Our weekly round-up of interesting and outlandish information, collected from the corners of the charity sector.
Dean of little faith
Former Welsh footballer and manager turned Euro pundit Dean Saunders drove from his home to Birmingham City Airport at the beginning of the European Football Championships, anticipating a rough time for his beloved country.
Lumped into a supposedly tough group with England (LOL), Russia (OMG) and the Ukraine (MEH!), Saunders anticipated that Wales might not even get into the knockout stages. As a result, he decided it’d be fine to leave his car parked in a £100 a day spot at the airport, anticipating less than a week away, at most.
Now though, with Wales flying high in the quarter finals, Saunders’ joy has been tempered by the fact that, according to the Daily Mirror, he’s racked up a bill of over £1,000. Saunders apparently drove to the airport because he didn’t “foresee Wales’ remarkable success”.
O ye, of little faith!
Yet in the spirit of Welsh kinship and teamwork that has seen Bale and friends soar so far in this tournament, the brother-in-law of the Welsh team’s manager has started up a JustGiving page to help Saunders pay his parking bill.
Naturally though, a few Buzzkills have banded together and have called upon JustGiving to close the page down. “Ive [sic] contacted JustGiving who is going to cancel the page and refund all your money as its not approprirate [sic] to joke about someone paying their parking” hate-typed some Welsh guy. Another person went with the pithier and, arguably more appropriate, “stuff him!”
As the page is currently on about £50 of its apparent £1,200 target, looks like Saunders is going to have to foot his own bill regardless. Unless he can find a wealthy benefactor under his car park...
The hunt for Henry
Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, MP for Reading East and host organism to UK politics’ least-humanising beard, has added his voice to the chorus of people clamouring for someone to find the long-lost remains of King Henry I.
The body of King Henry I, the son of William the Conqueror, was supposedly interred on the ground of Reading Abbey after his death in 1132. The abbey was subsequently more or less destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries under the rule of King Henry VIII, and no-one is entirely sure what happened to Henry’s body.
It isn't clear what Mr Wilson wants the body of Henry I for. He was born in 1068, so he's much too old to attend the National Citizen Service, and it seems unlikely he'd be interested in social investment.
Keen-eyed observers and sporting fairy-tale enthusiasts will remember that the finding of the body of Richard III in Leicester lead to the city’s football team rising from the bottom of the Premier League table to becoming champions in the space of about 18-months.
Perhaps Rob Wilson is a big fan of Reading’s football team? Go on you Royals!
Poll'd out
Diary had been planning to give readers the opportunity to vote on contenders for the vacant chief executive position at Acevo. Suggested names had included Camila Batmanghelidjh, Gina Miller and Alex Swallow, former chief executive of the Small Charities Coalition, who regular readers will remember gallantly fell on his sword and informed his trustees that his own position could not be justified.
Alas recent events have shown us that public polls can have unintended consequences, and knowing how seriously the good folk at Acevo take the view of Diary and its readers, we've decided against giving readers the vote.
