Skip to main content
Loading…

Chamber and committees

Scottish Borders Widowed Community

  • Submitted by: Christine Grahame, Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party.
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
  • Motion reference: S6M-17914
  • Current status: Has not yet achieved cross-party support

That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the vital work of the Scottish Borders Widowed Community (SBWC), a peer-to-peer voluntary support organisation operating across the Scottish Borders; acknowledges that SBWC provides sustained support for men and women who have experienced the bereavement of a partner, offering regular in-person meetings at Hope Central in Galashiels, online discussions, and social activities designed to tackle social isolation and loneliness; understands that the group is entirely volunteer-led, with all organisers themselves widowed, and that membership has grown to almost 480 people; commends SBWC for being the only group of its kind in the Scottish Borders exclusively for widowed people, and for offering long-term, compassionate support beyond the immediate period of bereavement; notes the group’s call to encourage more open conversations around death, including emotional, mental, physical, and practical preparedness, and believes that access to such support is essential to the health and wellbeing of those affected by the trauma of losing a partner in the Scottish Borders and elsewhere in Scotland.


Supported by: Sharon Dowey