Club Meeting

President Irene Brownless welcomed members and guests to a virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry on Thursday 25th March. The topic was Frankie's Law, a fascinating presentation by Miles Briggs MSP and Amanda Kopel. Miles Briggs has been a Lothian Region MSP since 2016. He was inspired by the story of Amanda, whose late husband Frankie Kopel, the well-known Dundee United footballer who also played for Manchester United, Blackburn and Arbroath, developed vascular dementia aged only fifty-nine. As he was under sixty-five, they had to pay for his personal care, which caused many sacrifices, including the sale of some of his footballing memorabilia. Over the previous years, Amanda had brought the problem to the notice of several councillors and MSPs. Though some expressed interest and concern, no moves were made to improve matters.  Miles was so impressed by her speech that he began working with Amanda to have a free personal care bill passed into legislation. While working on the bill, Miles and his staff received hundreds of letters with heartbreaking stories from other families in a similar predicament. In 2019, six years after Amanda started her campaign, the bill passed into law.

Both Miles and Amanda were very passionate about their cause and some of her story resonated with those members who had faced dealing with dementia in their own families. The speakers were introduced by Jim McCulloch and David Buchanan proposed the vote of thanks. The club wishes Amanda success in her continuing work with dementia.