Up to 500 mourners present at Jay Slater's service

 

Up to 500 mourners have attended the funeral service of teenager Jay Slater “who touched the lives of so many people”.

Family and friends packed into the chapel at Accrington Crematorium to pay their respects to the 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, who died while on holiday in Tenerife.

Many others watched in the drizzle outside as the proceedings were relayed on a specially erected big screen.

At the wishes of his family, most wore the colour blue in his memory including his work colleagues from PH Build Group, where he was an apprentice bricklayer, who wore T-shirts with ‘Forever 19’ on the front.

Funeral director Sarah Barton officiated at the service and told the congregation: “We know that Jay touched the lives of so many people, and on behalf of the family I would like to thank all those who have sent heartfelt messages and cards to them to help them get through this incredibly hard and sad time.

“I would also like to thank all those who have helped bring Jay safely back to us, family, friends, the kind offers from people in Tenerife, the police here back home and all of you for coming here today to show your love and care.”

Poem read out during Jay Slater's funeral

The touching poem Time Will Ease the Hurt by Bruce Wilmer was read out by the celebrant during Jay Slater's funeral. 

The poem speaks about the pain suffered from a loss and how it diminishes over time while never fading away completely. 

It reads: "The sadness of the present days is locked and set in time, and moving to the future is a slow and painful climb. But all the feelings that are now so vivid and so real can’t hold their fresh intensity as time begins to heal.

"No wound so deep will ever go entirely away; yet every hurt becomes a little less from day to day. Nothing else can erase the painful imprints on your mind; but there are softer memories that time will let you find.

"Though your heart won’t let the sadness simply slide away, the echoes will diminish even though the memories stay."