Hansard

I congratulate Kenny MacAskill on lodging the motion.

We are talking about elderly groups. Kenny MacAskill and I are certainly not that elderly—[Interruption.] Linda Fabiani says that we are not that young, either. We will see her after about that.

It has been an absolute honour and pleasure for me and others to work alongside Kenny MacAskill for many years. I have done so not just since I was elected to the Parliament but alongside him in the Scottish National Party before we were elected. That has been a great pleasure, and I know that he has worked tirelessly not just for Craigmillar but for the area in Edinburgh that he represents and others. Obviously, a lot of people do not know about that. He has done a lot of work behind the scenes, and it has been a great privilege for me to know him as a colleague and—I hope that I can say—a friend.

I just want to mention something that Kenny MacAskill did not say. Craigmillar people sent me some information, and they end by saying:

“We could not have done it without you, Kenny, and for that we are eternally grateful.”

I end this part of my speech by again saying thank you to Kenny MacAskill.

As Kenny MacAskill mentioned, he and other MSPs have many groups in their areas that do sterling work for the elderly in their communities. I certainly do. I cannot mention all of them, so I want to concentrate on one particular group in my area, which is Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Association. We call it GOPWA for short. Just two weeks ago, it celebrated its 68th year of working tirelessly for the older people of Glasgow. It has over 1,000 volunteers who give their time, and it runs day care centres throughout Glasgow residential homes and sheltered accommodation, neighbourhood visiting services, outreach services and more than 100 weekly clubs. It does form filling, it gives advice and information, and it provides many other services that benefit senior citizens in Glasgow.

Sheena Glass and her team are to be commended for all the work that they do, and it is a privilege for me to know them and work with them. The Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Association is also involved with the David Cargill centre, which provides a varied programme of activities from Mondays to Fridays including armchair exercises, music, general knowledge quizzes and bingo, and it has also supported the Donald Dewar centre in the north-west of Glasgow for 22 years. It arranges transport to bring older people to the centre to enjoy activities, entertainment and lunch. The staff at both centres are absolutely fantastic.

GOPWA also fundraises for the older people to be able to go on visits to museums and theatres. As Kenny MacAskill mentioned with regard to Caring in Craigmillar, community transport is important and a community bus is a lifeline for older people.

GOPWA does such a lot of good work throughout all the communities. It holds tea dances and other events, and it embraces all the cultures in Glasgow and collaborates with other services to make them more accessible and compatible. Just recently, it has worked with the Muslim people who live in the Woodlands area. I think that Hanzala Malik will talk about that, as he has also been involved. GOWPA holds club nights to bring the elderly of all the communities together.

I echo what Kenny MacAskill said—I do not know what we would do without such organisations, which do such a lot of great work. Once again, I congratulate Kenny and I wish him good luck in the future. He has made his last speech in the Parliament, but I am sure that we will see a lot more of him.