Standing room only

After a senior team meeting this morning I drove west - or really sailed west it was so wet.

Not as far as yesterday. This time to Uddingston and to the Daldowie Crematorium for the funeral of Marion Pagani OBE.

I got to know Marion nearly 20 years ago. She became the Children's Panel Chair for Glasgow and over the years we had many and sometimes intense discussions as she sought to effect improvements in the children's hearings system and to make a positive difference for vulnerable children.

She was tireless in her commitment in this and other activities, latterly as a safeguarder. But throughout her warmth and passion shone through. And that shared wish to make things better kept us in touch as friends over the years even though our formal connections had weakened.

She was involved in so many activities and with her family. The speed at which the cancer took her was cruel though her nursing days left her in no doubt of the outcome.

There was a huge turnout with many faces from the present and the past and despite arriving in time we could only manage to stand at the door and strain to hear what was being said, as the rumble of the nearby motorway traffic competed with the speech and the music. Some of my words to the family and those of Scottish Government colleagues were read out along with others with whom she worked. There were some smiles and fond memories evoked through photographs on display.

A brief chat with some of the family afterwards then a drive back to the east recalling our times from the past.

A sad day.