Hundreds gather to remember bus crash victim Natasha

Apr 8 2010 by George Topp, Hamilton Advertiser

NATASHA Paton was remembered this week as a teenager who loved life, and yesterday her family and many friends honoured a life cut tragically short.

Purple, her favourite colour, was much in evidence amongst the 800 who packed into St Nicholas Parish Church in Lanark.

Her parents had asked mourners to wear bright colours to celebrate her life.

They were in mourning, for a popular girl tragically killed just before her 18th birthday, but they also celebrated her life in a manner of which Natasha would have approved.

Rev Sara Ross, minister of Forth and Braehead, and a chaplain for Lanark Grammar, told the congregation that the teenager was always vying for attention with sister Danielle, and would have approved of today’s attention.

Many of those attending wore bright colours, while some wore hooded tops with the words “gone but not forgotten, Natasha”.

The congregation was quiet and thoughtful during the service, with small groups fighting back tears, especially one that included a teacher involved in last Wednesday’s bus trip.

During the service Natasha’s classmates and school staff at the school read tributes and poems at the service, which featured songs by Leona Lewis and Michael Buble.

Three teachers – head of music Julie Heggie and colleagues Laurie Gray and John Goldie – also performed live music with singer Natasha Stewart from St Aiden’s.

And Lanark Grammar’s principal teacher of pupil support, Fergie Robson, talked of the girl who had set her sights on a career in the beauty industry.

But, he said, his abiding memory of Natasha would be of a sideways smile she gave him when meeting him in the street.

“She’d always smile,” he added.

During the service, Ms Ross said: “We are incredibly sad that she is no longer with us and we would do anything to have her back.

“But that does not mean we cannot enjoy the memories, share our stories and laugh as well as cry.”

She said the family wanted the service to be “as uplifting as Natasha was, with her smile and her nature”.

And she added: “We won’t ever forget her, she meant too much to us.

“She was a lovely person who touched many more lives than she realised.”

Fellow pupil Keri Stevenson read a poem, and said her friend would always be loved and remembered.

Another friend, Lee Steele, said: “Natasha, in her own words, was happiest when she was out with her friends at the cinema and partying. She loved having a laugh.”