North Cork charity bike run reflects late son’s ‘adventurous character’

There was a very special birthday celebration in the North Cork village of Watergrasshill recently for Matthew Healy, who would have celebrated his eighth birthday at the weekend were it not for his untimely death in February of last year.

The Matthew Healy Memorial Bike Run was a family day out for the participants who mounted their motorbikes and Honda 50s to go on a short but fun-packed round trip from Watergrasshill to Glenville and Rathcormac, before returning to base.

On the day, there were arts and crafts for the children, as well as music and food trucks. All money raised on the day will be added to a growing fund on the iDonate website, which will all be passed on to Make A Wish Ireland.

In the first year of the run, a total of €38,645 was raised.

Adventurous character

Matthew’s father, James, believes the charity reflects his late son’s fun and adventurous character.

“The loss Matthew has suffered is enormous, is absolute, and final, everything has been stolen from him in this life,” he said.

“The only thing I can do for him now in this life is to honour his memory and to bring as much positivity in his name as possible, despite all the devastation and destruction.”

While the run was an enjoyable day for all involved, James has set himself another task, which he had hoped to tackle with Matthew as his assistant.

“He was a bit like myself, he had no interest in football, it was always mechanics and things with wheels, the faster the better, like — you know how young ladeens are,” James said.

As James recounts it, Matthew saw that James was looking at a Honda 50 on an online site and asked what his plan was.

Honda 50

James explained that he had a Honda 50 when he was younger and was thinking of buying one and restoring it. Matthew said that he would like to do one as well, so the plan was hatched.

“I thought it would be a little project for the two of us,” he said. 

“I suppose, at six years old, he wasn’t going to be that much into it but the idea was that we’d spend some time looking, see a few of them and pick them up and that when he’d be 10, he’d be more into it. It would take a couple of years. It would be a project, that was the plan; but obviously that didn’t materialise.”

Now, a year on, James has bought two Honda 50s and is hoping to start work on the project in the next few months.

Matthew was found unresponsive in a car in Dunmore East, Co Waterford, on February 9, 2024.

His mother, Ruth Purcell Healy, was arrested and charged with his murder.