Anne Nolan shared the unusual funeral request her sister Linda Nolan made to her family before her death. The 65-year-old died last month following a long journey with secondary breast cancer. Over the weekend, the late star was laid to rest as a memorial was held for Linda at St Paul's Church in Blackpool, where she married her husband, Brian Hudson. Speaking about the funeral, Anne told Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid and Ed Balls that Linda would've loved her funeral before detailing one odd request.

She said: "It was very emotional, very sad, but on the other hand it was kind of joyous as well. I mean, she picked her own coffin, the pink glittery coffin was her idea. That’s the only thing... Oh the other thing she wanted, she wanted us to wear mantillas. “You know, the scarf things that you wear? The lace things? So my daughter and Coleen actually ordered them online. When they came, we chatted about it, and we said, ‘I think she might’ve been having a laugh there!'.

"I don’t really think she wanted us to wear mantilla, so we didn’t wear them. But, that was the kind of humour she had.”. As Susanna asked if they tried them on, Anne replied: “I’m not sure what she was thinking about! She was probably just having us on, you know. But she did say she wanted us all in black and people to think about her and cry.”. The funeral saw hundreds of people gathering in the streets to pay their respects to Linda, a decision Anne spoke about while speaking to the two ITV presenters.

Susanna highlighted: "In the days running up to the funeral, we were reporting on Good Morning Britain, that you as a family had said, if anybody wants to come, anybody, then come.". Agreeing, Anne said: "That's what Linda wanted. We were doing it for her really. It was really strange because on the way to the church in the funeral cars, as we arrived there was loads, hundreds of people outside the church.

"My sister Maureen started crying. I mean, we were all very emotional, but she started crying because of all the people that were there. She said, 'I'm so glad because Linda would've been so disappointed if all these people hadn't turned up.'". Anne shared that one woman, who lived close by to the church, came out with a tray of tea and coffee to give to those who had attended. Speaking about her sister, Anne added: "She's going to be missed, such a lot. She was a forceful character. She was a big, big character in our family and in lots of people's lives. I realised that now, she was amazing.".