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Sept
Cricket club hosts tribute match for ex-player, 21, who took his own life
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Spofforth Cricket Club played an annual memorial match on Sunday (August 31) for a former player who took his own life.
Ethan Westerman was 21 and at university in Newcastle when he died in November 2023.
Since then, the cricket club has hosted an annual memorial day on the last Sunday of August.
This year, around 200 people gathered to watch and pay tribute to Ethan.
Three teams of 10 players took part in a 10-over competition while raising money for Mind, the mental health charity.
Over £3,000 has been raised so far, with around £1,600 on the event’s JustGiving page, which you can find here.
Ethan played cricket from a young age, first for Spofforth Juniors before moving to Harrogate Cricket Club at senior level. The bowler also played representative cricket for North Yorkshire. He returned to Spofforth in 2023, for what would be his final season.
A social media post to Harrogate Cricket Club’s Facebook page in November 2023 said the club was “devastated” to hear of Ethan’s passing:
Harrogate Cricket Club are devastated to hear that Ethan Westerman has tragically passed away. We have extremely fond memories of Ethan. He was a very talented bowler and predominantly led the attack for our men's second team over the course of several seasons. Ethan's arrival at the club coincided with the second team playing some of their best cricket in recent years.
Leaving aside his clear talent on the field, Ethan was a lovely person off the field. He was always extremely polite, kind and generous. He saw the best in everyone and never had a bad word to say about anyone or anything. We send our sincere condolences to all of his family and our thoughts and prayers to Jason, Georgia and Noah.
Ethan Westerman (left) and his brother, Noah.
Representatives of Spofforth Cricket Club, Matthew Lurcuck and Noah Westerman, who is also Ethan’s brother, told the Stray Ferret why the event was important.
They said:
We believe it’s important to keep honouring him with memorial days as it’s important to remember him and bring people together, to raise awareness about mental health, keep people talking and raise money for Mind, who are an amazing charity!
We aim to do this by bringing people of all ages together to play the sport Ethan loved!
Suicide is the leading cause of death among men under the age of 50 in the UK, according to the NHS.
You can contact Mind here.
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