Tributes paid to Birmingham's 'My Fair Lady' flower girl
She was the flower girl who was Birmingham’s very own My Fair Lady.
Kate Kelly was a familiar face at the Bull Ring market having worked there for 47 years, alongside her two late sisters.
The well-known siblings came from a dynasty of traders who first pitched up to sell flowers at the famous marketplace more than 150 years ago.
But stallholders and customers are now in mourning after Kate died of pneumonia at Heartlands Care Home in Yardley, aged 89.
Her funeral will take place at 9.45am on July 7 at The Friary in Olton, with the cortege set to sweep past the Bull Ring market in a poignant farewell.
Kate had lived in Highgate all her life and she and her late sisters, Mary and Nellie, sold flowers all their lives, like Cockney flowergirl Eliza Doolittle in the classic musical, My Fair Lady.
Her great nephew Cary Sutton commissioned a painting of Kate which was placed at her pitch last Saturday, so people could pay their respects.
People took to Facebook to pay their own tributes to Kate, who never married and didn’t have any children.
Georgina Curran posted: “RIP, the face of Brum.”
Annette Roberts commented: “RIP Katie. May u rest in the best cloud, filled with beautiful flowers.”
Dave Morris posted: “Sad news indeed but heaven now has the best flower seller it could ever want.”