The sun was shining today in Caol, making for some wonderful photos of the gathered throng around St John’s church with Ben Nevis looming majestically in the background. A film director couldn’t have wished for a more photogenic scene.
As Caron said at breakfast, before making the long journey north, we’ve tried to pay our respects to Charles today.
In many communities, on days like today, shops hang up signs in their doors saying “Closed for a funeral”.
I suspect that several businesses today in the Highlands perhaps had that sign up.
Well, today at Lib Dem Voice was our equivalent of putting up a sign saying “Closed for a funeral”.
We didn’t get the normal traffic we get from contentious articles which bring the commenters streaming to duff each other up.
So it was a special day. A day for reflection. A day of peace. A day when the party mourned a much-loved family member, Charles.
His death came as an enormous shock to us all. As my mother says, when you die at 95 years old you get a few old people attending your funeral because all the people who would remember you have themselves passed on. But die in your prime and the whole world turns out to say goodbye to you.
And so it was today.
But there is an added twist to our grief. After such an historic pasting at the polls, Charles’ passing, coming so soon afterwards, has reminded us of our soul. Perhaps we have wandered somewhat from our “true north” bearing in recent years. But this seismic event has cast a bright shaft of light on what we really stand for.
God bless you, Charles, and may you rest in peace!
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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10 Comments
Thank you Paul. And thank you Charles. Only joined because of you…
It looked like as nice as day as possible, but I don’t agree with the idea that it “has cast a bright shaft of light on what we really stand for.”.
Discussion to be continued tomorrow.
Lovely words he will be sorely missed….. I hope there is a change of course back to true North soon, it will be a fitting legacy.
Eddie, I was not expecting that to be controversial. Maybe I expressed it wrongly. Charles had some very clear values and never strayed from them. They were very clear liberal values. I’m thinking of concern for the poor and the dispossessed particularly. Charles, to me, was a living embodiment of liberal values. His death has reminded me, and us perhaps, of what it is to live a life centred on liberal values.
That’s what I meant. Disagree with it by all means, but I wanted to check I’d made myself clear.
A touching, heartfelt tribute, beautifully expressed.
Thank you Paul.
I am sure Charles would have played an important role in the rebuilding of our party and its support in the country. He will be truly missed.
True north; the Fort William Tendency 🙂
Thank you so much to LDV for all the wonderful articles celebrating Charles Kennedy’s life. It shows how much Charles was respected and loved and has been a fitting tribute to this great Highland man.
Very nice tribute. RIP Charles.
That’s fine Paul. I suppose I’m just a bit of a defender of the “Clegg legacy”.
Thanks Paul and the LDV team for the work you’ve all done on the CK memorial articles. They’ve been great and I wholeheartedly agree with many of the sentiments expressed here, especially Paul’s clarification regarding what Charles death means to him. It’s been a very sad moment, I hope some good will come from it.