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

They were the guests of British Airways so everything would have been covered by them.

My adult DCs and me were very sceptical. The daughter was so full on in her money making efforts and we have followed what has gone on since. Then they take him over to Barbados for cricket (not legal at the time I believe) where he catches covid and dies. (Not accusing them of doing this deliberately but it was a bonkers decision by the family)

I thought Sir Tom didn’t test positive for Covid until he was being released from hospital after a bout of Pneumonia.

You’d be shocked and surprised at how many gullible people there are who take the news at face value and believe it without question. Few people dig deep or read the fine print, hence how these monumental scams and deceptions take place.

I’ve been chuckling to myself at you asking who this ‘Nation’ is that the BBC speaks of. I’d say it’s the ones watching and lapping up the Britishynessisms of anything with a Union Jack associated to it, play We’ll meet again or God Save The Queen King and they’re sold hook line and sinker- grab your brolly and a flag.

The News cycles and television in general could be argued as a hypnotic propaganda projector to ever so gently lull the masses into submission and belief. It’s a powerful tool but probably too conspiratorial to discuss on this thread… Sir Captain Tom was a big distraction to rally around.

Unfortunately, given what has happened on a couple of occasions and the Charity Commission having to be involved in both, I am now starting to think that the daughter and her husband may have orchestrated Tom's efforts from the very beginning, and generated media interest about him in a bid for their own financial gain. So very sad for Tom's legacy, this should not have been allowed to happen.

Lets hope tomorrow is a good day.

Best joke I've seen is about the absolutely piss taking that will happen when the daughter is in jail and she's doing laps round the exercise yard...

Seriously though, this was another grift from those at the top of tree. The daughter had registered ' Captain Tom' as a trademark long before his ' walk' ever gained traction in the media.

So very cynical, a good news story of hope and adversity in a challenging time , with very little mention that the millions raised couldn't go to fund the parts of the NHS the public assumed it would.

This will not have a happy ending, but hopefully justice will be done.

All over Facebook -

'Captain Tom
He walked ...so his daughter could swim.'

Unfortunately for Tom himself, who seemed like a decent chap, this whole episode - the hysteria surrounding him - seems likely to be filed under "oh we got that wrong, how embarrassing". Along with much of the Covid response really.

I would not be surprised.

I think its incredibly crooked if true and drags her father's good name into the mud.

We don't know what he was like. Just because someone was a "war hero" (as were most of his generation) doesn't mean they were squeaky clean.

As a pp has said, I definitely don't think Captain Tom was a victim in this. He appeared of a game show, not afraid of a bit of spotlight.

I heard from somebody who works in tv that the family obtained a super injection or similar to prevent a story about him being published. It was about him, not their charity exploits

Good god what is that ? Has it been taking out of context perhaps Hannah got a bit over excited!

Haven’t read the whole thread so apologies if this has been mentioned, but I heard the family was mates with Carrie Johnson and it was part of their ‘PR’ convenient to bring everyone together, and deflect attention from the government and the fact that they weren’t actually funding the NHS…also probably a good news story to bury bad news 🤷‍♀️

From what I can gather, they have managed to set up separate businesses in variations on Captain Toms name and the charity are also investigating this - looks like yes they have continued to try to grift off his name

They have tried to claim the building was office space for the charity yet as far as I am aware, her employment with the charity has been ceased. Even had the audacity to name the charity on the application - the trustees were not aware of said application

The actual size of the building has been their downfall too - the pool extension alone is 20ft x 50ft, meaning the actual overall footprint of the building is around 80ftx50ft - it’s bigger than most houses

Well done to the neighbours for putting in so many complaints!!!!!!

Did the "charity" also pay for that "once in a lifetime" family trip to Barbados that they took him on just before he died? I'm not sure it's medically wise to take someone that old on a long haul flight, but I guess they felt they all needed the holiday, after all that hard work raising the money 🤨. The whole thing was a massive swindle.

Our next door neighbours are builders. They bought a bungalow on a nearby road, levelled it, and then exceeded the planning permission for the rebuild by a hugely obvious amount. Not a few inches, a few feet in height.

It's been say with hoardings around it for eight months now.

I have a sneaking suspicion that they did the same with their annexe too, but haven't looked into it.

The husband and wife argue about it a lot, but they're Romanian, so I only understand the odd few words where the wife breaks into furious English.

I agree - and I work for a charity.

In fact, understanding the self-interested nature of volunteering, fundraising and other acts of altruism is critical to doing it well and safely.

I could spend all day listing the harm done by hugely passionate and motivated volunteers, because they selfishly cast themselves as the hero and don't follow safe process.

This isn't saying charity work is bad or wrong (I can say plenty more about shitty attitudes to decent pay in the sector!). But you can't manage complex organisations and situations well without hacking into the human psychology of self-interested service.

I assumed her husband built it?

Those NHS staff who said they didn’t receive anything. Maybe check with someone at the trust, charities office or someone who deals with donations.

My Trust definitely received money from NHS charities. It was used for improving staff/wellbeing rooms and maybe relative rooms. Obviously it probably wasn’t enough to do every ward or area. But i do have friends at other trusts that received money too.

I’m not sticking up for his family. They obviously contrived onto a money making scheme.

I'm amazed a builder would go against plans though. Don't they check the paperwork to ensure they are themselves legal. If a tree surgeon is ordered to cut a tree by a client and it turns out that it was protected. The tree surgeon is also liable.

I didn't give any money to it and quite frankly found the whole thing nauseating. He seemed like a decent enough chap though.

My trust did receive some money that was used to motive staff areas and relative rooms.

Yes, humans as social cooperative creatures get a dopamine hit when we help others - we seek out this dopamine hit and get rewarded for helping others and cooperating. This is why humanity has succeeded so well as a species. It’s a feature not a bug and nothing to be ashamed of.

Acting selfishly, lying and stealing for your own gain at the expense of others is completely different to this.

@JogOn123 I donate to war charities for veterans and am proud of my own family who served in the same war (who are dead now). I am not interested in people who wheel out their dads with medals on their chest 70 years later and do laps in the garden. It's disrespectful IMO. Perhaps he didn't feel that, obviously others didn't. The right place for medals and celebrations of heroes is when you are celebrating their heroic achievements, not using it as a blatant tool to make others sympathetic and get money out of them to pay for the NHS which is a state funded healthcare system!

How embarrassing if true, people
really have no shame. I remember talking about it in our family group chat, we all thought the whole affair and attention was pretty bizarre. But it just shows how easily people fall for these types of grifts.