A charity that gives people somewhere to turn when a loved one dies is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Cruse Bereavement Care charity offers free, voluntary and confidential bereavement support to local people of all ages.

To launch the 30th anniversary, Cruse held a celebration at Douglas Yacht Club with current and former volunteers and staff invited to reflect on 30 years of service and to look forward to continuing its important work.

Chairman Sam Skelton said: ’I’d like to thank all our volunteers and supporters past and present who have helped make Cruse the highly respected charity it is today.’

He added: 'You should all be rightly proud of your efforts and with the help of new funding from friends of Cruse, these are exciting times for us as we are now able to look at taking new premises whilst providing the widest support to the bereaved in the years ahead.'

Cruse Bereavement Care is partly-funded by a Department of Health and Social Care grant.

However. the service relies on other donations and volunteers to operate. The Manx-registered charity is affiliated to the national charity, Cruse Bereavement Care.

The organisation offers help to adults of all ages and over the last three decades has supported about 3,000 adults in need of bereavement support.

Another key service is support to children and young people.

The support for children and young people started over 10 years ago with awareness sessions to high schools, reaching thousands of young people and over the last eight years the charity has helped more than 700 children through one-to-one support and other bereavement support activities.

Among the guests at the Yacht Club event was one of the local founder members and long-standing volunteer, Judy Arnold, who in 2014 was awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, recognising her service of more than 25 years.

The charity will be hosting several more celebratory and fundraising events throughout the year, including ’Cruise for Cruse’ on board the Karina vessel, Memory Walk, corporate golf competition, family fun day, black tie ball, and many more to be announced.

Cruse is currently looking to recruit and train new bereavement support volunteers so is holding an information and question session on Saturday, February 10, at its headquarters in Onchan.

Amanda Cafearo, chief operating officer, said: ’Volunteers are essential for our work and we would welcome anyone interested in all different areas of our work including working directly with bereaved people, administration and fundraising.’

Sam added: ’As a charity, we do rely heavily on those who give their time for free. Whether those people have suffered a loss in the past and wish to help others in the same situation, or simply just want give something back to the community, our door is open to anyone who would like to get involved.

’We offer specialist training to all our volunteers, so they are well prepared to help others cope with loss, giving them the best assistance possible.’

Patron Mr Geoff Karran MBE closed the event saying: ’I’ve been delighted to be involved with Cruse for many years and am honoured to be patron. Cruse is a very valued service provider helping those in their hour of need and I too want to thank all our volunteers for their ongoing professionalism and dedication.’

Anyone wishing to attend the volunteer event, or any other event throughout the year can call 668192 or email [email protected] to find out more and book a place.