A FRIEND who always made others smile, someone you wanted to get to know, and the best company anyone could keep.
Those were among the tributes paid to Croydon teenager Daniel Spargo-Mabbs, who died three weeks ago after experimenting with ecstasy, at his memorial service today.
An estimated nearly 300 mourners packed out Emmanuel Church in Normanton Road, South Croydon, where the 16-year old's family are members, including school friends and congregants.
Daniel's girlfriend, Jenna Coombs, recalled "the one person in the world who I felt I could confide all of my secrets and feelings in."
She added: "He was the best company anyone could keep in any situation and I cannot convey how much Daniel meant to me."
His friend, Jack Scott, said: "I feel like he [Dan] would have asked me by now to stop moping around and cheer up a little bit, but regretfully I am just not able to do that yet.
"I had a dream last night that I walked into my garden and there he was, picking flowers and singing 'Delilah' by Tom Jones.
"I know for sure that whatever you are doing now is making somebody laugh."
Led by the church's associate vicar Bridget Shepherd, the service included tributes from Daniel's head teacher, Richard Parrish, as well as a prayer written and read by his father.
It was on January 18 that Daniel collapsed at a rave in east London after taking the banned Class A drug ecstasy, dying in hospital two days later.
Today his parents, Fiona and Tim Spargo-Mabbs, of Addiscombe, have launched a foundation in their son's name to warn others about the dangers of drug use.
Speaking at the service, Daniel's uncle, Russ Spargo, recalled being impressed by his nephew during a recent conversation about his future.
He said: "I was struck again by the strength of your character, the warmth of your presence, but most of all upon reflection by the strength of my own desire to get to know you better."
Earlier this morning, Daniel's funeral cortege passed by his school in Selborne Road, also attended by his older brother Jacob, so students and teachers could pay their respects before a private family funeral.
More than 300 teachers and students stood outside the gates in the rain to remember a student voted prom king last year and described by his headteacher as "bright, articulate and talented".
Speaking at the memorial service today, Mr Parrish echoed others in recalling Daniel's "sense of justice and fairness."
He recalled, light-heartedly: "And it was this sense that made him challenge the whole system, on his own mini-crusade to keep a particular style of haircut - researching his case in the Charter of Human Rights."
Daniel had contributed so much to lessons, Mr Parrish continued, that students said "there was something missing from the lesson when he was not there."
He added: "Outgoing when he wanted to be, thoughtful when he needed to be, a boy who wanted to understand the world as well as live it."
