Memorial Fund for Charles Kennedy
Published: 8 June 2015
A memorial fund is being set up by the University of Glasgow to commemorate the life of alumnus and former rector Charles Kennedy.
A memorial fund is being set up by the University of Glasgow to commemorate the life of alumnus and former rector Charles Kennedy.
The aim of the fund is to name a major teaching area within the planned new Learning and Teaching building at the University.
The initiative has been given the full support of the former Liberal Democrat politician’s family.
Principal and Vice Chancellor Professor Anton Muscatelli said: “We feel that this would be a fitting and permanent tribute to Charles’ life and work at the heart of a student-centred building.”
Friends and colleagues will have the opportunity to contribute to the fund at the memorial service honouring Charles Kennedy’s life which is being held at the University’s Bute Hall on Thursday, June 18, at 7pm.
The service, which will be led by the University Chaplain, the Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie, is open to all. Doors will open at 6.30pm: it is anticipated that the service will attract very high numbers and that it may not be possible to accommodate everyone. An overflow facility will be available in the Kelvin Gallery.
Tributes
The service will start with an Academic Procession, which will be piped in by Donald Campbell, who retired earlier this month as the University’s official piper, and his brother, Alastair Campbell, a close friend of Charles Kennedy.
Tributes will be paid by, among others, Professor Muscatelli, and the Presidents of the Glasgow University Union and the Students Representative Council, Rory Slater and Breffni O’Connor.
Brian McBride, a member of the University Court and former CEO of Amazon UK, will also pay a personal tribute. He was a close friend of Charles and was a President of GUU in 1975 when, as a judge of the English Speaking Union, he first met Charles when he was a school debater.
Family and VIPs will arrive via the South Front entrance of the University; access for all other friends and colleagues will be via the North Front.
A live audio feed of the memorial service will be relayed via the University’s website.
Parking
The logistics of arranging this tribute to Charles Kennedy have been considerable.
Parking in the South Front area will be suspended from the evening of Wednesday, June 17, and throughout Thursday, June 18. However, it will still be possible to pass through Professor Square and turn right at the end downhill past Davidson/West Medical buildings. Disabled parking will remain available.
It should also be noted that Thursday June 18 is Open Day, and we expect around 4,000 additional visitors to be on campus.
Look back at Charles Kennedy's time at the University of Glasgow on Flickr.
The Order of Service for the Charles Kennedy memorial service has been released by the University Chaplaincy.
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Please stand as the Academic procession enters the Bute Hall led by Pipers Donald and Alastair Campbell
Welcome by the Chancellor of the University Professor Sir Kenneth Calman
Latin Prayer Oremus
Aeterne Deus et clementissime Pater, gratias tibi quam maximas agimus quod nos a fera et agresti vita ad artes ingenuas et scientiarum cognitionem deduxeris, quod domum nostram perpetua largitate et misericordia usque ad hunc diem prosecutus sis, quod viam nobis et veritatem et vitam in Filio tuo indicaveris.
A te, Pater, petimus ut servi tui graduandi, ab his profecti initiis, ad metam perfectionis adspirent, et nobis nostraeque reipublicae laudi et ornamento esse possint.
Tibi, Pater, Filio, et Spiritui Sancto sit laus, honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen
Hymn: Will you come and follow me (Tune: Kelvingrove)
Will you come and follow me
if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know
and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown?
Will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown
in you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind
if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
in you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean
and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean
in you and you in me?
Will you love the "you" you hide
if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found
to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound
in you and you in me?
Lord your summons echoes true
when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
and never be the same.
In your company I'll go
where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow
in you and you in me.
Poem When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Read by Nina McDonald
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face among a crowd of stars.
Psalm 8
Divine Majesty and Human Dignity
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
John 14:1-6
Jesus the Way to the Father
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him: ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Chapel Choir
Tribute: Rory Slater President of Glasgow University Union and Breffni O’Connor President, the Students Representative Council
Hymn: Child in the manger or Christ be before me (Tune-Bunessan)
Child in the manger,
Infant of Mary;
outcast and stranger,
Lord of all!
Child who inherits
all our transgressions,
all our demerits
on him fall.
Once the most holy
child of salvation
gently and lowly
lived below;
now, as our glorious
mighty Redeemer,
see him victorious
o’er each foe.
Prophets foretold him,
infant of wonder;
angels behold him
on his throne;
worthy our Saviour
of all their praises;
happy for ever
are his own.
Mary Macdonald (1789-1872)
Poem Thankful I am by Leslie Scrase read by Willie Rennie
Thankful I am I that I have lived in this great world and known its many joys,
the thrill of mountains and the morning air,
hills and the lonely covered moors,
harvest and strong sweet scent of hay.
A rock strewn river overhung with trees, shafts of sunlight in the valley leading to the sea,
the beat of waves on rough and rocky shores,
and the wild white spray flung high in ecstasy.
The comfort of my home and treasured things, the love of kin and fellowship of friends,
firelight and laughter and children at their play with hopes and dreams as their future beckons.
The faithful eyes of dogs, companionship of cats,
my garden rich from toil and all things dear and beautiful.
The tapestry of life, joy and pain is ours to live but once, and not again.
When I look back upon my richly varied years, I crave no more, thankful that I have lived...... so shed no tears.
Tribute: Lord Wallace of Tankerness
Chapel Choir: Ae Fond Kiss
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.
I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy:
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love for ever.
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met-or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
Ae fareweel alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Tribute: Principal and Vice Chancellor, Professor Anton Muscatelli
Reflection/Blessing by Religion or Belief Honorary Chaplains
Tribute: Brian McBride
Chapel Choir: Iona Boat Song
A traditional Scottish rowing song told as the Kings of Scotland were rowed from Lochaber to the sacred isle of Iona, their last resting place in the grounds of Iona Abbey
Softly glide we along,
Softly chant we our song
For a king who to resting is come.
O, beloved and best
We are faring out West
To the dear isle Iona, my home.
Calmly there shalt thou lie,
With thy fathers gone by,
Their dust mingled deep with thine own,
Ne'er again to awake,
Till the last dawn shall break
And the trump of the judgement is blown.
Softly glide we along,
Softly chant we our song,
For a king who to resting is come.
O. beloved and best
We are faring out West,
To the dear isle Iona, my home
To the dear isle Iona, my home
Hymn: I vow to thee, my country
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love:
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar, the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
Words: Sir Cecil Spring-Rice (1859-1918)
Music: Thaxted by Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Latin Blessing
Gratia Domini nostri Iesu Christi et caritas Dei et communicatio Spiritus Sancti sint cum omnibus vobis.
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Please follow the Academic Procession as it leaves the Bute Hall and proceeds round the East Quadrangle led by Pipers Donald and Alistair Campbell
First published: 8 June 2015
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