Trim businessman’s legacy will be first aid training for students
Fundraising initiative created life-saving training in honour of much missed Stephen Leonard
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500 local primary school children will be trained in first aid by the end of this year thanks to funds raised via The Stephen Leonard Memorial CycleImage 2 of 7
Students from Dangan NS Summerhill learning life saving skills.Image 3 of 7
Jackie, Lucy and Sophie Leonard with Andy Reilly Cohort TrainingImage 4 of 7
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Stephen doing what he loved most - cyclling in Mallorca in 2018Image 6 of 7
The community of Trim was left in shock when well known business man Stephen Leonard died in 2021.Image 7 of 7
Jackie, Lucy and Sophie Leonard with Jane McSherry and Frank Connolly from Trim Red Cross.Hundreds of local school children will be trained in first aid thanks to a fundraising initiative created in honour of a much loved Trim businessman whose shock death in 2021 rocked the community.
In March 2021 the town of Trim lost one of its most prominent business men, Stephen Leonard, when he died suddenly while out on a spin with some members of Trim Cycling Club. The loss of such a young man stunned the town and devastated the Leonard family but Stephen's legacy is sure to live on thanks to a dedicated committee who have worked tirelessly to introduce life saving training for students in local schools.
Over €26,000 was raised and given to local charities and organisations as well as Irish Heart Foundation in Stephen's memory from The Big Heart Cycle, an event created in the popular local man's name.
The two-day Big Heart Cycle included a number of events including an 11k family cycle, a 65k two-county challenge and a 110k four-county challenge.
An Emergency First Aid programme was held in 6th class of St Mary's NS Trim where over 50 young adults have been taught life saving skills by Andy Reilly and his team from Cohort Recruitment and Training.
"So far we have two schools trained. After the mid term break it will be rolled out to another seven schools that have been signed up so we are hoping by the end of the school year we will 500 young adults trained in first aid," said committee member Gary Costello.
"We just wanted to create a legacy that his wife Jackie and daughters Lucy and Sophie who he adored would be proud of and hopefully schools will recognise that it is a great programme and keep it going," he added.
"A young person who does this training might find a passion for this and become and nurse or doctor or if god forbid something happened in their life they would have the skills to be cool, calm and collected and make a phone call, take a pulse and go into CPR mode."
Stephen who ran Chris Leonard Hardware and Electrical store on Market Street in the town was one of the long-standing members of Trim Cycling Club. He was involved with the original club in the late seventies and early eighties as an underage cyclist.
As part of the memorial cycle, Gary along with Canice Bennett and Michael Harrington who were with Stephen when he passed away embarked on journey to honour their friend.
"We really wanted to finish the cycle that Stephen would have finished, said Gary. "We had a Garda escort through Trim passing Trim Castle where the Trim Camogie team were waving red and white flags. Then we went to Dunderry, it was the Dunderry Fair that day and we went passed where Stephen passed away and there was a guard of honour there by his family and friends."