Greetings, earthlings, and welcome to another round-up of charity sector news scraps collected and lovingly dumped at your feet by your faithful columnist, Society Diary.
It’s been a bit warm these past few days, hasn’t it? While most of us have been sweating indoors and cursing our lack of aircon, some brave souls have stepped out into the sweltering climes to raise money for good causes.
Two such do-gooders are Lincolnshire lads Rick Thiedeman and Jamie Richardson, who climbed the UK’s three national peaks – Ben Nevis, Scarfell Pike and Snowdon – in 24 hours last bank holiday weekend.
The pair took on the challenge in an attempt to drive donations to the fundraising page of their friend Tom Hynes, who has motor neurone disease.
What a great couple of chaps, you probably think, reader. Wrong – what an entitled pair of outlaws, more like! Confused? Read on.
After scaling the Scottish and English peaks, Thiedeman and Richardson ran into a spot of bother while approaching the final summit of Snowdon.
If you, like Diary, find the idea of a steep incline unappealing, you may be unaware that there is a queueing system in place at the approach of Wales’s highest point.
Most Brits unthinkingly join the end of the end of it and drink in the views as they wait for their turn to take a selfie at the top of the mountain.
However, in a race against the clock, Thiedeman and Richardson ignored His Majesty’s Queue and proceeded to tap the trig point to complete their charity challenge.
As you can image, this act of disobedience on an unseasonably hot May day cause all hell to break loose.
The pair were booed by the proud British queuers and apprehended in their attempts to rise to the peak.
Richardson told the BBC that after he touched the summit point, one person said: “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
That is quite an insult to hurl as someone wearing a fundraising t-shirt with pics of their friend undergoing medical treatment.
For their part, the knackered ramblers were surprised at the abuse they received and argued that the queue was only for those wanting to pose for a selfie, which the pair say they did not.
Nevertheless, unwritten rules is still rules and where would we be as a country if our unwritten queuing laws were not enforced forcefully and without exception.
But booing? It’s a bit panto. Whatever happened to Great British tutting? A barely audible expression of disapproval perfectly suited to situations like this. If Diary was at the peak, it would have tutted util its tongue went numb. And raised few eyebrows for good measure.
The silence from Starmer on this major event has been deafening. Peacock has kept her powder dry as per. But where do you stand, reader, on the great line-jumping debate of 2026?
