Our weekly round-up of outlandish and interesting information collected from the corners of the charity sector.

No Debs. Absolutely not

Nick Hurd, former minister for civil society and general all-round good egg, gave a lesson in public speaking to his successor at a goodbye party held for him by NCVO last night

Hurd was introduced by Martyn Lewis, chair of the NCVO, as the best charities minister of all time – although if we’re all honest, it’s not as if he beat off tough competition – and launched into a fond reminiscence describing his time in the voluntary sector.

Hurd did all the usual stuff – paid tribute to the hard work and passion of the sector, talked about how much he’d learned, and cracked a few jokes at charities’ expense.

He described getting late-night text messages from sector leaders as one thing he would not miss, and singled out Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive of the Directory of Social Change, for special mention.

“I got a text one day saying ‘Dear Nick, I think Mabel is shitting all over the floor right now; would you mind popping in and letting her out?’” (See above for a picture of the actual unfortunate pooch).

Hurd said that he “had always tried to bend over backwards to accommodate the leaders of the charity sector”, but nipping over to Allcock Tyler’s house to rescue a dog from a room full of poo was going too far.

How unreasonable. Maybe Brooks Newmark will be more accommodating.

Turns out the message was destined for a different Nick, "or so she told me".

Well, it looks alright. Not messy, anyway

The winners of the Tesco competition to find the beneficiaries of its plastic bag levies in Scotland and Wales were announced this week - Keep Scotland Beautiful and Keep Wales Tidy.

Looking at these names you have to wonder. Do the Welsh just have more modest ambitions? Or is this a reflection of the relative attractiveness of the two nations?

It just didn’t fly

So there’s a bit of a barney developing around a charity in Northern Ireland. The Ulster Aviation Authority wanted to hold an open day on the site of the former Maze prison, but has been turned down. The Democratic Unionist Party were all for it, but it ended up being blocked by Sinn Fein.

The site was previously slated to be used as a conflict resolution centre. But that’s now been shelved because the different parties couldn’t agree over it.

It’s a bray-ve move

The Alzheimer’s Society is having a great deal of success with its Dementia Friends campaign, which aims to attract volunteers to befriend people with dementia, and has adopted the forget-me-not as its logo, for obvious reasons.

So why’s it called Dementia Friends? Well, the clue’s in the name, really.

Unlike in Japan, where the campaign originated. There it’s known as the Caravan Friends campaign, and uses an orange donkey as the logo.

“Even they can’t explain why,” the chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society told an audience of volunteering specialists last week.