More than 500 mourners attended Yarmouth's St Spyridon's Church for the funeral of Eleni Kikis, one of the founders of the town's Greek Cypriot community.

More than 500 mourners attended Yarmouth's St Spyridon's Church for the funeral of Eleni Kikis, one of the founders of the town's Greek Cypriot community.

Friends and relatives came from all parts of the country and a collection in her memory raised £2,200 to be split between the church and cancer research at Gorleston's James Paget Hospital.

Mrs Kikis, of Middlemarket Road, Yarmouth, who died shortly before her 90th birthday, arrived in England in 1947 with her husband Kyriakos.

He and his friend and business partner Loucas Chrisafis went on to establish 15 restaurants in Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Norwich and Newmarket, bringing family members from their home village of Eftakomi over to staff them.

Many of those staff members later opened their own restaurants in Yarmouth, and the town's Greek Cypriot community became one of the largest in the country.

Britain's Greek Orthodox Archbishop Gregorios paid tribute to Mrs Kikis in a letter, describing her as a “very loveable person, an affectionate mother and faithful wife blessed with a large family of 10 children”.

He recognised the key role of her and her husband, who died 22 years ago, in founding Yarmouth's St Spyridon's Church.

Mrs Kikis's son Chris and daughter-in-law Miriam run the Seafood Restaurant, on the town's North Quay.

Mrs Kikis recalled: “She used to work in the kitchen of my father-in-law's restaurant every summer and was famous for her sherry trifle.”