Next month, West Belfast will make more history when it becomes the first community in Ireland to raise a cool million pounds to help its third level students on their educational journey.
Certainly that's the target the enterprising West Belfast Partnership Board has set itself with its call for local businesses to help it raise £135,000 in contributions for this year's Aisling Bursary fund. For that sum, itself the highest ever raised in a single year, will ensure the £1m ceiling is smashed.
Established in 2002 to give aspiring university students a leg-up (note, never a handout), the Aisling Bursaries always prided itself on doing more than just boosting the fortunes of individual students. No, its eyes were always on a bigger prize - that of highlighting the crucial importance of education to a community on the rise.
It may have been Nelson Mandela who first said, "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" but he was only repeating what our own political prisoners had learnt in the woebegone Cages of Long Kesh and the dreary cells of Armagh Prison — both veritable universities.
Education may indeed set us free but, paradoxically, it's most certainly not free. We know, of course, that a good education demands metaphorical blood, sweat and tears but equally, it also requires pounds, shillings and pence.
And that's where the Aisling Bursaries come in. Backed by businesses across Belfast — most notably the small businesses which are the economic spine of West Belfast – and by our social enterprises, the bursaries provide that few extra bob (£1,000 for a full-time course, £500 for part-time study) which can help smooth the educational path.
SEEING DOUBLE: Kevin Grieve with twins Katie and Jane back in 2002
We have no doubt but that our business community will put its shoulder to the wheel over coming weeks to ensure the Partnership Board blasts through the £1m barrier. Perhaps then we will see more stories similar to that of Kevin Grieve (above), who was pictured in this paper back in 2002 with his twin daughters Katie and Jane after picking up his Aisling bursary.
Kevin used that stipend to complete a degree in sports studies and is now a popular fitness instructor in Andersonstown who is also renowned for taking gym classes for schoolchildren with special needs. Equally importantly, both Katie and Jane (pictured below) graduated from university this summer.
Which only goes to confirm what we always know about those little Aisling Bursary acorns from which great oaks grow.
