Song writing cancer sufferer dies

Maxine Edgington and Billy Bragg worked together on the song

A 48-year-old cancer sufferer who wrote a top 20 hit as her lasting memorial has died in Dorset.

Maxine Edgington, from Portland, wrote "We Laughed" and dedicated to her 16-year-old daughter Jessica to remember their happy times together.

The record, which she produced with singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, went to number 11 in the charts last November.

Ms Edgington, who had breast cancer, was reported to have died peacefully with her family at her bedside.

Proceeds from the record have been donated to the Trimar Hospice in Weymouth and the cancer charity Rosetta Life.

And you know no one could love you more Whatever the future has in store I want you to remember that we laughed Some things just don't turn out as planned Lyrics from We Laughed

Mr Bragg said: "She was a person who was full of life. There couldn't have been a better title for that song she wrote because that's the sort of person she was.

"She laughed in the face of the cancer she was fighting, she laughed at the hand life had dealt her and she refused to be a victim.

"I'm shocked really because Maxine was so outgoing and bubbly that you would sometimes forget what the song was about.

"It's about her wanting to make sure they remembered the good times they had together."

Ms Edgington took part in the Rosetta Requiem project, which involved teaming established songwriters and filmmakers up with hospice users so that they could create songs and short films.

The song was inspired by a photographs taken of Ms Edgington and Jessica, one of which appears on the record's cover.