A SCHOOL in Kenya built with money raised in memory of a Northwich man who died in a road accident has opened its doors.

Family and friends of Brian Patterson raised more than £25,000 to continue a project of building a secondary school in the Magadi region of the country, which he started before his death in August 2003.

The first phase of the Patterson Memorial Secondary School has just been completed and the first intake of pupils started last month.

Mr Patterson, a former chairman of Winnington Park Rugby Club, died after his car went off the road in Kenya. The 58-year-old had been working in the African country as project director at Magadi Soda, the Kenyan arm of Northwich-based soda ash firm Brunner Mond.

His family were determined to ensure his legacy lived on, so set up the Brian Patterson Education Trust with the aim of supporting young people in Kenya, where Brian spent many years of his working life.

And with the help of the local community, enough money has been raised for the first phase to be built. It features two classrooms, two sanitation blocks and the refurbishment of existing properties to provide dormitories, a canteen, a common room and office facilities.

Mr Patterson's widow Val, who lives in Acton Bridge, said she was delighted the school was open: 'We are thrilled with the project and hope to continue raising money for the next stage to be built.

'Brian was quite a dynamic person and his friends and relatives have responded to that by helping us raise this money.'

She added: 'It has been absolutely amazing to get to this stage so quickly. It has been a very positive thing and, in a strange way, it helps you through the grief. My sons and I will never get over it but you have to learn to live with it and it is great that something so positive can come out of it.'

Val hopes to go out to the school in May following last month's grand opening ceremony that was attended by hundreds of local people, parents, schoolchildren and VIPs and covered by Kenyan TV.

The school will ultimately cater for about 320 pupils.