A MINSTER flower arranger who once contributed to a display for the Queen has died.

Mother-of-four Denise Bull passed away earlier this month in Woodlands Nursing Home after battling bowel cancer for almost 20 years.

The 87-year-old great-great-grandmother was well known for her colourful and eye-catching arrangements inside the Minster for more than 30 years, and was a proud Freeman of the city.

After being asked to perform the role for the Royal Air Force Association (RAFA) at Linton-on-Ouse, Mrs Bull took great pride in her work, and carried on despite being diagnosed with the disease in 1994.

Her second husband, David Bull, 77, now lives in Filey, the town the couple retired to from York in the 1990s.

He said: "I will remember her as a flower arranger and a very proud woman who was proud of her flowers."

Tragedy was a part of Mrs Bull's life from an early age when she lost her mother aged nine.

Both parents were dancing instructors, but her mother's death forced Mrs Bull to move between relatives and was looked after by her aunt during the Second World War.

Her father eventually re-married and she moved again, this time to Copmanthorpe where she met her first husband, John Sloan.

Mr Bull, the town crier of Filey, added: "She was a strong willed woman and determined, and she said she had to be because she had lost her mother when she was nine.

"She used to come into York and go back out again when she lived in Copmanthorpe, then eventually married John Sloan who she had a daughter and a son to.

"We married in the early 1960s and had two boys and a daughter, Linda, who emigrated to Canada.

"As a member of the RAFA she was asked if she wanted to do flower arranging in the Minster and she went along.

"She did them for the association and became part of a team of arrangers who did them for the Queen's Maundy visits.

"When she was diagnosed with cancer she was expected to die, but she survived for almost 20 years."

A funeral service will take place on Monday from 1pm at York Crematorium.