ORGANISERS of Longniddry’s successful Springfest celebrations handed over a bumper donation of &pound2,500 to MSP Margo MacDonald for the Parkinson’s Disease Society.
The funds were raised at a variety of musical events held in venues within the village between April 17 and 25, including a ceilidh, pipe band concert, and a series of live gigs. There was also an exhibition on Parkinson’s at the local library. May Currie was the brains behind the nine-day event, organised in partnership with Longniddry Parish Church. Having lost her husband Ian, a Kirk elder, and 40-year-old daughter to the degenerative illness, Mrs Currie wanted to give something back to the charity that supported her. The proceeds from Springfest were gratefully accepted by MSP Ms MacDonald, who suffers from Parkinson’s herself and last month won the right to have her controversial ‘assisted dying’ Bill debated in the Scottish Parliament.
Under her proposals, people for whom life had become “intolerable” through a terminal illness, loss of function or a progressive, degenerative condition would be able to ask a doctor to help end their life.