Captain Tom Day

[Puppylucky]

Really?! Supported by Esther Rantzen et all but now on hold - thank God

There are posts here conflating different things.

A lot of the money raised went to the NHS Charity (though I can't quite get my head round some of it being used in a rather frivolous way.)

The issue is that his family set up another separate charity and his daughter appointed herself as a CEO. (She has a background in it.)
She wanted a salary of £150K which is what she felt the role was 'worth' and equivalent to what she could earn elsewhere.

The family live not far from me. I think her husband is a builder or property developer- hence the massive house.

I don't think Capt Tom is to blame in any way , nor was he 'used' as is suggested here. What he did was marvellous.

What is distasteful is how his daughter appears to want to profit from what they created and create a new organisation where she was going to be paid a huge salary.

@daisychain01

What an unpleasant thread. Have you nothing better to do OP

@daisychain01 whats pleasant about corruption, exploitation and opportunism? I’d say all of that is far more unpleasant than OP’s post. Catch yourself on.

My problem with this thread is the mocking tone the OP used in the title and initial post, it's set the tone for the thread.

If the OP wanted to discuss the misdemeanours of Captain Tom's family and the charity, then make sure the thread title doesn't associate with his good name, it's completely inappropriate.

What a horrible thread.

Are you completely hard of understanding. Captain Tom was not corrupt, he was not his family.

I thought it was just me being hard and cynical about Captain Tom and the Thursday clap for the NHS, so I said nothing at the time and cringed if I ever remembered at 8pm on a Thursday, because I just couldn't bring myself to stand on the doorstep and clap, and hoped I wouldn't get shaming notes through the letterbox So I feel a sense of relief now.

The whole thing does my head in. Loads of unsung heroes doing their bit to help others during the pandemic with rocketing poverty, child abuse, domestic violence etc. but one privileged white guy gets a knighthood and a free trip to the Caribbean just for walking up and down his garden.

^^ my comment was to @LuckySantangelo35

That bloody awful song though.

Then he lapped up his free holiday to the carribean with his family, which ultimately ended his life

To be fair, I don't think that's a fair accusation. It's not like anyone could say that he would have lived several more years if he hadn't gone.

But I absolutely agree, forget the notion of a Captain Tom day. It stinks of nothing more than PR, and is very disrespectful of the thousands of other people who were doing as much as he was to raise money without all the razzmatazz and publicity. I also hate the thought of the way the likes of Johnson would try to make political capital out of it.

If we are to have a special day at all, it needs to be along the lines of Remembrance Day to remember all those who died as a result of the pandemic, whether directly or indirectly, or who have been left with long term illnesses and disabilities, and to thank those directly involved in the development of vaccines which got it under control.

@daisychain01

My problem with this thread is the mocking tone the OP used in the title and initial post, it's set the tone for the thread.

If the OP wanted to discuss the misdemeanours of Captain Tom's family and the charity, then make sure the thread title doesn't associate with his good name, it's completely inappropriate.

How is there a mocking tone, or any tone at all, in the title? It's a perfectly appropriate way of describing what the thread is about.

The problem is that the charity is already associated with his good name, as is the proposal for a ridiculous special day using his name. How else could anyone refer to it?

@daisychain01 I think in-spite of OP’s threat title most people are still able to distinguish between Captain Tom and his family. I haven’t seem much castigation on here towards Tom but plenty towards his family and deservedly so.

Shudder

If we are to have a special day at all, it needs to be along the lines of Remembrance Day to remember all those who died as a result of the pandemic, whether directly or indirectly, or who have been left with long term illnesses and disabilities, and to thank those directly involved in the development of vaccines which got it under control.

I think this would be a good idea - and of course Captain Tom would be included in that more general remembrance.

The son in law is the brother of the famous Who Wants to be a Millionaire coughing cheat Charles Ingram. Which I know has nothing to do with anything

@Fudgein

I know his daughter seems to be unsavoury, however I have no issue with the memory of sir tom being celebrated. Like him or not he did what he could when he was not required to. I don't agree with sending money to his charity specifically but if it's a day to donate to a charity of your choice and celebrate his memory I would be all for it

100% this.

He left the world a better place than he found it.

@Darkstar4855

The whole thing does my head in. Loads of unsung heroes doing their bit to help others during the pandemic with rocketing poverty, child abuse, domestic violence etc. but one privileged white guy gets a knighthood and a free trip to the Caribbean just for walking up and down his garden.

What a nasty thing to say about someone who just wanted to do the right thing and help people in need.

'If we are to have a special day at all, it needs to be along the lines of Remembrance Day to remember all those who died as a result of the pandemic'

I really hope this doesn't happen. It is time to look forward, to move on. Those who have sadly lost family and friends don't need remembrance days about the pandemic, they remember every day. It would be a maudlin pointless day imo.

@Handsnotwands

The son in law is the brother of the famous Who Wants to be a Millionaire coughing cheat Charles Ingram. Which I know has nothing to do with anything

Is that true. Its a terrible coincidence if so. Very unfortunate

@Handsnotwands

The son in law is the brother of the famous Who Wants to be a Millionaire coughing cheat Charles Ingram. Which I know has nothing to do with anything

I did not know that interesting!

I was another one who was a bit bemused by all the fuss at the time and then realised what was going on when the photos emerged of the family in Barbados - who takes a 100 year old man there im the middle of a pandemic??

I'm not surprised by how this has panned out.

Quite soon after it all kicked off I saw reports on the daughter being a specialist in PR. Anyone who watches BBC breakfast knows they're a sucker for a human interest story and sure enough, once planted, gullible Auntie did the daily heavy heaving then sat back and celebrated at how it snowballed.

The daughter knew exactly how to play it.

It’s a shame that what Captain Tom actually did himself has become entangled in the apparently unsavoury behaviour of some of his family according to The Times (particularly the son-in-law and daughter have some less than stellar financial history).

It should be left as a lovely thing one person did rather than a Charity cum gravy train for his family.

People are perfectly within their rights to have a discussion about this matter. It’s of public interest. It should have ended with the money he raised.

And I’m sure he wasn’t bothered about going to Barbados, he wasn’t short of money during his life, if he’d wanted to go he could have done so when he was younger.

@Georgeskitchen

None of this was down to Captain Tom. He just decided to do 100 laps for his 100th birthday because he couldn't do anything else. It went viral and captured the heart of the nation. He's gone now and its his daughter that is under investigation. Pretty much standard comme nts from mumsnet only this time attacking an elderly gentleman who is no longer here to defend himself. You must be very proud of yourselves

I have no problem with Captain Tom himself, he was a great old guy and I liked him.

The daughter (the one that isn't Lucy) I could see through like a pane of glass from the start. I looked up her company at the very start of all of this, and it confirmed my thoughts.

Is it true that they are brothers or do they just share the same surname?