Keirans Legacy is delighted to announce today that they have received the BBC Scotland’s People Award. This exciting announcement was broadcast last night during the BBC’s Scotland’s People TV show. Presented by Jackie Bird, this heartwarming festive show celebrates people across Scotland who have gone above and beyond.
Earlier this year, Sandra and Gordon McKandie, founders of Keirans Legacy, were invited to an interview at the Glenlivet Mountain Bike Trail Centre by the BBC under the guise that they were taking part in Dougie Vipond’s ‘The Adventure Show’. Unbeknown to them, Jackie Bird met them and it was unveiled that they were there to receive a Scotland’s People award in recognition of their extraordinary acts of care and kindness by donating over 230 defibrillators throughout Scotland.
It was also during this encounter they found out that they were not only being presented with a Scotland’s People Award but also there was to be ‘Keirans Line’ trail built at the Glenlivet Mountain Bike Trail Centre in their son, Keiran McKandie’s, honour. This would see Keirans Legacy achieve a core charity aim and celebrate Keirans love of all things mountain biking.
‘Keirans Legacy’ is a Scottish charity which helps provide life-saving equipment (primarily defibrillators) and training across Scotland. Keirans Legacy was founded in 2016 by Sandra and Gordon McKandie of Moray, as a result of their 16-year-old son Keiran being involved in an accident with a car which was fatal on the 20th of March 2016.
Sandra McKandie, Keirans mum and Keirans Legacy founder tells us more about the award win “Keiran lived and breathed mountain biking and his trail is in the most breathtaking location and well used by the mountain biking fraternity. Knowing that Keiran and his legacy will live on is everything. He would be stoked to have a trail that he could call his own, to spend time with his friends while allowing others to develop and ride in an amazing part of Scotland.”
Sandra and Gordon were put forward for the Scotland’s People award by James Cant, Chief Executive Officer at Resuscitation Council UK. He tells us more “Resuscitation Council UK nominated Sandra and Gordon in recognition of their bravery and commitment in response to the tragic loss of their son, Keiran. Our mission is to ensure that everyone who needs resuscitation gets that chance to survive. And we can only achieve that with the support and actions of people like Sandra and Gordon. Their work in placing defibrillators across Moray, and Scotland as a whole means that members of the public can play their part in the process of lifesaving. We’ve already seen this, and met with the people whose lives have been saved as a result.”
Since its formation in 2016, Keirans Legacy has saved 9 lives, installed 230+ defibrillators in local communities and emergency response vehicles across Scotland, and provided defibrillator CPR training within local communities and defibrillator & CPR training in secondary schools throughout Moray in collaboration with the local council.
Keirans Legacy’s mission is to improve the chances of survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest including trauma victims by installing and maintaining appropriate equipment (primarily defibrillators), training individuals in first aid and lobbying the government to legislate to ensure emergency response services have a national policy regarding deployment to ensure the nearest emergency service is deployed for their use. It also assists in improving the well-being and mental health of others by providing recreational activities.
The award win comes at an important period of growth for Keirans Legacy as they appoint new charity trustees and also recently announced their Police Scotland partnership which saw Keirans Legacy donate defibrillator equipment to the value of £80,000 to Police Scotland, which ensured that a defibrillator is available to all road policing units, Scotland-wide
