80 Little Heads Safe and Sound
Aloha, friends,
As some of you may know, I am at my happiest in the summer at the Lincolnshire coast… you know, Mr Whippy, sand between my toes and generally not being at work!
Lincolnshire being Lincolnshire, I’ve got to know a few people really well and one of the most inspiring and interesting families I’ve ever met is that of Ryan Smith. In 2013, 16 year old Ryan went out on his bicycle without a helmet and was involved in a catastrophic, life changing accident which left him with serious injuries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe7_yQORQBo
Since the accident, Ryan’s family have campaigned tirelessly to get everybody (not just children) to wear a cycle helmet… including me:
Me and my daughter Esme in our Team Ryan Smith helmets.
Quite honestly, the work they do is incredible!
Well, a few weeks ago I was running an inset at Lache Primary School in Cheshire and was told that their cycle safety scheme was under threat due to a lack of helmets.
http://www.lache.cheshire.sch.uk/
Immediately, I thought of Team Ryan Smith… I passed the details on to the school and the next time I visited Lache… all of the children had shiny new helmets. 40 of them, all donated to the school for free by the Team Ryan Smith Foundation.
A few days later I was visiting St Andrew’s Primary School in Bishop Auckland http://www.st-andrews-pri.durham.sch.uk/ and over coffee told the Head Teacher Nicola James this incredible story only to find that they had the same problem. What was I to do? Surely I couldn’t ring Mark Smith (Ryan’s dad) again!!! No! Too cheeky for sure! But hey, these children’s safety was at stake. So I practiced putting my case across – what could I possibly say to get another 40 helmets?
I needn’t have bothered! The answer was an immediate YES. I assured him that these children were worth it, to which he replied “All children are worth it!”
Mark and Samantha at Team Ryan Smith Foundation have done their bit to keep 80 little heads (and many more besides) safe and sound. They are real heroes!
Visit them here:
https://www.facebook.com/ryansmithfoundation/
Peace, love and stay out of trouble
Andrew
www.peoplefirsteducation.com