More than 500 mourners attended the funeral of Caroline Delfosse, wife of Didcot GP Dr John Delfosse.

Mrs Delfosse, who was 44, died at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, on November 23 from a malignant brain tumour which Dr Delfosse said was only diagnosed a week before, when his wife complained of being unwell.

She was an active member of the Church of English Martyrs, where the priest, Fr Simon Thomson, a family friend, referred in his address to her "boundless, unselfish energy, endless devotion to her family, commitment to life and love of her religion."

Mother-of-three Mrs Delfosse was a governor of the former Harwell Nursery School and involved with the PTA at Harwell Primary School.

The funeral at the Roman Catholic Church of English Martyrs, Didcot, on November 29, was followed by cremation at Oxford.

Harwell Primary School headteacher Peter Cansell said Mrs Delfosse supported the many artistic pursuits and sporting activities of pupils -- always ready to ferry team members around in her people carrier.

She was enthusiastic about music and encouraged pupils to sing and play a musical instrument.

Mr Cansell said a musical trophy Mrs Delfosse donated will be renamed in her memory.

Mrs Delfosse and her husband were active with the now defunct Didcot Round Table, of which Dr Delfosse was chairman, and his wife chairman of the Ladies' Circle.

She was born in Peterborough of Irish parents, before moving to Ireland and settling in Co Dublin in 1971.

After attending the Holy Faith Convent School, Skerries, Co Dublin, she embarked on a nursing career at the Middlesex Hospital, London, where she graduated in 1980.

It was at the Middlesex Hospital that she met her husband when he was a medical student.

They were married in 1982 and moved to Gloucestershire where she became a practice nurse in Cheltenham.

The family moved to Australia before returning to England and settling in Harwell in 1988 when Dr Delfosse joined the former Mereland Road GP practice, in Didcot, which subsequently transferred to the new Woodlands Health Centre two-and-a-half years ago.

Mrs Delfosse previously worked part-time at the Crown Nursing Home, Harwell, and had returned to full-time work as school nurse at Cothill School, Abingdon.