Two bishops, a former bishop and an archdeacon were at the funeral of vicar's wife Janet Clifton.

Mrs Clifton, who died after losing an 18-month battle against cancer, was remembered by more than 500 mourners at St Bartholomew's Church in Corsham.

Her husband, the Rev Canon Roger Clifton, has been vicar at St Bartholomew's since 1995.

The Bishop of Bristol, Mike Hill, the Bishop of Swindon, Lee Rayfield, the former bishop of Ramsbury, John Neale, and the Archdeacon of Malmesbury, the Ven Alan Hawker, were all at the service.

Mrs Clifton was born in Bristol to Margaret and Ian Ferguson, who also had another daughter, Lorna.

She started teaching in 1976 and met her husband through the church in Bristol.

They married in 1976 and went on to have three children Ben, 28, Jonathan, 25, and Edward, 21.

The family moved to Colerne in 1983 where Mr Clifton was vicar at the parish church.

Mrs Clifton taught Spanish at Hayesfield comprehensive school in Bath from 1995 and became head of department.

The couple came to Corsham in 1995 and Mrs Clifton threw herself into the life of the church, becoming secretary of the St Bart's Spire Appeal.

She helped raise money for the church until she fell ill in 2007 and was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

She retired from her job and from her voluntary work and decided to see many places in Britain that she had never visited including the Scilly Isles and the Lake District.

Her health deteriorated in April and she spent most of her time at home until she was admitted to the Royal United Hospital in Bath at the end of May. She died in hospital on May 23.

The funeral on Monday was attended by friends, family, colleagues and her former students.

The Rev Geoffrey Woods, of Colerne church, read from the Bible and former colleague Carmen Barnes paid a tribute to Mrs Clifton.

Donations of more than £4,000 were collected at the service in aid of St Bart's Spire Appeal and Macmillan Cancer Support.