Colourful farewell for crash girl

Pall bearers carry the coffin of Natasha Paton, 17, who died when her school bus crashed in a blizzard
12 April 2012

Heartbroken friends of school bus crash victim Natasha Paton have celebrated her life - a day after what would have been her 18th birthday.

Mourners wore brightly-coloured clothes and specially made hoodies dedicated to their friend as they gathered to say their final farewells.

The 17-year-old died after a coach carrying 39 pupils and five members of staff from Lanark Grammar School lost control, hit a bridge and plunged into a river during a snowstorm last week.

Natasha, from Cleghorn, South Lanarkshire, was travelling with classmates to Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire when the accident happened on the A73 near Biggar. She would have turned 18 on Tuesday.

Hundreds gathered at St Nicholas Parish Church in Lanark to pay tribute to the sixth-form pupil at a special service.

Her parents had requested mourners wore brightly-coloured clothing. Many youngsters wore her favourite colour, purple, while others wore blue hooded tops with "Gone But Not Forgotten, Natasha" printed on the back.

Her family, also wearing splashes of purple, linked arms as they walked into the church.

Earlier, Natasha had been taken to Holytown Crematorium in a purple coffin for a private service.

Reverend Sarah Ross, the school chaplain, described Natasha as a "lovely person who touched many more lives than she realised".

She 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. The family tell me that Natasha would have loved all of this attention. The family want this to be as uplifting as Natasha was with her smile and her nature."

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