Champion show

Published on 29/08/2012 00:00

I WRITE in response to your 
Paralympics article (28 August) and in particular the story about the graduates of the former Royal Blind School.

I believe the family of Libby and James Clegg (Paralympians mentioned in the article) moved to Scotland to take advantage 
of the unique facilities and philosophy of the Royal Blind School.

This is not a new phenomenon; the school has a proud history in the Paralympics, having had several gold medallists among its former pupils.

In the early years of the Paralympics (1970s and 1980s) it produced athletes who came to Edinburgh for their education and were in the vanguard of visually handicapped sport.

In 1980 the Games were held at Arnhem in Holland.

These games produced three gold medals, two of them in athletics (William McLeod OBE and Derek Howie).

One of the recipients also represented Scotland at full international level in athletics, long before a female American runner got many column inches about the same. The time was wrong for him.

So, we must take great pride in our capital’s pioneering Royal Blind School, and those who teach and coach athletes to reach the Paralympics.

Scotland must use this legacy as a nation to ensure the “2012 Olympic feel-good factor” turns into the best use of the goodwill and facilities present to allow future generations to benefit from this legacy.

The school has had to fight hard to be in forefront of the new enlightenment.

It is not just an educational 
facility but an asset to the nation.

Hamish Tulloch

Stewart Terrace

Edinburgh