Tragic Wigan tot is remembered at charity fund-raiser for second anniversary of his death
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Carly Defreitas, owner of Q8 sports bar in Wigan, held a pool competition, raffle and auction in aid of the Lullaby Trust.
She wanted to do something to help after hearing about the death of eight-month-old Charlie Wilkinson, whose uncle is a regular at the bar.
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Hide AdThe tot, who was a twin, died while sleeping in his cot on June 6, 2020.
His parents Adam Wilkinson and Katie Benson, as well as the rest of the family, were devastated and now want to do as much as they can to help others and raise awareness of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs).
To remember Charlie on the second anniversary of his death, family, friends and locals turned out in force to join competitors at the pool event.
Charlie’s uncle Shaun Wilkinson said: “I’d heard of cot deaths before but you never really think it’s going to happen to you.
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Hide Ad“Charlie was put to bed as usual with his brother Finley and was sleeping in his cot, but when someone went to check on him, he had stopped breathing and turned blue.
“He couldn’t be resuscitated and sadly passed away.
"It was a really dark time and left us all completely devastated.
"He was a happy-go-lucky baby, really playful.
“We just really want to help others by raising as much awareness as we can.”
Carly said: "Two years ago, one of my regulars lost their young nephew, baby Charlie, at just eight months old and I’d literally just bought the club at the time.
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Hide Ad"So I did an event where we raised over £1,000 for them to go towards a headstone for him, but the year after we were in lockdown so my new business was closed for the first anniversary of his death and we couldn’t do anything for it.
"This is now the second anniversary and I organised the fund-raising event to donate money to the Lullaby Trust, as this charity helped the family a lot. They assist bereaved parents and conduct research into SIDs.
“I organised pool competitions so people could go head-to-head and play to raise money.”
She now hopes to organise a fund-raising event annually in memory of Charlie.