TWO little girls, best friends, were laid to rest "together in life, together in death, together in glory", as the first funerals of the 17 victims of the shooting in Dunblane took place yesterday.
The joint funeral service, for the five year old girls, Emma Crozier and Joanna Ross, was attended by nearly 500 people, many of whom stood in silence outside Lecropt Church, in the small town of Bridge of Allan.
The hour long service was relayed by microphone to those friends and the hundreds of people from the local community who gathered outside the tiny church to pay their last respects to "two wee angels".
The only visible media presence at the service was a lone photographer.
The service began with the hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful. The Rev William Gilmour, who conducted the service, spoke of his memories of the two girls, who had been baptised in the church on the same day in August 1990. Emma and Joanna, he said, came to church every Sunday and then to the Sunday school, "they would wriggle about in their seats . . . they were a delight to those who met them."
Mr Gareth Jones, one of Joanna's uncles, also spoke at the service. He looked back on their lives and how their friendship had been encouraged by their two families. It was a friendship, he said, which had been full of laughter and joy.
Mr Jones, on behalf of the families, thanked the local people for their "love and support at this time" and he added that their prayers were with the other families who had lost their children and with the family of Primal One teacher, Mrs Gwenne Mayor. Prayers were also offered for the children and teachers who remain in hospital at Stirling Royal Infirmary and York Hill Hospital in Glasgow.
The funerals also took place of Abigail McLennan and Kevin Hasell, both 5. The children were buried after separate ceremonies at St Blane's Church, near the centre of Dunblane.
As Abigail's funeral began and the sounds of the hymn Jesus Loves Me came from the church, a policewoman standing outside was overcome, by emotion and, was relieved from duty by a senior officer.
At the request of the families of the 17 victims, the intense media coverage of the tragedy has been scaled down and camera crews will not be present at the funerals, which will continue until Thursday.
No details have been released about the funeral of killer Thomas Hamilton.
A Panorama programme about the tragedy, which was made with BBC Scotland, was cancelled from television schedules last night.
Mr Tony Hall, managing director of BBC News and Current Affairs, said: "We are all acutely conscious of the need to show real sensitivity at a time like this."
Dunblane Primary School was due to re open on Friday.
. The British Shooting Sports Council yesterday issued a statement on the Dunblane shootings.
It extended its sympathies to "all who have been touched by, this incident".
It went on to say that "until the full facts of the case are revealed it is impossible to form any useful judgment or even identify issues which, with certainty, might be, relevant."