Queen's funeral: People in Bedford watch funeral screening

About 100 people gathered at Bedford's Corn Exchange to watch the screening of the Queen's funeral service

The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II has taken place, with public screenings in churches, cinemas, parks and other venues. One of these communal gatherings was at Bedford's Corn Exchange.

About 100 people watched the funeral at the venue on St Paul's Square, where everybody stood up for the national anthem which marked the end of the service.

The BBC has spoken to some of the people who opted to watch with other people.

'We didn't want to be on our own'

Richard Miller (far left) says the family sees the communal event as the "final opportunity to say thank you and goodbye"

The Miller family, from Bedford, including parents Richard and Rebekah, Oliver 10, Isabel, 8, and grandmother, Susane Phillips, were first in the queue.

Richard had been to the lying-in-state, but Rebekah says they could not all go so the public screening is "something we wanted to do as a family".

"It's not special at home, it's something that you want to do with other people," she says.

Her mother, Ms Phillips, who was three months old for the Coronation in 1953, says she has been very "choked up" and is pleased to have been around other people.

"She was a wonderful lady, we can all take her lead and be respectful and kind like she was... she knew her people," she says.

Ms Phillips says she feels "awful, quite frankly".

"It still feels surreal, I can't believe that she's not here anymore," she says.

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Mr Miller says the atmosphere in the county town was "very quiet".

"I think people are very thankful, thoughtful, and want to come out and say thank you - it's the final opportunity to say thank you and goodbye," he says.

"Even on TV, it was just a real privilege to have been able to watch it."

'I thought it would be nice just to be together'

Heather Kell (right, pictured with her mother) says it "hit your heart when everybody stood up in the room for God Save The King"

Pamela Smith, who had been London for the Queen's Coronation in 1953, came from her home in Birmingham to watch with her daughter Heather Kell.

"I just thought it would be really nice, rather than sitting in your lounge on your own, just to be together," Ms Kell says.

"I feel quite sad but her legacy will live on through King Charles... when you listen to all the stories of the people that she's touched, it fills you with hope for the future."

Queen Elizabeth II talking to pupils from John Bunyan Upper School at the opening of the John Bunyan Centre in Bedford on 11 May 1976

Ms Smith adds: "I feel sad... but she lived a good life and she gave so much pleasure to so many people and I think we're a lucky country to have royalty."

Ms Kell says she is feeling "more emotional that I thought I would".

"It really hit your heart when everybody stood up in the room for God Save The King," she says.

'I felt it was our duty'

Eleni and Chris Theodoulou travelled to Bedford from nearby Biggleswade

Eleni Theodoulou and her husband Chris, travelled to Bedford from nearby Biggleswade.

Ms Theodoulou says she was a child when she first saw the Queen having gone to London with her mother to see the monarch open the Wood Green Shopping Centre. Then she had afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace after her son, then a student at Loughborough University, had helped at the London 2012 Olympics.

"I just felt it was our duty to do our little bit, to say 'thank you'," she says.

"We wanted to be among other people, among people who loved her and to pay our respects really."

Mr Theodoulou adds "it's part of history".

"She was a marvellous woman, so I had to be here for her," he says.

Eleni adds that she was feeling "very emotional" after the service.

"What a lovely send-off. We underestimated how much it was going to affect us; just being somewhere like this with other people made it even more special," she says.

"It feels like we've actually said our goodbyes now."

"I'm lost for words," adds her husband, "I'm really emotional."

'I wanted to feel like it was a funeral'

Nicki Hooker says coming to the Corn Exchange was the "thing to do" because her family has links to the Royal Air Force

Nicki Hooker from Radwell, north of Bedford, says she was representing her military family.

"They're not able to go and pay their respects, so I felt like it was a family thing to do," she says.

"It didn't feel right to be at home; I felt like I needed to be with people rather than at home on my own. I wanted to feel like it was a funeral."

Ms Hooker says the Queen was "loyal, trustworthy and always there for all of us".

"With close links to the RAF, it was part of my growing up," she says.

"She was head of state and she was fabulous, but she was a distant figure, so to actually be this emotional - I'm quite surprised.

"It was much quieter in there that I thought it [would be], and people were paying their respects."

'I wanted to watch without my brother moaning'

Diane Saggers brought her daughter Ruby, nine, to the screening and calls it "heart-warming and devastating"

Diane Saggers, from Clapham near Bedford, brought her daughter Ruby, nine, to the screening as she felt her younger son "wouldn't sit through it".

"I wanted to watch the funeral without my brother moaning at home," Ruby says.

"[The Queen] was an amazing person, really amazing."

Her mother adds: "We decided to come and watch the funeral where we could be part of the atmosphere as well.

"We would love to have gone to London, but with work and the queues and stuff it wasn't really feasible.

"So we decided we would come here and say goodbye to our Queen officially.

"It was heart-warming and devastating all at the same time; It was a beautiful service for a wonderful woman."

'It's nice to have some company'

Hilda Morley and Sharon Vanspall both live in Bedford

Hilda Morley and Sharon Vanspall both live in Bedford.

"We live on our own and it's nice to have some company to share the funeral with," Ms Vanspall says.

Ms Morley adds: "[We wanted] just to mark the occasion, I think the Queen was absolutely remarkable.

"She was something special, really really special."

'It felt like you were almost in the church'

Gemma Medeiros says her young children's behaviour surprised her

Gemma Medeiros watched the screening with her parents, Maria and Stephen Howe, and two children, Jasmine and Ruby.

"It was lovely to see the big screen and be in a bit of an atmosphere," she says.

"It was quite still and calm and felt like you were almost in the church."

She adds that her young children "surprised" her.

"I think my four-year-old [Jasmine] was quite emotional and my two-year-old [Ruby) was really well behaved," she says.

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