The 2019 Mike Henthorn Cruse Memorial Golf Day raised £8,000 for a charity.

The event, in aid of Cruse Bereavement Care Isle of Man, attracted 21 teams and saw Sean Dawson, Nick Kelly, Paul McMullan and Conor Sullivan emerge the winning team with a score of 56.1 net.

The day is named in memory of local businessman and ardent Cruse supporter Mike Henthorn, who died in 2015.

Cruse’s young people’s services co-ordinator Gill Skinner gave an outline of CruzKids, the support service for bereaved children and young people, at the event.

She also introduced service user and Cruse ambassador, 21-year-old Emilia Stringer.

In 2012, when Emilia was 15, her father died after a lengthy battle with cancer.

His death was, she said, a life-changing event that led her to seek the support of Cruse and counselling from Gill Skinner.

She said: ’Those counselling sessions helped me to get through each week and became a crucial part of my grieving process.

’Cruse has helped me to answer the hard questions I found too difficult to ask my family; it has helped my confidence to grow and shaped who I am today.’

The golf day was held at Peel Golf Club and sponsored for the eighth year in succession by Celton Manx.

Cruse Bereavement Care Isle of Man chairman Sam Skelton Skelton thanked Celton Manx for the company’s sponsorship at a time when Cruse was expanding its services

Celton Manx executive director Bill Mummery said that sponsoring the golf day was ’part of the fabric of Celton Manx’ and that the event not only served as a fitting tribute to Mike Henthorn, but also was an opportunity to promote the valuable work of Cruse, which he hailed ’one of the best run charitable organisations in the Isle of Man’.

He went on to say that the third sector, once little understood and merely ’tolerated’ was now acknowledged to be ’an important part of the solution in many areas of social needs’ and that Cruse was a prime example of how competent, well-managed charities were equipped to deliver services ’better, faster and more cost-effectively’.

Celton Manx will sponsor the 2020 Mike Henthorn Cruse Memorial Golf Day.

Cruse Bereavement Care Isle of Man in 2018: The numbers:

3100 hours given by Cruse volunteers;

210 adults and 170 children and young people supported;

90 requests for information and advice responded to;

86 new Facebook followers gained;

32 bereavement support volunteers saw clients;

30th year of Cruse Bereavement Care Isle of Man marked;

8 new bereavement support volunteers recruited and trained;

5 organisations received bereavement awareness training;

5 organisations received crisis support.