Stephen Chitty, 70, from Watford raised about £2,000 for Mercy Ships on ‘tiring but rewarding’ journey
A 70-year-old man has raised almost £2,000 for charity by completing a 40-day challenge to travel the length and breadth of England entirely by bus.
Stephen Chitty, from Watford, Hertfordshire, travelled 1,650 miles on 117 buses. He started and finished his ambitious journey in Watford and travelled to English cities including Newcastle and Norwich.
Continue reading...Chris Lewis began his walk while facing homelessness in 2017 and acquired a fiancee, baby son and dog en route
A former British paratrooper, who set out alone on a 19,000-mile UK coastline walk has completed the challenge, raising £500,000 for charity and returning home with a partner, dog and baby son in tow.
Chris Lewis, 43, was joined by hundreds of cheering supporters as he completed the final mile of his walk, which began on Llangennith beach on the Gower peninsula, near his home city of Swansea, south Wales, on 1 August 2017.
Continue reading...Foundation set up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the UK’s richest person, had provided funding for a luxury clubhouse at ski club
The Charity Commission has closed a preliminary investigation into concerns about governance at a charity set up by the UK’s richest person, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, which helped fund a £16m luxury clubhouse for an exclusive French Alps club where he and his daughter have skied for years.
The UK charity watchdog announced on Thursday that it had closed its “regulatory compliance case” into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation after finding that “the charity’s activities further its purposes and that there is no further role for the regulator”.
Continue reading...As judges rule trans children’s charity cannot challenge charitable status of gay rights organisation, we look at decision
A tribunal has ruled that the law does not allow the transgender children’s charity Mermaids to challenge the charitable status of the gay rights organisation LGB Alliance. Who was involved?
LGB Alliance was founded in October 2019 to campaign for the rights of same-sex attracted people by two veteran lesbian activists: Bev Jackson, a founder member of the Gay Liberation Front in 1970, and Kate Harris, who was previously a volunteer fundraiser for the leading gay rights organisation Stonewall. They were concerned at the implications of Stonewall’s decision to alter its definition of sexual orientation in 2015 from “same-sex attracted” to “same-gender attracted”.
Continue reading...Bullying campaigner and founder of UK buddy system for Ukrainian refugees also among hundreds recognised
Suzanne Richards lost her son Joel, 19, brother Adrian, 49, and father, Pat, 78, in the 2015 terrorist attack in Sousse, Tunisia. Her other son Owen, then 16, was also shot and injured by the gunmen but survived the attack in which 38 people were killed.
Their memories live on in the Smile for Joel charity, supporting families who are victims of homicide, which she and Owen run from her home in Wednesbury, West Midlands.
Continue reading...Oxfam International apologised and re-edited cartoon alleged to include racial stereotyping and JK Rowling attack
The UK charities watchdog is assessing whether it will take action against Oxfam after receiving complaints about a cartoon published by the charity that ignited a row about transgender issues.
Oxfam International put the cartoon out on Twitter last week to mark pride month, but took it down on Tuesday after a backlash against its use of the term Terf (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) in an image depicting anti-trans “hate groups”.
Continue reading...Members of the Unite union will picket in London, Brighton, Bristol and Oxford after ‘pitiful’ pay offer
Workers at the homelessness charity St Mungo’s will begin a month-long strike on Tuesday in a dispute over pay.
Members of Unite who work at the organisation will mount picket lines outside its head office in Tower Hill in London and in Brighton, Bristol and Oxford. The union said the industrial action was over a “pitiful” pay offer of 2.25%, which was made in April 2023.
Continue reading...Some women are turning to escort work to meet basic housing costs, charities warn
Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.
Charities warn rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.
Continue reading...Concert to be charged fee after using music by performer Earl Okin – even though Okin says he does not want the money
A charity concert in aid of needy musicians starring Dame Evelyn Glennie and the BBC Radio 4 announcer Zeb Soanes has been hit by an “embarrassing” copyright row over six minutes of suggestive comedy jazz.
The event at Cadogan Hall in London on 1 April mostly featured humorous arrangements of out-of-copyright classical works, and was intended to raise money for the Help Musicians charity.
Continue reading...Guests will include more than 450 British Empire Medal recipients, many of whom helped in Covid lockdowns
More than 850 community and charity representatives have been invited to the coronation of King Charles III, mingling with the royals, heads of state, politicians, peers and diplomats at Westminster Abbey.
Buckingham Palace has announced more than 450 recipients of the British Empire Medal (BEM) will attend in recognition of the contributions made by volunteers and community champions across the country.
Continue reading...Charity Commission inquiry showed Ashley and Lee Dribben spent large sums meant for vulnerable people on themselves
Former homelessness charity bosses who authorised spending thousands in funds on watches, 50-in TVs and spyware to eavesdrop on clients have been found guilty of misconduct by the Charity Commission.
Ashley Dribben, an ex-trustee of the Ashley Foundation, and his father, Lee, its founder and former chief executive, personally benefited from funds intended to help vulnerable homeless people, the watchdog said.
Continue reading...Commission opens ‘regulatory compliance case’ after complaints that the charity is politically partisan
The Charity Commission has said it is “assessing concerns” about the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which was at the forefront of antisemitism allegations against Labour under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
The commission has opened a regulatory compliance case against the CAA, after complaints including that the charity is politically partisan.
Continue reading...Charity fundraisers and volunteers supporting refugees among those recognised for their contribution
The theme of public service is at the forefront of the new year honours list, with the majority of those receiving awards nominated for their work in their local communities.
Tricia Ward-Jones, 69, from Shropshire, receives the British empire medal (BEM) after 17 years as a volunteer fundraiser for Promise Dreams, a charity based in Wolverhampton, which helps the families of children who are seriously or terminally ill create memories.
Continue reading...At least seven international NGOs have suspended aid, saying they cannot work without female staff
The acting head of the UN mission in Afghanistan met Taliban leaders on Monday in a bid to persuade them to withdraw their ban on all women working for aid agencies.
Ramiz Alakbarov met the Taliban’s economy minister, Din Mohammad Hanif, in Kabul, telling him that millions of Afghans need “humanitarian assistance and removing barriers is vital”.
Continue reading...Duke of Sussex records video to comfort youngsters at Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for military children
The Duke of Sussex dressed up as Spider-Man in a surprise video message to try to comfort bereaved military children.
He donned the superhero outfit and only lifted his mask to reveal his true identity at the end of a specially recorded message for youngsters at Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for bereaved British forces children and young people.
Continue reading...Bradford-born singer who relied on free school lunches urges PM to extend provision to all families on universal credit
Zayn Malik has called on Rishi Sunak to “give all children living in poverty” free school meals during the cost of living crisis.
The former One Direction singer, 29, who relied on free school lunches as a child growing up in Bradford, recently became an ambassador for the Food Foundation and is backing its Feed the Future campaign.
Continue reading...Donation is believed to be the largest single donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision
MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated $15m (£13.5m) to a social enterprise that helps provide glasses to farmers in developing countries.
Scott’s donation to VisionSpring is believed to be the largest single private donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision which leaves hundreds of millions of people in poverty.
Continue reading...International organisations cite 60% fall in civilian casualties over six months, but critics say benefits of truce have been exaggerated
The expiry of a six-month ceasefire in Yemen has thrust the country back into war after limited improvements in humanitarian conditions, according to analysts.
Charities have criticised the failure to extend beyond Sunday the truce that was first agreed in April, and which they said had created hope for Yemenis. Although critics have said it created only a temporary stop in fighting that allowed the Houthi rebels to strengthen.
Continue reading...Co-founder says group offended by ‘redefinition’ of homosexuality as she defends charity against accusation of anti-trans agenda
The organisation LGB Alliance was founded to “prevent the dissemination of the lie of gender identity”, a court was told on Wednesday, during a hearing over whether the Charity Commission was right to grant the body charitable status.
Co-founder Kate Harris told a hearing that a surge in anti-lesbian discrimination was another motivation for the creation of the organisation.
Continue reading...Claim comes in appeal by trans rights charity against decision to give LGB Alliance charitable status
The gay rights organisation LGB Alliance was set up to “promote transphobic activity rather than pro-LGB activities”, the head of Consortium, an umbrella group of LGBT organisations told a court on Monday.
In the first full day of hearings in the appeal by the transgender rights charity Mermaids against the Charity Commission’s decision to award charitable status to LGB Alliance, Paul Roberts, the chief executive of Consortium, said that LGB Alliance was created to pursue an anti-trans agenda.
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