Douglas' constituency covers Crossgates, Hill of Beath and Moss-side

'Captain David Seath: a hero to many

IT'S not often someone's death makes headlines across the national press and broadcast media.

But the untimely passing of David Seath, originally from Cowdenbeath, did exactly that.

The Central Fife Times led tributes to this remarkable young man - and the one word that appeared often was 'hero'.

For Captain Seath was a friend and hero to many. At just 31 he was an Afghanistan veteran and a Green Beret. He was raising money for Help for Heroes when he collapsed near the end of the London Marathon.

His mum, Libby - the headteacher at Park Road Primary in Rosyth - put it best: David achieved more in 31 years than most people do in 70. Hundreds of mourners gathered at St Margaret's Church in Dunfermline for his funeral service. The traffic was stopped as the funeral procession made its way to the nearby cemetery.

Captain James Walker-McClimens read a touching tribute on behalf of David's brother Gary. One phrase that struck me was: "He was dedicated to his men and supporting those who could not fight for themselves against the tyranny of the modern world."

David's life was an inspiration to so many people. Hopefully his grieving family will take comfort in how his life touched so many people.

NHS meeting targets

It's great news that NHS Fife is outperforming the national average for accident and emergency waiting times. Fife has also been meeting the new high standards for A&E turnaround week after week, and these figures remind us how hard staff in our local NHS work to provide us all with a great service.

The Scottish Government has recently increased funding for NHS Fife and I look forward to meeting with health officials next month to see how its overall budget is being spent.

Welcome Annabelle! Your new MSP

Huge congratulations to Annabelle Ewing and her campaign team on her stunning election victory. The people of the Cowdenbeath constituency now have strong Team SNP representation at Holyrood and Westminster.

Both she and Shirley-Anne Somerville (Dunfermline) are strong women who are keen to start making their voices heard in Holyrood. Both are talented and experienced

individuals looking forward to working hard for the people they represent.

Annabelle has unseated the deputy leader of Scottish Labour in what was seen as a heartland for that party, and that's no mean feat. Shirley-Anne has also unseated Labour in Dunfermline and the West Fife villages which is a huge achievement.

I'm looking forward to reading about Annabelle’s activities in the Times (and her column) and working with her and Shirley-Anne to do our very best for all people in our respective constituencies.