On Wednesday 14th November there will be an opportunity to see, first hand, how funding from BBC’s Children in Need has enabled a small local charity to support bereaved children and young people from the Isle of Man.

Cruse Bereavement Care’s CruzKids Project will be featured on BBC’s Regional North West Tonight Programme which will highlight the invaluable work done to support bereaved children and young people. It tells the story of a local teenager, the loss of her sister and the impact upon her and her family. She talks candidly about her feelings and the support she has received and how it has enabled her to achieve and live her life to the full despite her tragic loss.

The film was mainly shot at the Charity’s Annual Residential Weekend at Maughold Venture Centre which this year saw a visit from Pudsey Bear.

CruzKids is a Social Group which allows local children and young people to meet in a supportive and fun environment, irrespective of the time since, cause of death or relationship to the “special person” who has died.

The group will also be featured again on Children in Need night on a Radio 5 Live Programme.

Gill Skinner, Children and Young Peoples’ Services, Cruse Isle of Man said, “When working with children and young people on a 1-2-1 basis they often described to me their feelings of isolation and found it difficult to believe that there were others in similar circumstances. This led to the germ of an idea and CruzKids was born some six years ago. Since then the group has gone from strength to strength with some of the older youngsters now supporting newly bereaved or younger children. Without the invaluable support of Children in Need, for which we are extremely grateful, this could simply never have happened.”