Nell Gifford who co-founded Giffords Circus dies from breast cancer aged 46 - leaving behind nine-year-old twins

• Circus co-founfer Nell Gifford passed away on Sunday after breast cancer battle
• She was surrounded by her immidiate family and her friends from the circus
• Mother of twins was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 after finding a lump 

Circus creator Nell Gifford has passed away at the age of 46 following a longstanding battle with breast cancer.   

Nell, who was originally from Wiltshire was surrounded by family 'both immediate and circus' when she died on Sunday December 8th.  

The mother of nine-year-old twins Cecil and Red was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, after finding a lump in her breast. 

Earlier this year was told she had just one year left to live as the disease had spread to her bones and lymph nodes.

In a statement, Gifford Circus said: 'We know many tears will be falling as Nell touched so many hearts. 

'Her vision for Giffords Circus was to bring happiness, imagination and enliven people’s souls. Giffords Circus shall continue to do just that. 

'Whilst the world is a dimmer place today, Nell will continue to live through the Circus.

'Nell was a creative genius, a daughter, step-daughter, sister, friend, leader and mother. 

'She leaves behind the next generation – her twins Cecil and Red – who are both part of the Giffords Circus DNA. We love her. May she rest in peace.'  

In 2020 Giffords Circus will celebrate their 20th anniversary of the Circus and say that Nell wanted it to be the 'showstopper'.   

Next year’s production, 'The Hooley' will celebrate the first 20 years, the next 20 years of the circus as well as Nell’s incredible life. 

The circus continued: 'Nell built a circus to last. It is poised to grow and fulfill Nell’s plans for the future.' 

The mother was transparent about her breast cancer battle, and earlier this year revealed she was honest about her cancer diagnosis with her children.

She previously told the Evening Standard: 'I hate secrets, they are corrosive. The more people are open about cancer the less scary it is.'

Nell was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, after finding a lump in her breast. She underwent three rounds of chemotherapy - losing her hair each time. 

Talking about her twins, who also star in her circus, she said: 'It's a lot for the children to take on. But if they didn't know they wouldn't be processing it, and they will have to sometime. We are doing it together.' 

Nell created Gifford Circus, which tours the south of England every summer, with her ex-husband Toti Gifford in 2000.

Her son Cecil and daughter Red, who go to school in Stroud, Gloucestershire, will presumably be left in the care of her former husband Toti.

The mother-of-two joined at New York State circus at 18 after her mother had an accident falling off a horse. 

Revealing to the Daily Mail previously, she wrote: 'I spent a month travelling New York State, painting the lorries and riding a horse in the parade.

'I saw a happy place where children and animals played together in the sunshine, and the workplace was a huge, candy-striped tent, full of music. It reminded me so much of my younger years.'

Three years later, after graduating from Oxford, she bought an old van and joined the first show that came to town. And for the next few years she worked for many different circuses.   

Writing for the Daily Mail about starting her own circus she said: 'Returning home in 1999, I wanted to breathe new life into the art of circus in Britain, and I shared my dream with a tall, curly-haired boy named Toti Gifford, a landscape gardener whom I’d met on a friend’s farm in Cheltenham between tours.

'We married that year and immediately started our own circus. 

'We had no equipment or backing - but we did have a deadline, after I persuaded the organisers of the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival that their line-up for May 2000 should include a booking for Gifford’s Circus, as we had decided it should be called.'