Well-loved laddie
ONLY a fortnight ago a family celebrated the 18th birthday of a much-loved son — but within days he was dead.
Aidan Millar had just left school, where he was a prefect, and was waiting for his exam results which would decide his place at university.
But he died in a tragic accident on a family holiday at the beginning of last week.
The funeral procession stopped the traffic in Wishaw on Saturday morning and hundreds of young people packed St Aidan's Church for the service.
Aidan, who turned 18 on July 15, was so popular that not everyone could get inside the church.
''He was a well-loved laddie,'' his father Tommy said this week.
Aidan's parents separated when he was little, and he and his younger
brother Matthew (16) lived with their father in Wishaw during the week.
They spent weekends in Carluke with their mother Ann and her husband Derek Nimmo, and young brother Calum (9).
The arrangement, however, was flexible, particularly as Aidan became a very busy teenager.
''He loved sport,'' said Ann. ''He played golf but he loved his football; he played in a couple of football teams.''
But he loved music even more, and played electric and classical guitar.
His mum said: ''He played the French horn in the school band, which took him quite a while, but he got there; and his electric guitar was the love of his life.
''He loved really heavy rock music, Pink Floyd and Ozzy Osborne, but he also loved Beethoven and Pavarotti. He had an ear for good music.''
Aidan played guitar in a band, Fear the Forgotten, and they had played a couple of local gigs at the Cathouse in Glasgow.
He also had a Saturday job in a butcher's in Wishaw.
''He never caused us any trouble at all,'' said Ann.
After finishing sixth year at St Aidan's he was waiting for his exam results.
He already had the offer of a place to train as a quantity surveyor but was still considering taking social sciences at the University of the West of Scotland.
''He was a bright young man,'' said his father, who believed Aidan might ultimately have worked with children.
At the funeral service his head teacher paid tribute to work Aidan had done for charity through the school.
''There was a lot we did not realise,'' said Ann. ''The year he was in at school were doing a lot of work raising funds for Unicef, and helping with various different projects, including one with Victoria Park School.
''He packed a lot in. He was hoping to move on to bigger and better things.''
All of which made the tragedy even harder to comprehend.
Aidan was part of a large, loving family, and each year went with his father and other relatives on holiday to Girvan where one of the highlights was a family golf tournament.
But out on a night with his brother and a friend, he fell through the roof of a swimming pool.
Paramedics were quickly on the scene, as was his father, but there was nothing they could do.
Ann received the first phone call to tell her of the accident while the paramedics were still with her son.
She raced out for Girvan but had gone only a few miles when she received the call saying that he had died.
The turn-out at the funeral showed how popular Aidan was — he made and kept friends easily.
''He was quick with a smile, and had a great zest for life,'' said Tommy.
''He will be sadly missed by everyone who had the great privilege of knowing him.''
Aidan had one phrase of high praise — ''good effort'' — and his family used that on the funeral order of service.
''We felt it was appropriate to leave him with the last word,'' said Ann.
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Weather for Carluke
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Thunderstorm
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
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