MyGlasgow News

Hundreds of mourners packed the Bute Hall at the weekend to pay tribute to the pilot killed in the Glasgow helicopter crash on 29 November.‌

The funeral service for Captain Davil Traill (51) was conducted by the University Chaplain, the Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie, who had been contacted by Captain Traill's fiancée Lucy, a University graduate, asking for the service to be held at Gilmorehill.

Saturday's service was the culmination of a major exercise by University Services staff to cope with the large number of mourners, and to make the preparations in the Bute Hall and elsewhere. Staff from IT Services and other departments arranged for an audio relay of the service for friends and relatives which was streamed via the University website.

The Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill were present, along with Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House and Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson. Many University staff were also in attendance, including the Principal, the Clerk of Senate and Vice Principal, Professor John Briggs and the Secretary of Court and Director of Administration, David Newall.

Captain Traill died along with two police officers when the Police Scotland helicopter he was piloting crashed on to the roof of the crowded Clutha bar in Glasgow's Stockwell Street just over a week ago.

Six people also died inside the pub. Alan Crossan, the owner of the Clutha, also attended Saturday's funeral.

Police officers, air ambulance pilots and paramedics formed a guard of honour as Traill's coffin arrived at the university, with the cortège being led by police outriders and a friend of Traill, who rode the pilot's Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

During the service, poignant tributes came from his father, Iain, who read a David Harkins poem which contained the lines:

You can shed tears that he is gone

or you can smile because he has lived

The widower had read the same lines at the funeral of his younger son, Angus, three years ago, mourners were told.

Traill's father had moved in with his pilot son and his fiancée, Lucy, who lived in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, over the summer following an illness.

Traill, who is also survived by three nephews, was due to marry his partner whom he met on a blind date almost five years ago.

University Chaplain, Stuart MacQuarrie said the service had been put together by Lucy and Traill's father to "tell the world about David, the man they love".

He read out a tribute from Traill's fiancée, in which she described him as the "best thing that ever happened to me" and told of their shared love of cycling, Scotland's west coast, fine dining, kayaking, Take That and "best of all", karaoke.

She also spoke of how Traill proposed to her during a champagne picnic on a Loch Lomond island near Luss, adding it was "the happiest day of my life".

Captain Traill, originally from Falkirk, was a former RAF pilot and instructor who served in both Gulf wars.

At the end of the 55-minute service, MacQuarrie invited mourners to sing along - "loudly and badly", in tribute to Traill's love of karaoke - to the Proclaimers song Life With You, which Traill and Lucy had planned to play at their wedding, possibly as their first dance.

There was laughter as he added: "This is our chance to show the world the truth in the saying that there is more fun at a Glasgow funeral than there is at an Edinburgh wedding."

Traill's coffin was carried out of the hall accompanied by a piper who played Flower Of Scotland.

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First published: 9 December 2013