This is one trip report I would rather have not had to write - but I feel I owe it to the big man to let fellow club member know how his funeral service went.
In all five club members - Chris, Helen, Simeon, Dave, and me Jules - made the very emotional journey from Scotland to Liverpool where we joined Karin, Russell’s close friend Sandra and Russell’s family and other friends to pay our respects individually and as proud representatives of the Lomond Mountaineering Club.
It was touching to see just how deeply Russell had been regarded by those who had known him. This was evident by the amount and diversity of people who had turned up to his Humanist ceremony.
There were people from his work and even two lecturers from Chester University where he studies environmental science in the late 90’s
A gentle quiet support filled the room as the coffin was brought to its final resting place with a number of club members honoured to act as pallbearers.
The service was beautifully simple, just as Russell would have wanted it to be, with the minister giving a potted history of Russell’s life.
Karin spoke very movingly about her time with Russell and his son Sam gave an emotional tribute to a man he said he still had so much more to talk to about.
Russell’s daughter Helga also read a beautiful poem she had written and his other daughter Anna chose a thought provoking poem read out by the minister Bill Dawson.
I’d written a couple of words on behalf of the Lomond Mountaineering Club which the minister very kindly read out to those in the room.
At the end of the short service all his cuddly toys were placed on the coffin briefly to say a final farewell before being lovingly collected up as precious reminders of a man who had touched peoples' lives so deeply.
With the sound of The Buzzcocks’ Time’s Up sounding in our ears, tear-filled eyes blinked into the afternoon sunshine as we all spilled outside to hurried introductions before heading off to the Pub in the Park for a reception and buffet . . . and a couple of beers.