The Bobby Colleran Trust
1142. Joanne Colleran
1143. David Colleran
Joanne and David Colleran, from Liverpool, founded ‘The Bobby Colleran Trust’ in 2014 to promote road safety awareness after the tragic death of their son, Bobby at the age of 6.
Bobby was knocked down on the way home from school and Joanne and David later learned that over 1,000 children are injured every month in road traffic incidents within a 500 metre radius of their school. Starting locally, and working with Liverpool City Council, they were successful in making the road outside Bobby’s school safer. In cooperation with Radio City, Joanne and David, were also successful in implementing Bobby Zones, areas of maximum 20 mph, outside primary schools in Liverpool. The charity now offers a variety of services, such as school assemblies on road safety for children, guidance for schools on obtaining relevant safety measures, and bereavement support. They are campaigning for Bobby Zones to be established outside schools around the UK.
Joanne and David were presented with their awards by the Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Mims Davies MP, at Westminster.
In a personal letter to Joanne and David, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“The strength you have shown, since losing Bobby, is truly inspiring. You have taken the worst tragedy imaginable and turned it into a commitment to improving road safety for other children and families. Your work is making a real difference to road safety in Liverpool and beyond and I wish you well for the future.”
Mims Davies MP, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said:
“I have been honoured to welcome Joanne and David to Westminster today to present them with their Points of Light award from the Prime Minister. Hearing more about their campaign to improve road safety for children in memory of their son Bobby has been incredibly moving. They really are shining examples of the difference volunteers are making around the country every day.”
Joanne and David said:
“This is a great honour to receive a Points of Light award, particularly as the award is dated 13th March, Bobby’s birthday. This leaves us feeling very proud of our work and the award more personal and special to us. We are grateful to the Prime Minister for this recognition which will undoubtedly help our Trust grow. Since the day we lost Bobby we vowed to make our school roads safe and more recently we have introduced bereavement support to children and families, as we know from our experience that this is vital and can be difficult to find. The incredible support from the people of Liverpool has helped us find motivation and inspiration to keep going through our heartache. ‘The Bobby Colleran Trust’ has a dedicated team of board members and we will continue to make a difference together.”