Moving final farewell for 'Party Queen' mum who died in Grangetown house fire tragedy with niece, 7

Moving final farewell for 'Party Queen' mum who died in Grangetown house fire tragedy with niece, 7 Mourners dressed in pink and orange to remember Natalie McDonald, the loving mum described as a "friend to everyone", who died when a fire engulfed her home in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough Hundreds paid tribute today at the funeral of a 'Party Queen' mum, who died alongside her seven-year-old niece in a house fire tragedy on Teesside. Mourners dressed in pink and orange to remember Natalie McDonald, 34, the loving mum described as a "friend to everyone" by her devastated family. Natalie had been married for just nine months when the blaze engulfed Birchington Avenue, in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough on August 26. She lost her life alongside her niece Valentina Foster, who was staying for a sleepover. Members of the community and neighbours rushed to the scene in a bid to save Natalie and Valentina. But they were unable to reach her in time. Hundreds of mourners followed Natalie's horse-drawn coffin as it travelled eight miles from near the scene of the tragedy to the crematorium in Acklam, Middlesbrough. After the service, the family came together at Eston Events Centre - where Natalie held her wedding reception just nine months ago. Her proud mum Lisa Kirton said: "She had 16 bridesmaids and six page boys, the wedding pictures are absolutely unreal. The whole wedding was blue. It was like one big sea of blue." Natalie, 34, 'loved bling' and organising parties, earning her the nickname "Party Queen". Lisa added: "She was party central. She was loud and bubbly and known as the Party Queen. Our street has always done street parties for all of our kids right from when my kids were little and she'd organise Bonfire night too. "At Christmas she'd decorate her garden like a grotto. She'd have a post box where all the kids in the community could post letters to Santa and she'd pick one out and donate £100 of toys to the child whose letter came out. "She would do absolutely anything for anybody and everybody loved her. She was so well-known and the response we've had from the public has been overwhelming. The community has done so much because she was one of them. She was everybody's friend." Thanks to fundraising, the funeral reflected Natalie's love for all things "over the top". A GoFundMe page organised by family friend Teresa Boland gave more than £1,400. Trees in Natalie's street were decorated with pink ribbons in her memory. Lisa added: "She was into everything sparkly and bling. Her house was covered in everything silver, sparkly, and blingy so that's what we made her coffin. Her family said that Natalie will be "hugely missed' by her mum, daughter Lily, dad Keith, and siblings Anthony Timms, Lucy Kirton and Josh Kirton and husband Anthony McDonald. Natalie lived stayed close to her mum and siblings after moving from the family home. A man has appeared in court charged with two counts of murder in connection with the tragedy.