Willie McCarney was born in Wales but grew up in Northern Ireland. His father encouraged him to embrace education as a way out of poverty. He passed the 11+, studied hard and graduated as a teacher in 1961. He was firmly of the view that every child should be given the chance to be educated to the limits of his/her talents. When The Troubles, broke out in August 1969 he was teaching in St Peter’s Secondary School in West Belfast, literally in the eye of the storm. Seemingly oblivious to the guerrilla war raging around him, he set out to promote the rights of disaffected young people in St Peter’s. He never dreamt that his project would grow into an international, worldwide, campaign for the rights of all children.
While there was terrorist-related activity happening somewhere in Northern Ireland daily, Belfast bore the brunt of it, and the two-mile stretch of road between Willie’s home and the school had more than its share. He travelled that corridor of death to and from school every day. In school, he was...