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Passing of campaigner for vulnerable people


By David Porter

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A North-east woman who changed the lives of hundreds of people with learning disabilities has died after a long illness.

Marcia Morris MBE from Methlick worked for decades as a volunteer to improve services for people with learning disabilities and their families.

She died on Friday November 1, aged 83.

Born in Reading in 1936 she spent her earlier life in Southampton, moving with her family to live in Orkney and then the north-east of Scotland in 1970.

Inspired by her late son Simon who had learning disabilities, she fought hard to ensure he had a good quality of life.

This led to a lifetime of volunteering when in 1975 she became a founding member of the Inverurie branch of the Scottish Society for the Mentally Handicapped – later renamed Enable.

Three years later she was elected onto the governing body of Enable and became chairman in 1992 until 1998.

Shortly after that she became a founding member of Enable Grampian and was key to the group receiving National Lottery Funding.

She was involved in various working groups with Enable and her raison d’etre was to continue to improve the lives of vulnerable people and to ensure they received education and training and could lead fulfilling and interesting lives.

In 1997 she founded a community enterprise company –Wood RecyclAbility at Pitmedden.

Still in existence it provides practical training opportunities for adults with learning disabilities.

A trail blazer at the time, the award winning company made garden and wildlife products from recycled wood.

In 1988 Marcia became a founding director of Partnership Housing, ( now Inspire Partnership Through Life), which was established to assist with the provision of services and accommodation following the closure of mental health hospitals at Ladysbridge in Banff and Woodlands near Aberdeen.

Throughout her life Marcia was determined to improve understanding, tolerance and opportunities for people with learning disabilities.

She also worried about how vulnerable many of them were.

In 1986 this led her and her deceased husband Glynn to make their son Simon a test case for the resurrection of the Scots Common Law which had not been used since 1924 and aimed to protect vulnerable people.

Following the success of Simon’s case it was incorporated into the Mental Health Act and means that welfare and/or financial guardians can be appointed for vulnerable people.

Marcia initially helped a number of families to put this type of guardianship in place.

She firmly believed that most people with learning disabilities were far more capable than most people realised and she ensured that as much training as possible was provided for the trainees who attended Wood RecyclAbility.

She had patience in abundance when it came to working closely with vulnerable people and their families.

But this patience did not extend to those in authority when she felt the best services weren’t being provided

She was often described as “ a fountain of knowledge “ and helped parents of children with learning disabilities to get the best services possible.

She was a force to be reckoned with and fought their corner very hard.

She was awarded a very well-deserved MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List this year for her services to people with learning disabilities.

She received it from the Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire James Ingleby at a gathering of family and friends at Tarves.

She is survived by her two children Peter and Linda, and four grandchildren and three great grandchildren .

Her funeral service will be at Clovery Woods, Fyvie, on Friday, November 15 at 11am.


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