TRIBUTES have been paid to a ‘courageous’ pillar of the community who lost her battle with cancer. 

Diane Woodruff was well-known among the residents of Horwich for organising the annual carnival. 

She spent seven years at the helm of the historic event along with her vice chair, Andrea Allott. 

Despite her health struggles, mum-of-three Ms Woodruff helped to host the successful carnival in June this year - the biggest in its more than 30 years of history. 

She died aged 51 in the early hours of Monday morning after a “courageous battle” with breast cancer. 

Her daughter Kareena Fox, 25, paid tribute to her caring mum. 

She said: “She was amazing. Everybody came to her for advice, she was a shoulder to cry on.

“She never judged people, she had a lot of friends here in Horwich. 

“She loved doing the carnival, it was her baby.”

Ms Woodruff was also a doting grandmother to three youngsters.

Ms Fox said: “She was funny and always so full of energy and the kids loved that. 

“My mum got my children involved in the carnival and they’ll continue to be involved.”

After the news of her death broke, tributes flooded in on social media, with one person writing on Facebook: “Horwich has lost some of its sparkle.”

Ms Fox says that she will now be joining Ms Allott to organise the carnival in the future, keeping it going for her mum.

Ms Allott said: “Diane was passionate about the carnival and wanted to make it bigger and better each year. 

“This year’s parade was the best yet since we took over and next year we want it even bigger in memory of Diane and the hard work she put into it.

“She was a great friend and she will be sadly missed.” 

In her time, Ms Woodruff raised hundreds of pounds for the Royal Bolton Hospital’s breast unit and a fundraiser has now been set up in Ms Woodruff’s name. 

The fundraiser has already seen people donate £1,150. The GoFundMe page can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/diane-fox-woodruff.

Ms Fox added: “My mum fought to the very end and she was surrounded by people for the last six weeks. 

“We just want to say thank you to everyone that has supported us these past few weeks.”

Ms Woodruff spent the last few weeks surrounded by family in Bolton Hospice.