FAMILY and friends of a teenager from Marlow who died on his first holiday without his parents, joined together to give him the perfect send off.

James Fifield died on Saturday, July 5, after being involved in a car collision while he was in Zante, Greece, with seven school friends.

Almost 600 people attended the 18-year-olds funeral last Friday (July 18) and after the church ceremony 250 balloons with special messages attached were released into the sky.

James’ mum, Claire Fifield-Moore, has now thanked everyone for their support over the last couple of weeks.

She said: “I would just like to thank everyone for all the support they have shown us. I think it has really helped everyone through this really difficult time.

“Everyone kept saying to us we should expect lots of people to come to the funeral, but we never expected there to be that many, people had to stand at the back and some people even had to stand outside the door.

“So many people have said such nice things about James, we have received so many messages too.”

The Fifield family have also been able to keep a number of tributes to James made both at his school, former football clubs and at the funeral.

They were also sent a picture of a tribute to James, which they have put on his RIP James Fifield Facebook page.

The messages which were attached to the red balloons (in remembrance of James’ love for Liverpool Football Club) were also duplicated for the family to keep.

The pall bearers at the funeral included James’ stepdad, Brian Moore, and his seven friends who were in Zante with him.