Donegal Man Leaves Vital Legacy

A new building has been opened at a London school in memory of a teacher from The Rosses. John Boyle died on 1 January 2012, of lung cancer, at the age of 60. He was the son of Susie Boyle of Cloughglass, Burtonport and of the late John Boyle of Acres, Burtonport. His parents both returned to Donegal, to Cloughglass in the 1980s. John senior passed away in 2000; Susie continues to live there and play an active part in the community.

John was a frequent visitor to Cloughlass, spending many of his summers there and particularly enjoying the fishing. He taught at Alperton Community School in Wembley. Last month, the John Boyle Inclusion Centre, which cost more than 500,000 to build, was opened there. Funded jointly by Brent Council and Alperton Community School, the centre will to enable up to 20 students with moderate learning difficulties to transfer to Alperton for their KS4 education.

As well as giving the students the opportunity to take GCSEs and other courses, the centre will help prepare students for an independent life in the community. They will have the opportunity to study in the Sixth Form at Alperton and be prepared for further education and work beyond this.

Head teacher, Maggie Rafee, said: “The John Boyle Centre is dedicated to the memory of our much loved and much missed colleague, John Boyle. “John was a passionate champion of inclusion and in his outstanding teaching career here and elsewhere he stood up for the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. We hope that the students’ lives will be enriched by the opportunity to study at Alperton Community School. We know that our school community will be greatly enriched by having the students join us. It will afford all those in our school community the opportunity to develop empathy and understanding in a way which leads to greater equality for all.”