Bernie Nolan is to be laid to rest alongside the ashes of her stillborn daughter in accordance with her final wishes.

The Irish star lost her battle with breast cancer on Thursday (04Jul13) at the age of 52, three years after she was first diagnosed with the disease.

Nolan planned her funeral down to the last detail and the ceremony is to be held at the Grant Theatre in Blackpool, England where the singer and her siblings performed in their early years as the Nolan Sisters.

Her sister Linda tells Britain's Sunday Mirror, "There could be no better place for Bernie's funeral... the theatre was our lives. Bernie was a born performer and she did summer seasons and pantomime at the Grand."

Nolan's other sister Maureen adds, "We even played for The Queen (Elizabeth Ii) there. Bernie would be so pleased to be back there."

The funeral, which will take place on 17 July (13), will be followed by a ceremony at a nearby crematorium where her ashes will be interred next to those of her stillborn daughter Kate, who she lost in 1997.

However, the star's family face yet more heartache as they must first get Kate's ashes removed from the children's area of the crematorium in order for the pair to be finally reunited, in accordance with Nolan's wishes.

Linda explains, "(Kate) is buried in the children’s area so we are trying to sort the paperwork out so they can be together again. It is what Bernie wanted... to ­finally be with her baby."