Mother of Paige Doherty tells of 'void' as she launches charity
The mother of dead schoolgirl Paige Doherty said she hopes to help families that suffer tragedies by starting a charity in her daughter's honour.
Pamela Munro said the Paige's Promise fund plans to offer self-defence classes and befriending services for bereaved families.
Speaking on The Kaye Adams Programme on Radio Scotland, Pamela said the venture would help the family remember Paige.
Paige, from Clydebank, went missing in March after leaving a friend's house to travel to her part-time job at a hairdresser's shop in Kirkintilloch.
Her body was found two days later in a wooded area off Clydebank's Great Western Road.
Ms Munro said that if the self-defence classes "saved one person that's a bonus".
Asked how she had stayed strong since Paige's death, she said: "I've got three other kids in the house and it just isn't an option, you've got to get up and get going, you've got to focus on positive things.
"It's been indescribable - if I asked you how you'd feel if your daughter died could you describe it?
"The kids are coping the best they can but it's hard, it's hard to watch them, everyone misses her.
"There is a big void in all of us. We know she's not there but this is keeping her with us."
Ms Munro said the charity would also help support children who have lost siblings who may struggle to open up about their feelings after a traumatic death.
She said: "It will start in Clydebank and go right through Glasgow hopefully.
"It will also be to help families afterwards that have suffered tragedies.
"Families are left to deal with it - to pay to send them on holidays or cover funeral costs.
"We were lucky that a funding page was set up for Paige's funeral but not everybody has got that and funerals are extortionate."
She added: "It will also run befriending schemes for siblings, to take them out and see how they're feeling as they won't always come and say how they feel.
"When I had the thought about it I thought it will give me something to work towards and to remember Paige.
"But it will never tire me because it's for Paige - it will never exhaust me.
"Not everyone can afford to send their kids to self-defence classes. This way it will be paid for by Paige's Promise so they don't need to worry about those costs and they know their child has that basic knowledge to defend themselves.
"I'm not saying it will save everyone but if it saves one person that's a bonus."