Hundreds bid final farewell to Charles Kennedy
HUNDREDS of mourners turned out this afternoon to say a final farewell to former Highland MP Charles Kennedy.
Around 500 people packed into St John’s Roman Catholic Church in Caol for the noon funeral service and more than 200 seats were laid on for an overspill crowd outside with the mass relayed on loudspeakers.
Family, friends and members of the local community joined with national dignitaries from across the political spectrum to remember Mr Kennedy who died at his home in Lochyside, Fort William, on June 1 at the age of 55.
He had suffered a haemorrhage as a result of his battle with alcoholism.
He had represented Ross-shire as a Highland MP for 32 years, and led the Lib Dems for more than six years.
The mourners joined Mr Kennedy’s 10-year-old son, Donald, his former wife, Sarah Gurling, his brother, Ian, who lived next door on the family croft, and his sister, Isobel.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown attended, along with Mr Kennedy’s successors as Lib Dem leaders, Sir Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg.
John Swinney MSP represented the Scottish Government and SNP. MSPs Willie Rennie, Tavish Scott, Mary Scanlon, David Stewart and Dave Thompson, departing Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and former MPs Danny Alexander, Michael Moore and Sir Malcolm Bruce also attended.
The funeral took place in the church Mr Kennedy attended as man and boy.
Wreaths were laid in his honour ahead of the service, including one from David and Samantha Cameron, which described Mr Kennedy as "an extraordinary talent whose character and courage inspired us all".
The funeral started at noon, with the congregation singing the hymn Christ Be Beside Me.
The Principal Celebrant was Monsignor James MacNeil, administrator of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles and St John’s parish priest Father Roddy McAuley preached the Homily.
Father McAuley told those gathered: "Charles Kennedy was a humble man. When Charles’s parents died and Charles said a few words in the church, he wouldn’t come up here to the lectern but insisted on speaking outside the sanctuary, from the floor.
"In this church, Charles was one of the ‘backbenchers’. He didn’t always sit in the same pew, but he always sat at the back of the church."
During the funeral mass, 14 children from Lochyside RC Primary School, which Mr Kennedy attended as a child, sang the psalm O God, You Search Me And You Know Me. Music was provided by the musicians and choir with whom Mr Kennedy’s late parents used to play.
Father McAuley added: "Ian and Mary Kennedy, the parents of Charles, Isobel and Ian, were both awarded the Benemerenti medal, Latin for the ‘well deserved’ medal for their services to their church. The Benemerenti medal was accepted with great humility by Mary and Ian, and never displayed. That humility was inherited by Charles, Isobel and Ian.
"Mary played the organ and Ian the fiddle here in St John’s for over 40 years, and at their son Charles’s funeral today we are pleased to have a number of musicians who have come together to play, as they did for the funerals of his parents.
"Charles loved music and he famously said ‘I couldn’t imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure, and I hate the sound of silence - the concept I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel’.
"There have been beautiful tributes paid to Charles especially over the past week or so. Something we might add is the importance of Charles’s faith to him. He was a much loved and respected parishioner of St John’s and he will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace."
Friend Brian McBride gave a eulogy in which he explained that he knew Mr Kennedy was special from their first meeting 40 years ago.
"He had a huge public service ethos, as an MP, party leader, a university rector, he wasn’t doing these things for the money - he was here to serve," he said.
"Everything he did, every challenge he faced, was not about him, it always started with what it would mean for other people.
"A hugely sensitive man in private, no ego at all, and never putting himself first, proud of his roots, his family, his friends, there was never a second side to him.
"I doubt I will ever see his like again - one of the few public people who walked this earth and didn’t really have a single enemy."
When Mr McBride concluded his eulogy by saying: "That’s what you were Charles, one of us,", the congregation broke into affectionate applause.
Following the service, which lasted just over one hour, a lone piper accompanied the hearse and coffin from the church.
Hundreds of people gathered outside as the funeral cortege began its final journey for the burial at Clunes, Achnacarry, attended by close family and friends.
In warm sunshine, the crowd broke into applause as the hearse was driven past in a final tribute to the popular former MP.
Over the coming weeks, memorial services will be held for Mr Kennedy in Westminster and, on 18 June, at Glasgow University, where he had been a student and served two terms as rector.
