Mourners donned kilts and football strips yesterday to pay tribute to a much-loved Inverness man.
More than 200 people turned out to say their final farewell’s to Stewart McIntyre, who died last week aged 26 after a long battle with leukaemia.
And his parents drove to the service at Inverness Crematorium in his sporty red Ford Focus ST rather than use the black undertaker’s vehicles.
Many of the congregation wore the football shirts of Mr McIntyre’s beloved Manchester United, with some bearing the name “Stewart 89” on the back, marking the year of his birth.
During the service, officiant John MacMillan read tributes from Mr McIntyre’s older sister Kirstie, who said that she had always protected him when they were growing up.
She said that her fortnightly trips to Glasgow, where Mr McIntyre was being treated at the Beatson Institute, had allowed her to get to know “the amazing person” her brother had turned into.
Friends paid tribute to his positivity in face of his disease and his cheeky smile.
Former colleague Rachel Trotter, who worked with Mr McIntyre at Curry’s in Inverness, told family and friends that he was a great listener.
She added: “Cancer may have beaten his body but he never gave way to it.”
The order of service contained messages from Mr McIntyre’s fellow patients at the Beatson.
Two poems were read, including one written by Mr McIntyre’s mother May. The family moved to Glasgow to support Mr McIntyre during his treatment.
He was a popular patient at the Beatson, and devoted much of his energy to supporting teenagers being treated there.
Mourners sang Lord of the Dance and Rhythm of My Heart, which Mr McIntyre liked after hearing it during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The final song was Loch Lomond, where Mr McIntyre took a day trip with Beatson patients just a few weeks before he died.