As he stood before hundreds of mourners yesterday, Joanna Braithwaite’s father said he felt privileged to have been her dad.

Nearly 600 people filled St Aldate’s Church in Oxford to pay tribute to the life of Miss Braithwaite.

The 34-year-old was killed after her bicycle was involved in a crash with a cement-mixer lorry in Woodstock Road, Oxford, on Friday, October 28.

Paul Braithwaite, 60, who travelled from his home in France after his daughter’s death, said: “Her affection for all was enduring. I am glad we shared the time we did. We feel so privileged.

“The memories may dim as time goes by but they will never be lost.”

Yesterday’s two-hour service paid tribute to her life as an active member of the church and as a member of the wider community.

Pictures from the Polstead Road resident’s life were displayed while the assembled congregation, some of whom had to stand as the church was so full, sang hymns.

A banner, painted by her showing a panorama of Oxford, was displayed at the front of the church, which she was cycling to when the accident happened.

Tributes were paid to her love of cake, Diet Coke and her Christian faith.

Speaking after the memorial, Miss Braithwaite’s mother Charlotte, 60, said: “The service was amazing. It was great to see so many people here.

“I knew that Joanna had a lot of friends but I didn’t realise quite how many.

“She would have loved it. All these people were her friends and they were all important to her. I don’t think she realised how many people she knew.”

Miss Braithwaite, who was single, worked at St Aldate’s Church as personal assistant to the rector, the Rev Charlie Cleverly, who led the service.

He said: “I felt a sense of family here today. We have known times of numbing grief but also times of tenderness and times of laughter.”

In her spare time Miss Braithwaite took up capoeira, a Brazilian dance which combines martial arts, and helped organise the annual Love Oxford Christian festival.

Her former housemate Amy Cooke-Hodgson said: “Joanna was possibly the most honest and loving person I have ever met.”

Ross Elder, her boss at Holiday Lettings in Banbury Road where she worked between 2004 and 2008, said: “It is a real statement to her life. In the years she was here she touched so many people. It has been a big bringing together of her Christian community and her non-Christian community.

“She really did bridge across so many communities in Oxford.

“I never really knew her as a Christian.

“She left Holiday Lettings to follow her true passion and love here at St Aldate’s.”

During the service a collection was taken for one of Miss Braithwaite’s favourite charities, ACT!, the social arm of St Aldate’s Church.

The poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon was also read at the service to mark the fact the service was being held on Armistice Day.