MOURNERS packed into Whalley Parish Church to pay tribute to tragic teacher Heather Schofield.

Miss Schofield, 25, died while scuba diving off the coast of Southern Ireland on Easter Monday.

Heather, of Whalley Road, Hurst Green, was a geography teacher at Moorland High School in Clitheroe.

She was a keen scuba diver and president of Ribble Valley Rotaract Club.

Yesterday, hundreds of friends, family, colleagues and school pupils attended the funeral service, and spoke of her short life.

The Reverend Chris Sterry told the congregation: "We thank God Heather died doing something she was so enthusiastic about."

Heather, who previously taught at Gawthorpe High School in Padiham, was a qualified diver, and was with an organised party swimming off Bulls Island near the Dingle peninsula.

She failed to re-surface and her body was later found on the sea bed. Her mother, Myra, of Painter Wood, Billington, was also holidaying in the area at the time.

During the funeral, poems were read out by staff and pupils from Moorland School, and one former school friend of Heather spoke of her enthusiasm and strength.

She told the congregation: "Her waves, smiles and hugs will be greatly missed by everyone.

"Heather would not want us to mourn but to celebrate her life. She is still very much around us. We can all think of a time when Heather made us smile."

During the service, mourners sang the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful was sung, and the funeral cortege left to the strains of the theme tune to Harry Potter.

An inquest has been opened into Heather's death and a full hearing will be on May 25.