MOURNERS clad in Gillingham FC shirts will pack a church tomorrow to celebrate the life of a dedicated football fan.

Dawn Steele was found dead at her home in Darnley Road, Strood at the age of 36. The mother of one had suffered a deep vein thrombosis.

In death, she will be close to the team she supported with passion. Her family has chosen to have her ashes buried at Priestfield Stadium.

Dawn, a former long-serving Kent Messenger Group typesetter, died less than three weeks before the World Cup, an event she had been looking forward to for the past year. he was born in 1966, the year England won the trophy.

Dawn's love of football started when her father first took her to a rain-soaked game at Priestfield when she was 10. As well as football, she also enjoyed gardening and looking after her cats.

Dawn, who was divorced, leaves a 13-year-old son, Aaron, who spent his last holiday with his mother in Gran Canaria last year. A neighbour found her body, slumped in a kitchen chair, after her family were unable to contact her on the telephone.

Three months previously, she had fractured her leg while getting out of a taxi. It was just starting to heal.

Her devastated parents, who are from Snodland, described their daughter as a sociable girl who was the life and soul of the party. Her mother, Heather Bradley, said: "She was happy in her job and had finally achieved what she wanted. It's a shame she did not get the chance to reap the benefits."

Dawn had worked for the past two years at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London. Previously, she was a typesetter at the Kent Messenger Group's Larkfield office for 16 years.