Did the captain Tom foundation charity really use the money to build their own spa pool??

Captain Tom's daughter and husband are banned from being charity trustees by the Charity Commission
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/03/captain-tom-daughter-and-her-husband-banned-from-being-charity-trustees

Not really - most people doing local fundraisers/sponsored activities are raising money for large national charities and are in no way personally accountable for how that money got spent. One Captain Tom is not really any different from thousands of individuals doing Race for Life.

Perhaps they didn't actually have pictures of his face on the bottles...

I think this slightly highlights one of the problems with the "Go fund me" charity fundraising.
Before the internet, you'd have asked friends and family. You might have got a little article in the local newspaper (ours always described anyone doing that as "big-hearted" and I remember assuming it meant they were ill because I knew a swollen heart was not a good thing🤣 ) but you were basically asking people who knew you so you had some form of accountability to them.

Now you get one that takes off, like his, and I'll put bets there were similar things going on all over the country, but didn't get the national coverage.

Why do they have to be Captain Tom chilly bottles, that's like a form of promotion! Instead of, you know, just chilly bottles.

Our Trust just got given Capt Tom chilly bottles. But only nursing staff.

Is this what happens with charity fundraising in the name of the NHS? Crazy. It’s so pathetic you couldn’t make it up.

so glad im not the only one who hates that

Nice one 😀

J'accuzzi.

Me too.

That’s not the case at all.

The original fundraiser was for a pre-existing NHS charity. The same as if you or I did a sponsored walk for Cancer Research or something. All the money went to that charity. To be fair I can imagine suddenly receiving £38m they weren’t expecting created some headaches for the charity so it doesn’t surprise me if it ended up in weird goody bags. That’s a bit by-the-by.

AFTER that original fundraising they set up a charitable foundation in his name with the purpose of raising funds themselves and distributing them via grants to other existing good causes. This not a particularly unusual thing - it’s not uncommon for example for bereaved parents to set up a charitable trust in their child’s name to raise money for causes close to their heart.

What IS unusual is the apparent grifting, financial irregularities at the foundation and capitalising on the name of the charity for personal gain.

Don't diss it. My goody bag with a pair of weird fish socks, 2 teabags and a can of Adidas sport antiperspirant was a godsend on one of the nights I got stuck in covering for covid sickness...

Perhaps everyone should read this

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12271907/38M-Captain-Tom-Moore-raised-Covid-not-investigation-NHS-charity-insists.html#newcomment

It was not raised to fund the NHS it was raised to provide extras to make life a bit more pleasant for the staff.

Strange comment. No one gives a shit about our soldiers. It's a crap life for the families and we are left to get on with it.

Nitvsure about the recruitment company but she either ran or was director of the NHS charity the money went to supposedly to be distributed to support NHS workers

Sadly yes it seems some charities are more of an exercise in profit making for the founder's benefit. Another one was that woman (real name Marlene something?) in the Buckingham Palace row, where she was wearing African dress with a made up African name etc... Her complaint drew attention to her charity which also appeared dodgy and was investigated.

The whole thing was absolute cringe

Whatever it was, it killed him. He was out doing interviews when he should have shielding. But I think he died happy.

There's absolutely no chance I will give money to another 'charity' again. It's not just the fraud that is awful - but the exploitation of feelings of a nation. She should be in jail. But as Mome is still using this earth as her playgrund, I don't hold out much hope. What an absolute bitch.

The initial fundraising was for an established NHS charity - really no different from when anyone does a sponsored activity for charity. And let’s face it, most people who, for example, run the London marathon for charity are cashing in by getting a free guaranteed marathon place in exchange for their fundraising.

What happened here was that this got seized upon as a feel-good story at a time when everyone was desperate to unite around something positive. Maybe some canny PR gave it a kick start but I don’t think anyone can have anticipated it becoming a huge as it did.

What is much more shady is what has happened since - with them setting up a charitable foundation themselves with suggestion that it they are benefiting directly or indirectly from that charity. They have certainly capitalised on that initial fundraising effort - the extent to which it’s for legitimate charitable causes vs their own gain remains to be seen.

Also, it was a distraction when there wasn't much else to do except worry.

That's when I stopped admiring the whole thing and started thinking wtf. Weren't there still travel restrictions at that time?

The whole thing was hysteria fuelled by nationalism and obsession with the military. We shouldn’t have to rely on charity, we have taxes for a reason! Stop it going into private pockets instead of public services.