Lennoxtown lies just north of Glasgow in the lowlands of Scotland. Click the
map for more details of its location.
Yvonne, her sister Valerie, her mum Shirley, myself and the kids, James (7)
and Michael (1 and a half) drove up to Scotland the evening before, so we
could get an early start and make the most of the 9 hours of daylight you get
in Scotland at that time of year.
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We made the trip on Monday, 23rd of February, 2003. although the air temperature
never got above freezing even in the middle of the afternoon, it had been
gloriously sunny every day for a week, so most of the snow and ice had cleared
away.
The first place we visited was the magnificent but now sadly disused High Kirk of Campsie
in Lennoxtown, where the grave of John's grandmother lies. John's family once
lived in a house facing its main entrance.
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The church hasn't been in use since the 1970s when it was all but destroyed by fire.
It's now just a shell with no roof and the
top half of the tower has been removed to make the structure safe, but the
grounds are still well kept and being disused, the building somehow
seemed to provide the perfect backdrop for our task. You can see the Campsie
Fells in the background. It doesn't come across well in the photo but they loom
in the background in real life and totally dominate the whole of Lennoxtown.
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John's grandmother's grave can be found to the right of the church. The
headstone was erected in 1875 by Michael Ferguson and his wife Christina
Campbell, who were John's great grandparents. Their daughter, also called Christina
Campbell, who died in 1944, also appears on the headstone. She adopted
John's mother, Christina (my kids' great grandma), who is still going strong today
aged 88 and living in a Liverpool retirement home.
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We scattered half of John's ashes at the foot of his grandmother's
gravestone, where there is an inscription; "Thine eyes shall see the
King in his beauty" (from the King James bible, Isiah 33:17)
The snowdrops close by were just beginning to emerge and it
struck me that they would look very pretty when they opened in a couple
of weeks. Shirley said a some final words of goodbye and there were a few
tears all round.
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We took the remaining ashes up onto the Campsie Fells, to a spot John had
shown Shirley years before.
But not before we explored Lennoxtown, spending a few hours looking 'round
and playing with the kids in the park. We fed the ducks on the frozen duck
pond, then had an excellent meal at a local pub, before heading up onto the
fells as sunset approached.
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This was the spot John had taken Shirley to. He'd spoken fondly of playing in
the area as a boy. We scattered the rest of his ashes close to the waterfall.
There was a lot of ice, but where the water flowed swiftly enough, it was
still liquid. It's a cliche I know, but the place, really did seem enchanted.
The hillside was lit up orange by the setting sun and there was barely a sound
except for the running water.
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As the sun went down over Lennox Castle, the glorious winter sunset provided
a fitting send off for John. It was a strangely silent drive back to the hotel
as we all came away with our own thoughts. Sadness at the loss of a father or
husband, a feeling of closure as the final full stop was written at the end of
John's life. And in James' case, a burning sensation as the feeling returned to
his frozen legs and feet. Being a young boy, he'd fallen into the freezing stream
of course. It was inevitable, really.
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