Joanne Thompson, Millie’s Trust

We were delighted to be welcomed to Millie’s Trust’s new headquarters last week to find out more about Bramhall-based Joanne Thompson, Lorraine Kelly’s “Inspirational Woman of the Year”.

For those who don’t know, Millie’s Trust was founded after Joanne & Dan Thompson’s tragic loss of their daughter Millie who passed away at just 9 months old after a choking incident at a local nursery in October 2012.  Just two months after her passing, Joanne and Dan started Millie’s Trust which provides First Aid Training for everyone – no mater what their situation in life is.  The Trust has gone from strength to strength and has recently moved into new headquarters so that they can run first aid training courses in-house as well as having lots of space for the day-to-day running of the Trust and to provide room for stock for their on-line shop.

So who are this amazing couple?  Joanne and Dan originally met at work. Joanne, originally from Burnley, was a Quantity Surveyor and Dan, from Cheadle Hulme was a CAD Technician and you could say their romance was a whirlwind!  They moved in with each other after just one month, were engaged after five, were married within 8 months and are now 5 years together.  They live in Bramhall and have a ‘bonkers’ chocolate labrador who keeps them on their toes and are soon to be parents again as they are expecting a little boy in March next year.

Joanne was nominated for Lorraine Kelly’s ‘Inspirational Woman of the Year’ by her friend Sarah Golding who recently travelled with her to the TV studios where she went through to a public vote as one of the final three in the competition.  The final three were treated to an invite only luncheon where the awards were presented and Joanne won the public vote.  As well as many celebrities that attended Joanne was inspired by the authors she met and particularly by an amazing lady who was the first ever Navy Submariner.

In their quest to ensure that all Nurseries have properly trained staff they recently raised a government petition to take to Parliament and required 100,000 signatures in order to be heard.  When we spoke they were just a few thousand short and we are delighted that they met their goal over this weekend.

Millie’s Trust has 20 professional trainers who have Medical, Firefighter or Army backgrounds and over 50 volunteers who can be called upon in busy times.  They were needed last week – when Joanne appeared on ‘Lorraine’ they had 14,500 on-line hits and over 2 million people saw their posts.  Their volunteers were called in to help pack the on-line orders as they had an influx after the TV and Media coverage.  Joanne & Millie’s Trust are soon to be featured in magazines and newspapers which is brilliant as it raises the awareness of the Trust even further, which eventually will lead to more lives being saved as a result of their training programmes.

Millie’s Trust run a number of courses from Family First Aid Courses, OFSTED approved Paediatric First Aid Courses through to ‘At your home’ private courses and when we were at their offices they were in the middle of a two-day OFSTED course.  Their courses are open to all and they welcome breastfeeding mums too as they fully understand that it is very difficult to leave a young baby for a full day.  In fact their youngest baby on a course was two days old!   All their courses and lots of other useful information, their online shop and First Aid Tips can be found on their website www.milliestrust.com.

There will be a Coffee and Cake Morning (and Christmas Shopping Stalls) aptly entitled ‘Millie’s Madness’ in aid of Millie’s Trust on Thursday November 6th 10am – 12.30pm at the newly refurbished Stockport Rugby Club, Headlands Road, Bramhall.

We thank Joanne and the team at Millie’s Trust for talking to us and we eagerly anticipate the announcement of your next achievements and awards.

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