After losing a court battle to keep a £2 million estate left to them in a will the RSPCA have been ordered to pay most of the £1.3 million legal costs.
Dr Christine Gill from Northallerton, Yorkshire, successfully overturned her parents will after the court agreed that her “domineering” father had bullied her mother into leaving their 287 acre farm to the charity.
People who want to grow their own fruit and vegetables but cannot afford to buy land are being offered the chance to become part time farmers by the National Trust under a “super allotments” scheme running at stately homes and other Trust properties.
Venues for the new organic farms so far include Killerton estate in Devon, where livestock such as chickens and cattle are also offered, Hatchlands Park near Guildford and the Wimpole estate in Cambridgeshire.
Claims by the Housing Minister, John Healey, that repossession of houses was “the best thing” for some of those unable to keep up their mortgage payments have been described as “grossly insensitive” by Shelter.
Last year there were 46,000 repossessions, the highest since 1995, and Shelter’s chief executive, Campbell Robb, commented “Behind each of these numbers is a heartbreaking story of a family losing their home and having to rebuild their lives” Continue reading
A range of free seminars for charities are being presented at the CHASE exhibition, Business Design Centre, London on February 23/24.
Included are sessions on aspects of fundraising, trustees, IT, online services, finance and human resources.
The chief executive of Prince Harry’s Sentebale charity, Kedge Martin, has had some negative publicity in the gossip columns over remarks made to journalists.
Reportedly Ms Martin told journalists that she had deprived her two children of food for 24 hours to give them a taste of what it is like to be a starving African orphan. Of her own deprivation she commented that she had to go to Barbados several times last month to organise a polo match for the charity and added “I’ve been so often I’ve grown to love the island”
Later Ms Martin’s press spokesperson at Sentebale hurried to point out that the children were “over 10” when they had their enforced fast, and that Ms Martin’s comments were “off the cuff” and that she would “rather they stayed out of the press”, this arguably the best way of making sure they went in …
A list of the 20 most used office clichés has been published by the Brooke horse charity, following a survey of 3000 people. These are, in descending order:-
NOT FOR THE PR
Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder, 47, is giving away his £3 million fortune to charity because it is not making him happy….
LIVE POETS SOCIETY
A charity poetry event to raise money for Haiti was organised by the present Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, at Westminster Central Hall, London in January….
DEMENTIA SHORT CHANGED
Dementia, suffered by more than 820,000 people costs the economy an estimated £23 billion a year and has a relatively modest £50 million spent on research, against….
VERY LARGE LEGAL BILL FOR RSPCA
After losing a court battle to keep a £2 million estate left to them in a will the RSPCA have been ordered to pay most of the £1.3 million legal costs….
PART TIME FARMING
People who want to grow their own fruit and vegetables but cannot afford to buy land are being offered the chance to become part time farmers by the National Trust….
NICE ONE, JOHN
Claims by the Housing Minister, John Healey, that repossession of houses was “the best thing” for some of those unable to keep up their mortgage payments have….
FREE SEMINARS
A range of free seminars for charities are being presented at the CHASE exhibition, Business Design Centre, London on February 23/24….
OFF THE RECORD, OF COURSE
The chief executive of Prince Harry’s Sentebale charity, Kedge Martin, has had some negative publicity in the gossip columns over remarks made to journalists….
RUN IT UP THE FLAGPOLE
A list of the 20 most used office clichés has been published by the Brooke horse charity, following a survey of 3000 people. These are, in descending order….
Thousands of children in Nigeria, some as young as two and a half years-old, are being accused of being witches by Christian pastors, and subsequently being abandoned, tortured and sometimes killed by their families.
According to the specialist charity Stepping Stones, which provides refuge for the accused children, around 5 or 6 a day are being blamed for a range of unexplained tragedies in families, such as a sudden death. In one shocking case a father, told by a pastor that his son was a witch, killed his son by covering him with acid. Continue reading
Most children in orphanages in developing countries are there because their parents cannot afford to look after them, Save the Children has revealed.
In central and eastern Europe the percentage of those with at least one parent alive is 98%, with 94% in Indonesia, 90% in Ghana, 88% in Liberia and 80% in Sri Lanka.
According to UN figures 8 million children live in orphanages and other institutions, with a greater likelihood of suffering stunted growth, behavioural problems, a lower IQ, and higher risk of abuse if disabled, than those at home or with foster parents.
Cancer Research UK have warned that prolonged sun bed use could be putting the health of 250,000 children at risk. Government estimates show that the habit kills 100 people a year in the UK.
The charity’s surveys indicate that an average of 6% of 11 to 17 year-olds use sun beds, often due to peer pressure to get a tan, with the percentage doubling in cities such as Sunderland and Liverpool where half of 15 to 17 year-old girls said they used sun beds.
It has been estimated that sun bed use by under-18’s increases the risk of developing malignant melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, by 75%.