PICTURES: Coronation Street stars gather for the funeral of Liz Dawn

Friends, family and stars of Coronation Street have gathered for the funeral of beloved soap actress Liz Dawn.

Mourners gathered at Salford Cathedral to pay their respects to the 77-year-old TV legend, who played Vera Duckworth on the cobbles for 34 years.

Liz passed away ‘peacefully’ last month with her ‘loving family around her’ after a long battle with emphysema.

The star first appeared on Corrie in 1974 and her partnership with the late Bill Tarmey, who played Jack Duckworth, was a huge hit with fans for years.

Although her character was killed off in 2000, dying peacefully in her sleep, she made a brief reappearance as a vision to Jack as he passed away in a moving scene which saw them share one last dance.

A coach full of the ITV soap’s stars arrived at the church ahead of the service.

Her co-star Antony Cotton tweeted earlier: “Weatherfield has closed for the day, as we say goodbye to our friend Liz Dawn. I’m wearing rainbow striped socks for her. She’ll like that x (sic)”

Other mourners were Samia Longchambon, who plays Maria Connor, and her husband Sylvain, a professional ice skater.

Alan Halsall, whose character Tyrone Dobbs was taken in by Vera and husband Jack on the soap, attended with wife Lucy-Jo Hudson, who played Katy Harris in the soap.

Helen Worth, who plays Gail Rodwell, Jack P Shepherd, who plays David Platt, and Chris Gascoyne, the soap’s Peter Barlow, were also present for the service.Former stars Ken Morley, who played Reg Holdsworth, Bruce Jones, who played Les Battersby, and Alison King, who played Carla Connor, also turned out to pay their respects.

A former Woolworths shop girl from Leeds, who first set foot on Weatherfield’s famous cobbles in 1974, Dawn, who had four children, died peacefully last week at home with her family around her.

Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fiz Stape in the soap, Sally Dyvenor (Sally Metcalfe), Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster) and Andrew Whyment (Kirk Sutherland) were also at the cathedral for the service, which was due to be followed by a private family committal.

Liz had a pacemaker fitted in 2013 after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Spain.

She was taken to hospital on September 7, and the news that she did not recover from her illness left her Coronation Street family ‘heartbroken’.

A statement from the ITV soap to Yahoo Celebrity UK said: “It is with the greatest sadness that we have learned our beloved Liz Dawn has passed away last night. Her family at Coronation Street are heartbroken.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathy at this very sad time to Liz’s devoted husband Don, her loving children Graham, Dawn, Ann and Julie, their families and her six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.”