Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Pritchard has said a tearful goodbye to his grandmother Angela Gratton at her funeral.
AJ was joined by his brother, Love Island’s Curtis Pritchard, at the funeral on Monday.
Gratton died aged 93 at the end of November while AJ was in Wales for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
He was not told the sad news until after he had been voted out.
The professional dancer paid tribute to his nan on Instagram promising to ‘keep her memories alive in me’.
He shared photos of himself and Curtis dressed in black suits and face masks, shedding a tear and comforting each other at the service.
There was also a video of his grandmother dancing and another of her reading about AJ in the newspaper.
The TV star said: ‘Nanna found great pleasure in making everyone feel happy. Whether that be making sure you had a cuppa tea in one hand or making sure you were sat down & warm in the house.
‘Whilst I never talked about my job with Nanna ; it always brought me great pleasure that Nanna would describe this person on the television that danced. She would go on to say that he looks just like you, sounds like you, he even has the same name as you, & Nanna would read about him in the newspaper all the time. This will always be a treasured memory of mine.
‘You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.
‘You can remember her & only that she’s gone or you can cherish her memory & let it live on.
‘You can cry & close your mind, be empty & turn your back or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love & go on.
‘Dear Nana we really miss you & wish with us, you’d always be, but since God wants you too, I’ll keep your memories alive in me. Love you.’
AJ had told his family that if his nan did die while he was away, he didn’t want to be told until after he had left so he could complete his time on the series and do his family proud.
Credit: Original article published here.The post AJ and Curtis Pritchard pay tribute to late nan at tearful funeral: ‘I’ll keep your memories alive in me’ appeared on My Celebrity Life.