School reclaims its hero

School governors have voted to rename a Southall school after anti-fascist activist Blair Peach, overturning a controversial name-change two years ago.

Governors at Hayes Bridge Primary are to ask Ealing's newly-elected Labour council for permission to change the name back, to honour a man regarded by many in Southall's Asian community as a martyr. Madhav Patil, chairman of governors, said: 'Blair Peach will always live in our hearts. He was a teacher who came to the defence of the people of Southall against the fascists'.

Peach, a New Zealander and member of the Anti-Nazi League, died during dem-onstrations against a National Front meeting in Southall Town Hall in April 1979, after the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group charged a group of protesters in a street.

The SPG, blamed by many for Peach's death, was later disbanded.