Anyone watch secret millionaire last night?

[Iklboo]

Wasn't he a nice guy?

[MascaraOHara]

I only saw the first bit, was too tired.. who'd he give money too??

He seemed very lovely and down to earth in the bit I saw. Can imagine that he's veryones mate IYKWIM.

[Iklboo]

He gave to Salford Lads' Club, the young couple (who I know really well cos they live next door to my parents), the Loaves & Fishes club and donated his legal team to help the residents fight the council over proposed compulsory purchases etc

[MascaraOHara]

Oh wow - the legal team must have been a fnatastic help. was it very emotional?

[Iklboo]

Kerry cries at the drop of a hat anyway - she was beside herself. He paid to install central heating, double glazing & news doors for their house. And as an extra surprise totally redecrated the girls' bedroom.
Unfortunately, they've lost round one of the housing war. Council is pressing ahead for some demolitions in the area and are now announcing there's only enough money left to do "cosmetic" repairs to the houses that are staying up - when they originally promised new doors, roofs, central heating etc
My parents don't know what's going to happen to them

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

Yes it was lovely - although I cried more at last weeks one

[AnguaVonUberwald]

I was a bit disapointed in him TBH, the woman last week gave £250,000 as well as loads of her time and effort to various people on an on going basis.

I know he gave time and effort but he only handed out about three lots of £15,000.

It said in the blurb he was one of the richest men in the UK, so it feels like he could have done a lot more.

(the woman last week was handing out £100,000 plus to various people)

I did feel better that he came back and helped with the roof, but had expected him to do that upfront.

Now I know he's done more than most etc, etc, but still felt a bit disappointed.

[Iklboo]

I said to DH last night when he gave the £15 to the Lads' Club that all the blokes would have been thining "tight sod! He's a millionaire"
I wondered if he felt a tad guilty cos he's a property developer and the whole issue was about compulsory purchases, people's houses etc.
Maybe he felt a wee conflict of interest?

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

Angua - I think some of what he offered was worth "more" than just giving the cash - all the help he's (apparently) giving to the whole community in regards to the demolition etc.

I think last weeks was just very generous - last series of this programme no-one gave anywhere near that amount of money.Thanks for all your help. It wasn't his teeth though full story here (it's long - sorry)

[Anonymama]

Yep, I agree with AnguaVonUberwald. For a man who is a multi-millionaire he was a bit tight. What is £15k (x3) to man who probably blows that redecorating one of the rooms in his mansion? As a proportion of his assets, the money he gave out was pretty modest. Can't help but think that many of the wealthy folk who do this programme, do it more for their own personal development and sense of philanthropy.

At least he seemed to have developed an on-going relationship with the community, so perhaps he will/has give(n) more and that is not featured in the programme. Would be good to see a follow-up programme a year on. And would love to know how his experience influenced his own business ethics. Does he now provide adequate and affordable social housing in his own developments? Or does he still bow to market forces?

And brilliant to see some TV time given over to the real people affected by re-development rather than those making the cash out of it à la "Property Ladder", "Relocation, Relocation" etc. Made me realise how little broadcast airtime is given to the have-nots in this country. The people of Salford can be proud of their neighbours who were featured - all warm, generous & articulate. Such a shame that so much of the media focuses on negative stereotypes of the less well-off.

[Iklboo]

Thanks anonymama - the press do dwell too much on the bad element of the area. Yes, it is pretty run down in parts (thanks mainly to the council). Some of the opening shots of the program were so obviously "dwell on the bad". The majority of the people there (here) are very hardworking, honest salt of the earth people. Kerry & Steve would give you the shirt off their backs and their girls are beautiful, intelligent respectful people.

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

don't forget thought that "assets" are NOT the same as "money".

You can have assets worth ££££££££££££££'s - but still not have much "in the bank".

I mean - DH and I together are probably worth about £250k (including everything we own)........but we still use up the full overdraft each month..

[hifi]

sobbed all the way thru, made me feel stupid about what i was worried about last night.he has done so well considering what an awful start in life he had.

[BettySpaghetti]

I have a question for anyone who watched last weeks episode (I missed part of it so sorry if this was covered) -you know the woman gave the couple something like an £80k down-payment on the flat (which IIRC was around £400k) -how an earth were they going to afford the mortgage after that?

They'd just had another child, she was working for the charity project, not sure what his job was but I presumed they were really skint which is why they were crammed in at her parents rather than renting/buying in the first place

[Iklboo]

True QoQ. Someone is "worth" something on paper but in reality might have hardly any floating/free cash. Although I do think he also has lots of cash as we said he loves to treat his family

[Iklboo]

You know what the council have said?
The people still in the houses, with the help of the guy, came up with alternative ideas for the area, including spending the money earmarked for compulsory purchase/demolition/rehousing on doing up the houses & shops/
Their response was that their idea didn't have the "wow factor" (and that's a direct quote) they were looking for to bring people with money and investors into the area
So, thanks for paying your council tax all these years but kiss our collective arses

[GreenGlassGoblin]

Am I the only one who finds this whole concept really disturbing then? I don't mean the individual people at all - they can be as lovely, generous and truely deserving as you like - I mean the concept of absolutely STONKINGLY rich people giving cash to poor people (1) as entertainment and (2) as a good way of dealing with the very real problems a lot of people face. It honestly turns my stomach. And I don't mean to imply in any way that either the millionaires or the people and causes they gave to are bad. But I do find the whole thing vile.

[AnguaVonUberwald]

I take the point that he was giving of his time, but so was the other woman, and she gave much, much more. Very interesting though that no-one from the last series gave as much, maybe my expectations were slightly out.

Very good point about last week and how that woman was going to pay the mortgage, i was wondering that as well. (plus there must have been cheaper houses than that around to buy her)

[hifi]

betty, i also thaught that was odd they would still have a 320k mortgage, probably have to earn nearly 100k between them, they have been saving but surely not huge amounts.

[BettySpaghetti]

Angua -I guessed there were probably cheaper, and maybe more suitable, properties around. An appartment when they had 2/3? children probably wouldn't have been their first choice.

Although ...gift horse...mouth etc I suppose

[bobsmum]

He didn't stop at 15K for the lad's group though - the end of the programme said he went on to fund the 70K repair of the roof and was continuing to fund other projects for the club and stay involved long term.

The intro said he already gives thousands to charity annually over and above this secret millionaire thingy.

I thought he came across as very wise and generous.

[Anonymama]

Queen of Quotes - of course I know that assets are not always readibly available as cash (otherwise I'd be out shopping!), but let's face it, that guy could have flogged off a few antiques, sold one of his rollers, or just not eaten out at le Manoir (or likewise) for a few months.

Iklboo - that's just what we said - why not do up some of the remaining houses, as they have some intrinsic historic/cultural value. In a few years, that "village" area would probably have a cachet that the older parts of Manhattan have.

With regard to the council, my old man used to say "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The majority of our democratically elected (ironic tone) politicos - from the Whitehall elite to the locally elected - at some point are more swayed by back-handers, self-aggrandisement, and ego, then helping the people they supposedly represent.

[Iklboo]

Council also refused to appear on the programme or give comment.
It's a sorry state of affairs. I only live literally over the road and it's a totally different area - all the houses are occupied