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Original poster

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

309 replies

Terryer · 05/07/2023 07:25

Just reading the paper this morning and see the family of Captain Tom have been ordered to pull down a building in their garden with a spa pool. I think it's a planning issue but the inference is that they used the money raised to build it. Did they really?

OP posts:
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9
NerrSnerr · 05/07/2023 08:09

MummyJ36 · 05/07/2023 08:07

It was when they took the poor guy to Barbados of all places when he was in his 90s and clearly got in the best health on what was clearly a freebie holiday! They dressed it up like “he’s always wanted to come here!!” Yeah sure!!!

He didn't look too upset about it. I don't think Tom was a victim in this.

Endlesssummer2022 · 05/07/2023 08:08

Flickersy · 05/07/2023 07:46

While the original bit of raising money for the NHS was lovely, the whole circus that followed was a festival of exploitation masterminded by the daughter in PR and was hyped up on mawkisk jingoistic sentiment. It was obvious what was happening. But at the time if you said that on here you would be well and truly rounded on by the ignorant.

This. I remember this time well. You couldn’t call out the grift in any way. I also suspect he was also complicit, not all elderly people are doddery and confused. However, if you said anything you’d be called an anti- English and all kinds.

MummyJ36 · 05/07/2023 08:07

It was when they took the poor guy to Barbados of all places when he was in his 90s and clearly got in the best health on what was clearly a freebie holiday! They dressed it up like “he’s always wanted to come here!!” Yeah sure!!!

Cinnamope · 05/07/2023 08:07

i think it’s more that they used the name of the charity to get planning permission for a building supposed to be for offices in a protected or listed area, it would not have been approved if they knew it was for a pool.

then they built the pool anyway and tried to apply for retrospective planning and it was refused.

Plbrookes · 05/07/2023 08:05

Joystir59 · 05/07/2023 07:51

The fact that so many people bought into the mad idea that any part of the NHS relied on an old man raising funds by walking a trolley around his garden is a sad indictment of the state of the national psyche

Unbelievable that there are people set against the idea of a charity making life a bit more pleasant for nurses and patients. Do people genuinely have no compassion?

Mrsjayy · 05/07/2023 08:05

littleripper · 05/07/2023 07:42

It was a grift which was perfect - so perfect - an anxious public, the NHS, WW2.

This really old man takes a walk in the garden and the family were like woop woop!

NeedToThinkOfOne · 05/07/2023 08:04

Isn’t it more of a planning permission story that has been spun by the Daily Fail, in order to make the dim reader believe that the money he raised was spent on a home spa for the family?

Original poster
Terryer · 05/07/2023 08:03

User9753224 · 05/07/2023 07:47

I can’t help thinking if everything they’ve done is above board, how terrible and brutal for the family to read this stuff about themselves and be put under the spotlight.

These days I never know what to believe in our press.

Well, quite.

OP posts:
Original poster
Terryer · 05/07/2023 08:03

notsayingmuch · 05/07/2023 07:31

I notice that the article doesn't state that, it just invites the reader to draw that conclusion. My thoughts are that the family seem pretty wealthy, and with the passing of Capt Tom there would have been an inheritance.

Yes this is what I thought that it was left up to the reader!

OP posts:
Calloffruity · 05/07/2023 08:02

Allschoolsareartschools · 05/07/2023 08:00

The whole thing always seemed a bit 'off' but that would have been an extremely unpopular view at the time.

I think lots of people thought it privately. My family did

Allschoolsareartschools · 05/07/2023 08:00

The whole thing always seemed a bit 'off' but that would have been an extremely unpopular view at the time.

hollyblueivy · 05/07/2023 07:59

I thought I had heard there was going to be an investigation about how the funds were used from the charity as there was some kind of conflict of interest between their other business and lack of governance.

But that was ages ago so not sure what's taking so long.

Changingplace · 05/07/2023 07:53

The whole thing is a sham, the family run a PR company and made the whole thing seem like a story that got picked up by press outlets in a viral type way but was actually deliberately press releases in a very organised & considered strategy.

I’ve also never understood the need for the ‘foundation’ when the money raised was supposedly for the NHS? If it was all legit surely funnel any further donations directly to the NHS?

MadamWhiteleigh · 05/07/2023 07:53

As with anything you read in the press, take it with a massive pinch of salt and wait to see what the Charities Commission concludes instead.

Joystir59 · 05/07/2023 07:51

The fact that so many people bought into the mad idea that any part of the NHS relied on an old man raising funds by walking a trolley around his garden is a sad indictment of the state of the national psyche

NerrSnerr · 05/07/2023 07:50

User9753224 · 05/07/2023 07:47

I can’t help thinking if everything they’ve done is above board, how terrible and brutal for the family to read this stuff about themselves and be put under the spotlight.

These days I never know what to believe in our press.

The charity have stated that they have no knowledge of this building. In the planning application it was stated it was for the charity. How can that be above board?

Theos · 05/07/2023 07:48

Where’s the AIBU.

Flickersy · 05/07/2023 07:47

There was Captain Tom gin, Captain Tom baseball caps, that god awful cringe song with Michael Ball... Anything that could be monetised.

User9753224 · 05/07/2023 07:47

I can’t help thinking if everything they’ve done is above board, how terrible and brutal for the family to read this stuff about themselves and be put under the spotlight.

These days I never know what to believe in our press.

NerrSnerr · 05/07/2023 07:46

To be fair, we don't know if Tom was in on it. Just because he was old doesn't mean he was some kind of a vulnerable idiot. He may have seen the potential for £££ for his family too.

Flickersy · 05/07/2023 07:46

While the original bit of raising money for the NHS was lovely, the whole circus that followed was a festival of exploitation masterminded by the daughter in PR and was hyped up on mawkisk jingoistic sentiment. It was obvious what was happening. But at the time if you said that on here you would be well and truly rounded on by the ignorant.

AgnesNaismith · 05/07/2023 07:45

it was evident from the start, no? Tom wasn’t organising all of that media but was a useful money maker for the family. Remember the children also wrote some sort of book? Didn’t she run a recruitment company? Hmmm.

piedbeauty · 05/07/2023 07:44

Captain Sir Tom Moore's daughter ordered to demolish home spa www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66100178

The article is carefully worded but yes, that's what they're inferring.

I wonder what conclusion the Charities Commission will come to.

Notbeinfunnehbut · 05/07/2023 07:42

didn’t his family suggest the laps thing?

read that somewhere, there is a suggestion I think that they exploited him a bit

littleripper · 05/07/2023 07:42

It was a grift which was perfect - so perfect - an anxious public, the NHS, WW2.

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