IT was the church where Charles Kennedy's mother was organist for more 40 years and where his father would play the fiddle at weddings.

But yesterday St John the Evangelist RC church in the village of Caol, near Fort William, was packed to overflowing with more than 500 people who had come to mourn their local son and former Lib Dem MP.

Another hundred people sat outside in the sunshine, where they listened to the funeral mass over loud speakers.

Parish priest Father Roddy McAuley said Mr Kennedy was a "much-loved and respected parishioner" and would be "sorely missed", and recalled when he would come to worship.

"In this church, Charles was one of the 'backbenchers'. He didn't always sit in the same pew but he always sat at the back of the church."

Mr Kennedy had died at his home nearby home on June 1 at the age of 55, after suffering a major haemorrhage as a result of his battle with alcoholism.

Mr Kennedy's ex-wife Sarah Gurling and their 10-year-old son Donald were among the mourners.

Senior Lib Dems Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander, Sir Menzies Campbell, Sir Malcolm Bruce and Michael Moore were also at the service.

Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney, former prime minister Gordon Brown and Mr Kennedy's close friend Alastair Campbell were present, joined by Mr Kennedy's partner Carole MacDonald.

Fourteen children from St. Columba's R.C. Primary school, Lochyside, which Charles Kennedy attended as a child, sang the Psalm, "O God, you search me and you know me".

Friend Brian McBride gave the eulogy. He said that he knew Mr Kennedy was special from their first meeting 40 years ago. They had met when Mr McBride, chairman of fashion online retailer ASOS had been President of Glasgow University Union and had been judging a schools debating competition in Elgin in which Charles was taking part as a 15 year old from Lochaber High School.

"There was something very special about him," he said. "Even at that young age we could all see what a prolific debating talent he was."

They became friends, a friendship Mr McBride treasured.

He said: "He had a huge public service ethos, as an MP, party leader, a university rector, he wasn't doing these things for the money - he was here to serve. Everything he did, every challenge he faced, was not about him, it always started with what it would mean for other people.

"A hugely sensitive man in private, no ego at all, and never putting himself first, proud of his roots, his family, his friends, there was never a second side to him.

"I doubt I will ever see his like again - one of the few public people who walked this earth and didn't really have a single enemy."

He said only Winston Churchill and John Smith had been so universally mourned.

Outside local people waited and listened. One man had travelled all the way from Dingwall. He preferred not to give his name, but said "I don't want to go into the church . I didn't really know him. But he was my MP for 30 odd years and I just thought it right to come down today."

Nearby Andrew Finnimore, 61 a retired asocial worker from Fort William said "It is just so sad. What a waste that Charles Kennedy died at such an early age. He had so much more to offer."

Another local man said "Just so sad. His story hadn't reached its end."

Sir Menzies Campbell, who succeeded Mr Kennedy as Liberal Democrat leader, said the former MP was able to connect with people, and was "as at ease canvassing in a street like this as he was taking George W Bush to task" over the Iraq war, as they both had done on a visit to Washington.

Following the service, which lasted more than an hour, a lone piper accompanied the hearse and coffin from the church with Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis in full view. The local crowd broke into applause as the hearse was driven past in a final tribute to one of Lochaber's foremost sons. Caol had done him proud,

Despite his great attachment to , Lochaber it lay outside Mr Kennedy's constituency for much of his 32 years as an MP . That was until boundaries were redrawn before the 2005 General Election to create Ross, Skye and Lochaber., allowing him to vote for himself for the first of just three times in the local polling station in Caol.

It was a village that grew in the second half of the 20th century. At the end of Second World War, there were only five crofts including the Kennedy's where there are now more than 3,000 people living.

After the church the hearse headed for Loch Lochy, along a single track road past Achnacarry Castle, seat of Lochiel Chief of Clann Cameron and where commandos trained in the second world war. Then it was on to the old graveyard at Clunes where Charles Kennedy's parents Ian and Mary already lay.

There was a Kennedy tradition that they had once owned the land around Clunes but had been diddled out of it by a Cameron of Erracht. Others take a different view. What is certain is that those buried in the graveyard there are either Kennedys or Camerons.

Some historians say that the Kennedys arrived in the area in the 16th century having fled their Ayrshire heartland seeking protection from the Cameron chief Lochiel. But leading historian of the area Iain Thornber is not so sure. He said:

" I think they were in Lochaber much earlier and most likely descended from an ancient Celtic or Caledonian family. The fact that they were buried on top of that hillock at Clunes in such a prominent position is surely significant. It wouldn't surprise me if there had been an early fort or dun up there which they had occupied."