Helen Easby was an award-winning childcare professional who played a key role in the design of a nursery at Newcastle College, before managing the centre for almost a decade.

Family and friends packed St Cuthbert’s Church, in Haydon Bridge, for a funeral on March 2, following her death on February 19, less than two weeks short of her 53rd birthday.

“She would do anything to help other people,” said Helen’s husband of 29 years, Andrew. “And I’d give every penny to have her back.”

Helen grew up at Haydon Bridge, before studying home economics at Newcastle Polytechnic.

She met Andrew in the mid-1980s. The couple were married in 1989 and had children Jessica, James and Joseph.

Helen began her childcare career at the Belmont day nursery in Haydon Bridge, before starting a new adventure at Newcastle College in the mid-1990s.

This led to her receiving a prestigious national award, for early years professional of the year, in 2008.

In 2009, she joined Sure Start, where she helped children and families living in challenging circumstances.

Helen was a long-standing member of St Cuthbert’s Church, at Haydon Bridge, and was integral to the setting up of a playgroup at the church hall.

Helen’s life changed when she was diagnosed with MND in 2014 and she spent time at a specialist rehabilitation base in Peterlee.

She hit regional headlines in November 2015, when her wish to return home to spend Christmas with her family, was granted, amid fears it may have been her last.

Despite her terminal illness, she went on to spend another two-and-a-half years at the family bungalow, built by her father, the late Ralph Curry, in the 1950s.

Last summer, Helen attended a football tournament organised in her honour at Haydon Bridge, which raised £4,500 in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.