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The skies over Omanu were awash in colour yesterday afternoon as hundreds of balloons were released in memory of young Papamoa boy Harrison Mundy.

Lifeguards, young and old, gathered together with friends and family on the shores outside the surf club to remember the 11-year-old who lost his battle to cancer on February 16.

Balloons are released from the beaches of Omanu in tribute to Harrison Mundy.

Colour fills the blue sky.

The balloon release followed a funeral service at Holy Trinity Church where crowds had earlier gathered to farewell the Omanu Primary student who bravely fought the rare form of cancer for about eight months.

On June 22, Harrison was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma – a rare form of cancerous tumour which grows in bones soft tissue around them.

A large crowd gathered at the Cameron Road church on Monday to say goodbye to the ‘smiling' and ‘caring' son, grandson, schoolmate and friend.

The Mundy family is well-known in Tauranga with father Allan teaching at Mount Maunganui College and is a member of Omanu Surf Life Saving Club, where Harrison was a clubbie. Harrison's mother Hayley works at Papamoa's House of Travel.

Mount Maunganui College closed yesterday to allow staff and students to attend the service.

A large group of students and teachers from Omanu Primary School, where Harrison went to school, also attended the service to farewell their fellow pupil.

Harrison attended the primary school for six years and graduated Year 6 at the end of last year. He was set to start his first year at intermediate this year.

His school friends honoured Harrison by singing Count on Me by Bruno Mars as his body was brought into the church.

A band of nurses, who looked after and treated Harrison during his months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments at Starship Hospital, also attended the funeral.

Following the service, young surf lifesavers let go hundreds of bright coloured balloons, some bearing messages, from the water's edge as a tribute to their fellow clubbie at Omanu Beach Surf Life Saving Club.

This was followed by a traditional paddle out to sea performed by junior and senior lifesavers at the club, with one boat carrying flowers in honour of the brave boy.

Since his diagnosis, a number of fundraising events have been held to help raise money for the Mundy family including a dawn race to the top of Mauao in December.

Last month, three stand-up paddleboarders made history by paddling Waikato River to raise funds. Kirsten Wilton, Ross Parker, and Brent Bourgeois' 350km raised thousands for Mundy.

A traditional paddle-out to remember Harrison. Photo: Omanu Surf Club.