Ronnie Hart dedicated his life to promoting sport across the city
Ronnie Hart dedicated his life to promoting sport across the city
A family have paid tribute to a ‘legendary’ grandad who transformed the lives of people across Liverpool. Ronnie Hart, who lived in Speke for most of his life after moving from the city centre, died last week after a short illness, aged 85.
Ronnie, along with Bill Sergeant and Jim Ross, founded the original Liverpool Half Marathon in 1994, which still takes place in the city to this day.
He was also behind several other initiatives for young people and sport in the city such as the Speke Adventure Playground, known as The Venny, and the Gemini Boxing Club, also located in Speke.
For many years, Ronnie held a full time position in the Merseyside Youth Association as a sports development officer. In that role, he helped develop a comprehensive programme of sports and activities for young people with the affiliated youth clubs across the city.
For over 50 years, Ronnie also gave up his spare time with voluntary work at many different levels to provide opportunities for the young and the community at large.
He was also a scout for Liverpool FC’s youth teams and organised the Richard Simons Memorial Football Competition, in honour of Richard who had Down’s syndrome and died in 1983 at the age of 18.
The competition was attended by many Liverpool legends over the years including Robbie Fowler. In his younger years, Ronnie spent time in the army.
Paying tribute to the ECHO, his grandson Lewis Hart, 23, said the family have been flooded with support in the last few days. Lewis said: “I didn’t really understand how much of a legend he was until I grew up. He wasn’t just a granddad, he was a legend for many.
“Since his passing, the amount of people that have knocked on the door and paid their condolences is amazing. The majority of people in Speke are talking about him, calling him the ‘Speke legend.’
“We announced it on one of the Speke community pages yesterday and in six hours alone hundreds of people have commented on it, with loads of people saying what he’d done for them.
“The Speke Venny is somewhere where many kids could go and get them off the street. Gemini is a boxing gym that is transforming lives to this day, with many boxing prospects from Liverpool coming out of there.”
In 2013, Ronnie was awarded the lifetime achiever and special recognition honours at the Merseyside Sporting Champions Dinner.
On what motivated his grandad to help others through sport, Lewis said: “ I think he lost his dad at a young age. He got into sports and it helped him afterwards.
“I found an old article before where he said, if you don’t get to a child by the time they’re 16 and introduce some sort of sports or point them in the right direction, there’s a high chance of them going down the wrong path.
“You aren’t going to find many others who do 40 to 50 years of community work voluntarily. He said once, when people are in need and I’m making my dinner, my dinner goes back in the oven and I’ll help them. That’s the type of person he was.”
Lewis added that Ronnie was still training into his 80s and “running rings round everyone”. The family have been comforted by the amount of tributes in this difficult time.
He said: “My nan’s absolutely heartbroken. They were married for about 65 years coming up to July. Seeing all these people come forward and remember him saying things is obviously helping us. He was a gentleman until the end. He was still getting up looking after me and my nan. He’s an absolute role model.”
Ronnie leaves behind his wife Joan, along with his five children – Ronnie Jnr, Tony, Susan, Janet and Steven – as well as 52 grandchildren and great grandchildren.