Latest news with #StirlingHighSchool
The Courier
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
10 famous faces you didn't know were educated in Stirling
Stirling and its surrounding area has produced many celebrities over the years. From TV stars to sporting legends, plenty of famous faces went to school locally. While tennis pros Andy and Jamie Murray are among the most celebrated names, others are less synonymous with the area. Here are 10 well-known figures who you may not have known studied in the Stirling Council area. All Quiet on the Western Front claimed four Oscars in 2023. But did you know its screenwriter and producer, Lesley Paterson, is from Stirling? The triathlon world champion used her race winnings to retain the rights to the film. Lesley credits Allan's Primary for developing her passion for writing. And it was while attending Stirling High School that she first read the original book by Erich Maria Remarque. Influencer and Love Island star Laura Anderson is also an alumnus of Stirling High School. The former flight attendant from Cambusbarron was crowned runner-up on the fourth series of Love Island in 2018. She has also appeared on Celebrity Karaoke Club and reality show Celebs Go Dating. Laura has 1.5 million followers on Instagram and almost 40,000 on TikTok. Finn Russell is a big name in Scottish rugby. The Bridge of Allan native has 87 caps and currently plays for Premiership club Bath. After leaving Wallace High School, he worked as a stonemason before becoming a full-time rugby player. But it was during his secondary education that he discovered his love for the sport. Having starred in Bad Girls, Wire In The Blood, EastEnders and Downton Abbey, Simone Lahbib is a household name. The Scottish actress is a former pupil of St Modan's High School. She then went to ballet school and later studied drama at Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh. Olympian Ross Murdoch is well known in the swimming world. The six-time Commonwealth Games medallist was part of the University of Stirling's high-performance swim programme and graduated with a MSc in sport Management in 2022. But before finding aquatic fame, he attended Balfron High School. Nick Nairn hasn't strayed too far from home with his restaurant ventures. The Trossachs TV chef runs Nick's at Port of Menteith and his Bridge of Allan eatery closed last year. In 1991, he became the youngest Scottish chef to win a Michelin star and appeared on The Great Food Guys with Dougie Vipond. He attended McLaren High School in Callander, as well as Port of Menteith Primary. Finn Russell isn't the only rugby legend to come out of Wallace High School. Kenny Logan's international career saw him win 70 caps for his country, 220 points and compete in both the Five Nations and the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He is currently dedicated to fundraising for motor neurone disease (MND) in honour of former teammate Doddie Weir. Globally known musician and CHVRCHES star Lauren Mayberry grew up in Thornhill, near Stirling. The former journalist, whose band is known for hit single The Mother We Share, has played at top festivals, including Coachella and Glastonbury. Lauren went to Beaconhurst School – now Fairview International School – in Bridge of Allan before studying at Strathclyde University. Basketball ace Kieron Achara was part of Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics and has played at the Commonwealth Games. He got his start at Falkirk Fury, played for Duquesne College in the United States and retired in 2019 after more than a decade with the Glasgow Rocks. The former Stirling High School pupil is on the board of directors for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Since leaving Wallace High School, actress Mirren Mack has gone on to star in some big shows. These includes Netflix's Sex Education and The Witcher: Blood Origin, as well as BBC's The Nest and Miss Austen. The Stirling star went to Holy Trinity Primary School and Riverside Primary, as well as the Dance School of Scotland in Glasgow and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
The Courier
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Courier
Stirling teacher's Chinese 'blacklisting' claim tribunal dismissed
A Stirling teacher who claimed she was being blocked from certain teaching jobs has had her employment tribunal case dismissed. During a dramatic two-day hearing earlier this month, Rong Rong MacLeod said she had been asked to 'be a spy' for her home country of China when she first moved to the UK in 1987, but refused. She also accused specific Stirling Council staff of working to stop her from gaining employment in certain teaching roles, and of having links to the Chinese state through funding schemes. Further claims included being asked to teach Mandarin for free, and being 'watched' by Chinese government officials due to previous political activism. Mrs MacLeod's case argued she had been discriminated against by Stirling Council on grounds of her political beliefs and ethnicity. However, the tribunal unanimously agreed the 63-year-old had not been subjected to direct discrimination under section 13 of the Equality Act 2010. As a result, the claim was dismissed. Several council employees appeared as witnesses during the hearings, including Stirling High School resource officer Fiona McGonigle and Bannockburn High School's head teacher, Karen Hook. Both witnesses denied any improper behaviour or outside influence when it came to processing job applications submitted by the claimant, and said they had no awareness of the claimant's political beliefs. Mrs MacLeod argued both Mrs Hook and Stirling High School Mandarin teacher Li Hong Yu had vendettas against her. In their written decision, the tribunal said: 'There was no evidence we found of the decision-makers for either application taking race or belief into account consciously or subconsciously in any way at all.' Throughout the tribunal, Mrs MacLeod maintained Chinese government interference was happening within Stirling Council schools via the Chinese state-sponsored Confucius Institute. The tribunal's decision said: 'The tribunal must have an evidential basis for primary facts on which to make such a finding, and a belief from the claimant however genuinely held cannot be a sufficient basis for doing so. 'Ms McGonigle and Ms Hook rejected any suggestion of that, and we accepted their evidence. 'There was absolutely no primary fact evidence of any involvement by the Confucius Institute either directly or indirectly.' There are currently four Confucius Institutes set up in Scottish universities, and dozens of Confucius classroom hubs servicing primary and secondary schools, as well as the influential Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools (CISS). These are mostly funded by Beijing to promote language and culture. While giving evidence to the tribunal, Mrs MacLeod said she attended a public demonstration in London in response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing. After that, she claims she received 'constant' telephone calls, and visits from three Chinese embassy workers who threatened her for speaking out against the Chinese government. Prior to 1989, the teacher had been a member of the Chinese Communist Party, but gave up her membership following the events at Tiananmen Square. She claims that when she moved to the UK to work in the textile industry, she was instructed to report back anything 'of interest to China'. 'I was asked to report everything I saw and learned,' she told the tribunal. Mrs MacLeod's solicitor asked: 'Espionage? Spying? Were you asked, in effect, to be a spy?' She replied: 'Yes.' As The Courier reported in December 2024, Mrs MacLeod also claims she came face to face with a representative of the Chinese government more recently, just before the Covid pandemic began.
