Donation will give 500 pupils first aid skills

MORE than 500 children in Macclesfield are to be given life saving training thanks to a generous donation.

Bollington Insurance Brokers has paid £2,500 to Millie’s Trust to provide free first aid training for children in the town.

Schools just need to apply to receive the one day training course, which will be suitable for children in year five and above, including secondary school students.

Groups of up to 30 children will be taught basic life support skills and how to use a defibrillator during an afternoon or morning session.

Millie’s Trust was set up by Joanne and Dan Thompson, from Cheadle Hulme, who are on a mission to ensure everyone has access to first aid training after their baby daughter Millie died in a choking incident at nursery.

Millie’s Trust chief executive, Joanne Thompson, said: “Millie’s Trust is extremely proud to have been given the opportunity to train over 500 children in the Macclesfield area in 2017 thanks to the generosity of Bollington and Ecclesiastical.

“We are looking forward to teaching the children essential basic life support skills; something that we strongly believe should be on the school curriculum.”

The Bollington broker, which has offices in Bollington, Macclesfield and Altrincham, won the money in a charity prize draw run by Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, but chose to donate it to Millie’s Trust for the benefit of school children across Macclesfield.

Carl Shaw, commercial director, said: “We are delighted to have the chance to support a very worthy local charity with financial backing from our friends at Ecclesiastical Insurance. Giving children first aid training at the earliest opportunity provides them with a skill that can save lives.”

Schools can email info@ milliestrust.com to apply. Emails must be sent from a school email address and applications must be made by Sunday, July 9. The draw will be made the following day and the successful schools will be contacted to arrange the training days.

The training must be taken by December 15, 2017.

Millie’s Trust provides free first aid awareness courses to expectant parents, parents who have a child under the age of 12 months, or parents who are struggling to find the funds to attend.

‘Giving children first aid training... provides them with a skill that can save lives’