The scandal gets dirtier

From every charity caseworker who takes not a penny from anywhere as remuneration, the arrogance that it is legitimate to first take £1k our of funds specifically raised through one event, then to pay one of your own £250 per week out of funds meant to be going to our wounded and sick troops is not only insulting to them, but a sop for everyone who put their meagre earnings in those collection boxes.

Many years ago I compared this cabal with the self appointed hedonists of times past, gave explicit examples of how they partied and ignored the sufferings of Veterans, only for them to react with the mean savagery of secret letters and kangaroo court punishment.

Arthur Roe remembers that letter but not the content. Now, Heroes of the Collection Tins, Paint Ball Soldiers, publish and be damned. Let your admiring public see you in true, glorious light. Afterall, it is Christmas and the season to be jolly.

Amplify’d from www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk

Hero cash 'tainted'

BLACKPOOL Council has refused an offer of £30,000 from the Armed Force's group at the centre of a fraud probe – because it says the cash is "tainted".

One offer to the council was to help meet any shortfall in funding for Blackpool's annual Armed Forces celebration week. The other was for £30,000 to pay for ground works around Blackpool's Cenotaph.

"People did not donate to the Shop For Heroes or Supporting our Brave for it to be given to Blackpool Council.

Police and Trading Standards are investigating claims donated cash is lying in FESLC's bank account unused, and allegations of illegal street collections outside Supporting our Brave's Bank Hey Street shop.

On the matter of the Cenotaph, Coun Houldsworth said the offer of £30,000 came from a different pot than the Supporting our Brave cash. "It's money that has been promised over the last number of years for different projects," he said. "The money in one of our accounts is not money that belongs to FESLC it belongs to the council. The money is money that's been there for years, probably four or five, and if they are happy to relinquish all claim to the money then we would be very happy for it."

The Gazette revealed on Saturday how £5,000 from a sponsored bike ride, in support of Shop For Heroes, was placed into the bank account of Coun Mineur's wife. He says this was agreed by the committee, while he also disclosed he took a 20 per cent cut – around £1,000 – of the money raised to cover organisational costs. Read more at www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/idly