Community marine environmentalist
Born: June 3, 1944;
Died: December 10, 2016
TOM Boyle, who has died aged 72, was a community activist on Arran who played a major role in many community clubs and societies on the island and fought tirelessly to protect its environment. He was instrumental in having Lamlash Bay designated a protected area by the Scottish Government and played a major role in the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST).
He was born in Piddinghoe on the south coast of England, the son of a merchant seaman, and spent his working life with British Rail, becoming station master at Brighton and several other smaller stations. It was in this role that he was responsible for the safe travel of thousands of commuters everyday and met and welcomed many famous people of the day, including the Queen, politicians such as Henry Kissinger, astronaut Neil Armstrong and many others.
After retiring, he travelled the UK playing as many golf courses as he could and it was on his partner Carol’s suggestion that he went to Arran. It was a matter of great irony that he, who had spent a lifetime working with complex timetables, should misread the CalMac ferry timetable and miss the ferry back to the mainland. With a couple of hours to spare before the next ferry, he strolled to the village of Brodick, where an advert for a sandstone house in the estate agent’s window caught his interest. For something to read on the journey home he asked for the details. This eventually led to him and Carol buying the property and moving to Arran in 2001.
He took to island life with great gusto and one of his biggest influences was on the embryonic state of COAST. His skills of administration from his previous occupation were put to good effect, bringing systematic order to disorganised paperwork. He also instilled a contagious passion for environmental justice in all he met, which was instrumental in the designation of Scotland's first No-Take Zone protected area in Lamlash Bay in 2008.
In addition to the many hours of voluntary work and endless meetings all over Scotland, England and the Continent to achieve COAST’s aims, his most lasting legacy will be his example of determination and selflessness in achieving a positive outcome for the marine environment from within a community organisation, without making it about individual personalities. This is an ethos which is fundamental to the organisation to this day.
One of his happier times was when he picked up the winner's prize for the 2008 Observer Ethical Award, Conservation Project of the Year for the Community of Arran Seabed Trust from Annie Lennox, who was one of his musical heroines.
Most recently, he was very involved in the Bee Club as he had a great love and interest in working with his bees.
He will be missed by his many friends and all who knew him as an islander who gave more to the island than he took and for the example he set for us all
He is survived by his wife Carol and her two sons William and Thomas.
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