Helston town twinners are this week mourning the death of a woman whose love for the area was legendary and who was a leading light in the association for more than 40 years.

Maura Vigorelli died last Thursday aged 65 in her home region of Sasso Marconi, where her funeral was held on Saturday.

She was responsible for bringing many groups of Italians, both adults and children, over to Helston to sample the Cornish way of life.

She would always come for Flora Day and made sure to buy a bunch of lily of the valley from local tradesmen which she wore with pride.

Although never quite developed a taste for pasties but loved crumpets, something she discovered in Cornwall. She had a passion for Tintagel, St Michael's Mount and St Ives.

Maura worked tirelessly to promote the town twinning, encouraging citizens from Sasso Marconi to visit Helston and welcomed large numbers of Helstonians to Italy with open arms.

She had many long-standing friends in the town who she would contact by phone and whenever she visited.

Her pride and joy were some genuine Helston bluebells in her garden, which someone had dug up for her to take back home to Italy, and which would bloom every year.

Phil Hanman, chairman of the Sasso Branch of Helston & District Town Twinning Association, said: "Nobody will ever forget her warm smile. She loved everybody and I never heard her say a bad word about anyone. She really was the queen of the twinning. "Last year she was diagnosed with lung cancer but refused to let it stop her from organising the 50th anniversary of the twinning, which took place in October. Our association will be a sad place without her and I don't think we shall ever see her like again."

He described her as a doting wife, mother and grandmother, but whose family extended to everyone who came into contact with her through the twinning.