GAZETTE & HERALD: CRASH victim Colette Holbrook scribbled I Love Nicky Gough on her bedroom wall when she was 12 years old, mourners at their funeral were told.

The message was only discovered when the wallpaper was stripped off a couple of years ago by which time the couple were engaged and planning their future together.

On Monday, the childhood sweethearts were buried side by side, exactly two weeks after they lost their lives in a horrific car crash.

Mr Gough, 21, from Brook Street, Chippenham, and his fiancee Miss Holbrook, 20, from Doveys Terrace, Kington Langley, were on their way home from a car show in Bournemouth when they died on Easter Monday.

Hundreds of mourners broke down as the opening notes of Heaven, by DJ Sammy, echoed around St Paul's Church in Chippenham.

The two coffins were carried into the church. Mr Gough's parents Kevin and Kim and his brothers David, 24 and Marcus, 22, and Miss Holbrook's mum Anita and brother Chaz, 15, walked behind.

Friends of the popular couple were spilling out of the doors, many wearing bright colours as had been requested.

The 40-minute service was conducted jointly by Rev Simon Tindell and Rev Audrey Palmer, who paid tribute to the devoted pair.

Rev Tindell said: "To Nicky, Colette was his life. They were always together, never separated."

He said the tragedy had affected everyone deeply, and many people had written poems to help them come to terms with their grief.

He read one, called I Remember When, by a childhood friend of Miss Holbrook, and another by John Brunell, a workmate of Mr Gough.

Rev Palmer, who knew Miss Holbrook for many years, said she had a "zest for life".

She said: "Colette had an enthusiasm for fitting as much as possible into each day. She was always the one who would say 'go for it'.

"Her three overriding passions were her friends, her job and her car. She was very much a people person. She chatted with her neighbours and had reached the age where she could be friends with her mum and best friends with Chaz.

"If Colette was your friend she really was a good, loyal, generous friend and was prepared to help wherever she could."

Rev Palmer said she was extremely good at her job as a beauty therapist and was skilled as a masseur and in skin care.

"Her own skin and smile would have aided the therapy I'm sure," she said. "She was loud, colourful and loved life. Colette always declared she didn't want to be old and wrinkly but her life was tragically short."

Rev Tindell said Mr Gough was from a close extended family and had lived in Brook Street all his life.

He played football for Chippenham until he was 13 and then became a mascot for Swindon Town.

He said Mr Gough's main passion was cars, and he often bought run-down vehicles to do up and sell on.

"When he got a part-time job at Buds he spent all his money on designer clothes," said Rev Tindell.

"He was known for his baggy jeans and white shirts."

When Mr Gough left school at 16 he worked for a short time at Hygrade.

Rev Tindell said it was this period of his life that made him sure he wanted to work outdoors, and he got a job as a landscape gardener.

Grief-stricken relatives followed the coffins out of the church to the Puff Daddy and Faith Evans version of I'll Be Missing You.

They were taken to London Road Cemetery where they were buried in neighbouring graves.

Police opened a field next to the cemetery to allow the 150 mourners to park.