Honouring a friend

Today was the funeral of Przemek Krawczyk,  one of the two people  who died when the Nancy Glen sank some 13 weeks ago.

His body and that of the skipper Duncan MacDougall were recovered when the boat was raised last Friday and Duncan's funeral was on Wednesday.  I was sorry that I could not make it though Fergus Ewing was there on behalf of the Government , as he was today too. 

Today the Parish Church in Tarbert was packed for what was a very emotional humanist ceremony.  Przemek's son Kaspar spoke and then Gosia, Przemek's widow , read (with incredible bravery ) a letter she had written to him - her passionate letter of farewell.  

Everyone  had been asked to bring a single white rose and as the family left the church they were laid, one by one, in front of the coffin.  Then we all lined the street outside the church as the hearse went past.

It used to be the custom for mourners to follow the cortege to the old grave yard in Tarbert but that tradition is long past. 

Except today, for spontaneously and obviously without prior notification to the police or anyone else the whole assembled crowd moved into the road behind Gosia and her family as they stepped forward to walk with Przemek on his last journey.

It was a very solemn , moving moment of solidarity  - a community honouring a friend who had come to live amongst them 13 years ago and who they had taken to their hearts. 

Gosia used the word "honouring" in her  letter too , and it seemed so apposite as we walked in silence down to the quayside of the little town which had succeeded, against all the odds, of bringing home its men from the sea.