A NORTH Yorkshire man whose young son died from cancer claims that his local golf club has compounded his grief by not allowing him to hold a fundraising tournament in his son's name.

Jonathan Scarlett-Abbott, of Langton, near Malton, said that Malton and Norton Golf Club, where he is a paying member, has refused to offer him the use of the course as part of a £75,000 appeal to buy a specialist paediatric ambulance - launched by him and his wife, Fiona, in the wake of their son Joshua's death last October.

Eddie Harrison, managing secretary of the club at Welham Park, Malton, said he was very sad for the family's loss, but the club's long-standing policy was not to offer free or cut-priced green fees to charities, even ones involving its own members.

However, he said the event could go ahead if all players paid full fees.

Seven-year-old Joshua's life was saved in 2001 using ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation), a bypass system which oxygenates the blood outside the body, allowing the lungs to rest and heal from infection.

Although he died a year later from rare non-Hodgkin's 'T' cell anaplastic lymphoma, the family spent precious extra months with him and are now determined to buy a specialist ECMO paediatric ambulance to benefit other children.

Mr Scarlett-Abbott said Joshua had planned to play golf at Malton and Norton Golf Club when he recovered.

He said: "This has left a bad taste, it's just more distress basically.

"I had expected a club to stand by me. I'm not a big player, I've only been a member for three years, and while I didn't expect them to do everything for me, I did expect some level of help and assistance.

"Now we need to find another golf club to host the event so we can raise as much money as possible."

Mr Harrison said it was impossible for the club to say yes to all requests from charities.

He said: "We are a very forward-thinking club and we adapt.

"It may be that at some future date we have to review our policy, but at that particular time that was our policy and we have to stand by it, especially after rejecting other applicants.

"We get inundated every year by people who want the course handed over to them to make money for their charity, but we are a private members' club and we are not a charitable organisation.

"I just wish that Mr Scarlett-Abbott could have been sitting in with the committee. I get the feeling that he thinks we simply turned around and said we won't do it. In fact a great deal of discussion has taken place."

Updated: 12:35 Friday, January 10, 2003