TRAGIC Sarah Skillen's dying wish had been to have her ashes rocketed skywards in a giant firework above the skies. And on what would have been her 35th birthday, her friends and family made it happen in a way which none who saw it will forget.

Months before she died of cancer in March this year, Sarah confided in her best friend, Kate McEvoy: "When I go I want to go up in a rocket and come back to earth in hundreds of purple stars."

On a still cloudless evening beside the river in Rochester on Saturday that is exactly what happened as more than 100 friends and loved ones wiped away tears and offered up a loud three cheers to her memory.

But Sarah's departure was only the finale to a spectacular firework display which offered her the equivalent of a 21-gun salute with the bangs echoing off the walls of the ancient castle and seconds later from the hill surrounding her former home over the river in Strood.

As the last rocket showered its purple stars over the Esplanade, the specially-hired pyrotechnicians added a touching final farewell - a firework spelling out her name. At the same time, the gathering released scores of balloons, some clutching flowers - all purple, Sarah's favourite colour.

Before the spectacular began guests gathered on the patio behind her local, Ye Arrow in Rochester High Street, where a band went through a fitting repertoire of numbers including, Fly Me To The Moon, Simply the Best and Reach for the Stars.

Bill King, licensee of the pub where Sarah was a regular, helped organise the display. He said: "It was absolutely fantastic. We could not have wished for more and her family were absolutely over the moon. It is exactly what Sarah would have wanted."

Kate, her friend of 20 years and who worked with her at Gem Cleaning Services in Chatham where Sarah was a partner, also helped to organise the ceremony. Wearing purple out of respect, she said: "Sarah wanted to go out with a bang and she would have really loved every bit of this."

Another friend Amanda Hogwood, who like Kate was a pupil at Chapter School in Strood with Sarah, added: "I know she is looking down us and saying a big thank you."