Bernie Hollywood OBE describes himself as an ‘adventurer and social entrepreneur’ and talks about how in the past 40 years he has raised more than £42 million pounds for various charities.

His previous feats include having run 41 marathons back to back in 20 days, and cycling around the globe.

On a visit to the island last week, the 63-year-old gave a speech at Douglas Bay Yacht Club in which he also talked about his next planned feat would make him ‘the first Scouser’ to have rowed the Atlantic solo.

Bernie travelled around the island showcasing his custom-built Rannoch R10 ocean rowing boat, named ‘The Boat of Hope’ and painted with messages from young people about mental health.

This is the same make as the one used by Manx advocate Andrew Baker when he rowed the Atlantic, finishing in March 2021.

While in the island, the two arranged a meeting where Andrew could give Bernie advice about what he would soon be facing during his crossing. Bernie describes his latest mission as being ‘to open up conversations on early years mental health and wellbeing with young adults and about suicide and depression through the use of the creative arts and adventure.’

The boat’s artwork came from a competition of 6,500 high schools around the UK where the students were asked what the word ‘hope’ meant to them, which was then transformed into a 42ft mural which was painted onto the hull.

Bernie has also launched a bestselling children’s book ‘Bernie & Boatie’ to accompany his campaign which addresses early years (ages five to 11) mental health.

This is now being turned into a children’s cartoon which will feature on Cbeebies, and be voiced by former Spice Girl Mel C.

She also produced a hit charity single sea shanty ‘Up & Down Heart’.

The campaign has now partnered with local mental health charity Isle Listen, which does work in island schools that is ‘centred around early intervention and prevention, helping to avoid the unnecessary escalation of mental health problems’.

In his speech Bernie went on to talk about how he had witnessed firsthand the way his son struggled with his ‘severe’ mental health issues, namely obsessive compulsive disorder, Aspergers syndrome, and suicidal thoughts over the past seven years.

‘As a parent, it’s very difficult to actually get to grips with something like that, because it’s not an ailment you can easily fix,’ he said.

‘But I had a conversation with him about it, and he said: “Well really Dad, what you can do is reach out to young people before they get to my stage, and see if you can help cut it off before they go into full blown anxiety or depression”.’

A fact Bernie noted was that 371 people aged 11-18 had committed suicide in the last year, and how having spoken to the parents of some of these suicide victims’ parents, ‘the overwhelming thing that is said that if they had that time with their children again, they would have sat down and tried to get them to talk more openly about what was going on inside their head’.

He added: ‘Because they didn’t know what was going on, it was masked by their child and to them their child was fine, so to find themselves in a situation where they had then suddenly lost them was absolutely shocking’.

Bernie continued: ‘When they heard that I would be doing a national tour of schools, the large majority of those parents said one thing: “when you go and see young people, the fundamental thing to get them to do is to get talking”.

Relating to this, Bernie praised the work of Isle Listen, because by speaking to children about mental health from an early age ‘you have an opportunity to ensure that those young people understand the signs of what anxiety means, what depression means, so they can actually seek help and get it in those formative years’.

The Liverpool man will also be using an app designed by Eyesea, a company with a large presence on the island, to help identify and track pollution in the ocean.

The company, which is nominated for the Environment Initiative of the Year in Isle Of Man Newspapers’ Awards For Excellence, has eight ambassadors working here.

When the Examiner spoke to Bernie, he talked about how he had visited the island many times before in the past, in his previous job working for Lloyds Bank.

‘I’ve also got lots of friends here and have been coming across for the past 30-40 years, so it’s like my second home,’ Bernie said.

‘My favourite thing about the island is the people, they’re just so special, everybody welcomes you and it’s a beautiful, serene place,’ he added.

To prepare for the Atlantic voyage, he has completed 220 hours of training in the Boat of Hope, having taken it into both the North Sea and English Channel.

‘So I really know how the fundamentals of the boat work, and got to grips with at-sea training, but nothing can really prepare you for the Atlantic, because it’s a different beast to the North Sea,’ Bernie told us.

Outside of this, Bernie said that he had been doing ‘an awful lot of gym work’ on a Concept 2 rowing machine, and rowing on the river for three to four hours at Chester Grosvenor Rowing Club to develop muscle memory.

He explained that he was being trained by Charlie Pitcher, founder of the Rannoch company who holds the record for the fastest solo row of the Atlantic, having completed it in 35 days.

Asked what he expects the most difficult part of the ocean crossing will be, Bernie responded: ‘It’s got to be the weather.

‘Because you can’t fight against it, you have to use the weather as best you can for the boat.

He continued: ‘The boat is built for all weathers, if it capsizes, which it will, it will self-right like a lifeboat. It’s an amazing piece of kit with lots of safety features on board. I hope I get great weather to push the boat along to Antigua, but I’m dreading an Atlantic storm, or weather going the wrong way which would start pushing me back’.

As far as the interesting questions that came up from Manx school kids, Bernie said there were the usual ones about going to the toilet in a bucket, and also “Will you get eaten by sharks?”.

‘And also one of the kids, who was only a little kid of about seven, knew about osmosis and how a desalination unit [to make fresh water] works.

‘It was because his dad had one fitted on his yacht, the intelligence of young people never ceases to amaze me, and the kids in the island have been so engaging’.

Steven Downward, Isle Listen schools service lead said: ‘We’re delighted to be working with Bernie on this exciting challenge and to have the opportunity to share his powerful and positive message with young people on the island, that it’s okay to talk about our thoughts and feelings and just like his boat on the Atlantic, we all have our ups and downs.

‘This theme is a core part of Isle Listen’s aim to remove the stigma surrounding mental health, and our wide-reaching mental health support and educational programme is equipping young people with the emotional resilience to deal with life’s stresses and setbacks.’