pink Adidas jacket.

The funeral of Melissa Ede (Katie Pugh)

Rachel Nason, 39, laid her partner to rest in a style befitting her high-spirited personality.

Mel’s coffin arrived at the service in a rainbow-coloured carriage pulled by white horses. Giant replicas of her winning scratch card and £4million cheque stood in the crematorium.

Mourners dressed in vibrant clothes as she was given “one hell of a send-off”.

Celebrant Alastair Devine, sporting a multicoloured suit, told the congregation in Hull that Mel was a “terrible millionairess” who still loved a bargain despite her wealth.

Speaking of her bizarre YouTube videos, where Mel sang songs and hung objects from her chest, including mayonnaise, he said: “Yes, you may know her for getting her boobs out...”

Rachel wore a black sweatshirt at the service, with Mel Got Mayo printed on the back and a picture of two bottles hanging on the front, a nod to Mel’s zany videos. She sobbed as she said: “Mel was the star of her own reality show.”

The funeral of Melissa Ede (Katie Pugh)
The funeral of Melissa Ede (Katie Pugh)

Earlier, she said of Mel, who made numerous TV appearances: “I think she wanted everyone to know who she was and to make an impact on the world somehow but didn’t know quite how.”

Mel, from Hull, died earlier this month age 58 of heart disease, days after being given the all-clear from a heart scare.

Many mourners wore rainbow outfits (Katie Pugh)

The celebrant said at the service: “She was like no other person you could ever meet. You could travel the whole world and you wouldn’t find another Mel.” He told how Mel worked as an engineer and welder before driving a taxi for 15 years.

Previously known as Les, she had gender reassignment surgery in 2011.

Alastair said: “All Mel wanted was to be accepted for the woman she always knew that she was throughout her life.

“The lottery win didn’t change Mel as a person – it just meant her quality of life improved. Mel was a terrible millionairess. Mel still loved a bargain.

The funeral of Melissa Ede (Katie Pugh)
The funeral of Melissa Ede (Katie Pugh)

“The world is certainly going to be a duller place without Mel around.”

Some of Mel’s four children attended her funeral, despite a rift within the family. Songs played included My Way by Frank Sinatra, and a mix of her YouTube and  Facebook  performances.

The funeral of Melissa Ede (Katie Pugh)

Mum-of-five Rachel spoke to the Mirror on the eve of the funeral, and revealed Mel’s final words. Before she died, Mel told Rachel: “I need to go to my special place, because I feel like the life has been sucked out of me,” referring to her favourite tree near her home.

Mel's best friend Rachael Dudding with the coffin (Katie Pugh)

Rachel said of finding Mel slumped in the seat of her car: “I honestly thought she was mucking about. I was expecting her to open her eyes and say ‘boo’.”

She added: “Mel finally had the chance to do anything she wanted and it got ripped away from her. We were going to have a wild circus wedding.

“The world is certainly going to be a duller place without Mel around" (Katie Pugh)

"We were going to wear inflatable suits and have clowns, trapeze artists. She wanted to take us all on holiday as none of us had ever gone abroad.”

Mel's fiancee Rachel Nason, right, at the funeral (Katie Pugh)

The couple met three years ago at a ghost hunt, and got engaged days before Mel’s Lotto win in 2017.

Rachel laughed: “I’d never met a weirdo like me. We would drive out in the middle of nowhere to see if we could spot UFOs or look at an old church.”

Speaking after the funeral, Rachel said: "What took place at the crematorium with the horses and carriage and Alastair was perfect, everything was and she’d have loved it.

Alastair Devine, the Civil Funeral Celebrant (Katie Pugh)

"She’d say there wasn’t enough bad language in but Alastair dropped a few C bombs.

"I’ve never known one like it, usually they are morbid but I was cheerful and people were laughing. The first hit of the Mel-mix everyone expected her to pop up and it was a bit like, 'is this real?'."

The funeral for the multimillionaire took place at Hull's Chanterlands Crematorium and was followed by a wake in the  city centre  on Thursday.

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