Every Church of Scotland residential home has an associated group of people who are known as the Friends. Leslie House was no exception and the residents were fortunate to have the support of the Friends of Leslie House.

On Monday April 22nd, four days after the proposal to close Leslie House was announced, the Rev. James MacMillan, who is the Minister of Christ's Kirk, Glenrothes, the local parish, and a leading member of the Friends of Leslie House .met with Ross Vettraino, who is a member of the Leslie House 21 Group, and they discussed ways in which the proposal to close Leslie House could be resisted until the well being of the residents was secured. At that meeting, James MacMillan said that the Friends had a cash balance of £3,000.

Since that day, James. MacMillan has never met again with Ross Vettraino and has been conspicuous by his absence from all of the meetings of the Leslie House 21 Group.

On May 18th the Friends hosted a "Gala Lunch" to mark the closure of Leslie House and gave to each resident the gift of a carriage clock and to each member of staff the gift of a Bible.

For many years, the Friends have worked unstintingly in the interests of Leslie House and its residents. The Friends have done untold countless good works by way of raising funds, all of which have been donated to Leslie House. Through their efforts it has been possible for Leslie House to acquire specialised baths and other equipment. Recently, the Friends enabled extensive works of redecoration to be carried out. All in all, the Friend shave made it possible for the residents to enjoy a better quality of life than might have otherwise been the case.

At the suggestion of the Rev. James MacMillan, the Friends of Leslie House were invited, through their Secretary, to attend the inaugural meeting. No response whatsoever was received to that invitation and at each meeting of the Leslie House 21 Group the Friends, like James MacMillan, have been conspicuous by their absence.

In August, the Friends declined an invitation to attend a meeting of the Leslie House 21 Group fundraisers.

For the Friends to abandon the residents of Leslie House, at a time when they are needed most, is curiously inconsistent with all of the good work that the Friends have done over the years.

Why did the Friends of Leslie House abandon the residents just when the residents needed them most?

It is also curious, midst all of the cries of the Board of Social Responsibility of the Church of Scotland that the Church can no longer continue to subsidise the care of the elderly, whose home is Leslie House, that the Church can fund the cost of substantial alterations and extensions to the church of the parish in which Leslie House is located