THEY arrived in their hundreds for an emotional farewell to a teenager “adored by all”.

It was standing room only at St Mary’s Church, Bishopstoke, yesterday as grieving family and friends gathered to remember Calum Townsend, who died at the age of 19 after a battle with cancer.

At his own request, Calum’s coffin arrived in a motorbike and sidecar hearse as more than 350 people watched.

As previously reported, the much-loved former Eastleigh College student died earlier this month from osteosarcoma.

He had undergone an operation to remove a tumour from the bone in his arm and had intensive chemotherapy, but the c a n c e r spread to his lungs.

M o u r n e r s were asked to pause to reflect on a moment they had shared with the teenager as they listened to Always and Forever by Luthor Vandross.

In the emotional few minutes that followed, a young lad was so overcome that he had to be helped from the church. A second person collapsed shortly afterwards in the standing area at the back.

Friends and relatives heard how Calum, of Fair Oak, was a “headstrong”

character “adored by all”.

In his earlier years he had joined the Army cadets, won a Duke of Edinburgh Award and climbed Mount Snowdon for charity.

He passed ten GCSEs, enjoyed socialising, riding his moped and later developed an interest in reptiles and amphibians.

The Vera Lynn classic We’ll Meet Again was played out as his family led a procession from the church to spontaneous applause.

His mum Dawn told the Daily Echo how she could not put into words how much his family and friends would miss him.