Family set to spend precious final hours with beloved Eilidh
THE family of Eilidh Macleod are to spend a final night with her before she is laid to rest.
The 14-year-old Scot is expected to be the first of the 22 people killed in the terror attack to be buried when her funeral service is held on Monday.
Arrangements are being made to fly the teenager’s body to the Isle of Barra tomorrow and the schoolgirl will be taken home to her home village of Castlebay.
Despite the large numbers expected, Eilidh’s parents Roddy and Marion want the family to spend a final few hours quietly with their daughter at home.
Eilidh was attending the concert with Laura Macintyre, 15, who is making ‘remarkable progress’ in hospital. The two friends, classmates at Castlebay Community School, had made the 400-mile trip with Mrs Macleod, who was to collect them from the venue.
The girls were walking through the arena foyer when Salman Abedi detonated his backpack explosive device.
Eilidh’s funeral mass is to take place at Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in Castlebay. Burial is expected to take place on neighbouring Vatersay, where Eilidh grew up until the family moved to Castlebay.
The Macleod family have requested only family flowers and suggested that any donations go to Cobhair Bharraigh, Eilidh’s favourite charity, which provides a home-based support service and daycare centre for the people of Barra and Vatersay.
From tomorrow until Wednesday Caledonian MacBrayne will lay on extra overnight sailings with an almost round-the-clock shuttle service to transport mourners to and from the island.