THE funeral for the founder of Artspace in Cinderford - who has inspired budding artists for the last 25 years - was held on Monday.

Friends and family of Sara Weaving gathered at the Yew Tree Brake Cemetery to celebrate her life. Only two months ago, the 66-year-old, mum-of-four from Ross, celebrated receiving the Joseph Meager award alongside her friends and family in recognition of her work and inspiration to community arts in the Forest.

One of her last projects she was behind is on display at the Artspace centre on Woodside Street. The Community Textiles in Gloucestershire exhibition showcases the work of a wide range of people who Sara has met and taught over the years. It features work from residents in Littledean, children at Lybrook School, and elderly people and a group of people with learning difficulties in Tewkesbury.

Textile teacher and close friend Lizzie Godden worked with Sara for 13 years, and said: "Sara worked with all sorts of people over the years and was a strong believer in bringing the community together through art. She was very positive and cheerful and very much a 'can do' person.

"She had been suffering from ill-health for a long time and knew she was dying but continued to work at the centre for as long as she could. She was instrumental in the way Artspace was run and leaves behind a great legacy."

Mrs Weaving started working at the community hub in the 1980s and provided a place where anyone could access arts resources in a supportive atmosphere. She encouraged a wide variety of people to use Artspace and was especially innovative in the way she enabled people with learning disabilities to participate as equals in the Artspace community and celebrated their creativity with exhibitions that reached out to the wider art world.