The six-year-old twin, from Braefield in the village, died last Thursday while on a break with parents Martin and Kelly, twin brother Matthew and younger brother, three-year-old Christopher.

His father Martin found Nathan at the bottom of a reservoir near their holiday villa in the Algarve after discovering he had gone missing. He tried desperately to revive the Foyle View School pupil Nathan, but the youngster died later in hospital. He is to be laid to rest this afternoon in Glendermott Parish Church after a short family service at home.

In the death notice detailing funeral arrangements, Nathan’s parents describe said: “We will love you and miss you always. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.”

A short service in the family home will be held at 1pm, with the funeral due to leave the house at 1.30pm for a church service at 2pm.

Glendermott Parish Church Rector,Canon Derek Creighton said the “loving and affectionate” Nathan will be buried in the same plot as Kelly’s parents.

Canon Creighton said the family is coping well given the solid support network around them, but said the funeral tomorrow will be difficult.

He said: “Nathan was a very special child and required that bit of extra work, but because of that he was all the more precious. It makes it all the more difficult to prepare for.

“The funeral of a child is always difficult; you always want to get the right tone. But it is always difficult on the day when you see what the family is going through.”

Canon Creighton said the church service and refreshments in the church hall will give the huge family circle of relatives, Nathan’s friends and villagers the opportunity to express their sympathy with the family.

He added: “Nathan was a very happy, very affectionate and very loving child who brought a lot of joy to the people in his life. It may have been a short life, but Kelly and Martin and the family will have derived a great deal of joy from Nathan.

“Nathan may be gone, but the joy is still there and will always be there.”