Relatives of a Brightlingsea couple who died in a coach crash in South Africa said today (Tuesday) they would not be attending an Essex memorial service for victims and survivors.

John and Marian Clifford, of Red Barn Road, were among 26 Britons who died when their coach left the road at Lyndenburg, near Pretoria, on September 27 last year.

Relatives of two other victims, from Purfleet in south Essex, are organising a ceremony at Brentwood Cathedral on Saturday.

But Marian's sister Elaine Green, of Springfields, Brightlingsea, said the couple's funeral in their home town last October was a fitting memorial.

"We are not attending on Saturday. Not because there is anything wrong about it but we just don't see any need to," she said.

"The funeral was representative of everybody that my sister and brother-in-law had as friends and we took that as a conclusion. There is no point in reviving it again."

Family friend Ted Gilders today said of the tragic holiday accident: "It hit everybody in the town very hard. I've known Mr Clifford all my life and a lot of local people have known the family forever. People still talk about it a year on."

The service is to take place at 3pm in Brentwood Cathedral, Brentwood, on Saturday.

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