Captain Tom’s daughter defends book profits decision
By Helen Burchell
BBC News, Bedfordshire
The family of fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore kept the profits from his books for themselves, they have said.
His daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, and her family were speaking on TalkTV’s show Piers Morgan Uncensored.
They said they had kept the profits from the captain’s three books – reportedly £800,000 – at his request.
She said her father wanted his family to keep the money in a company separate to the Captain Tom Foundation.
There is no suggestion that Ms Ingram-Moore did anything illegal by keeping the money from the book sales, rather than donating it to her late father’s charity.
She said there had been no agreement with her father that in any of the book deals, any of the money would go to charity.
However, in the prologue to his 2020 autobiography, Tomorrow will be a Good Day, Capt Sir Tom wrote: “Astonishingly at my age, with the offer to write this memoir I have also been given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation now established in my name.
“Its goals are those closest to my heart, with a mission to combat loneliness, support hospices and help those facing bereavement… I am deeply honoured to be given yet another opportunity to serve the country of which I am so very proud.”
Image source, Reuters
Captain Sir Tom Moore became famous for his fundraising efforts during the first coronavirus lockdown
In a clip of the TV show released to the BBC, Ms Ingram-Moore’s husband, Colin, told Morgan that the “vast majority” of the £809,000 revenue reportedly raised by the family’s company Club Nook Ltd “came from the three books that he wrote with Penguin Random House”.
He said “95%” of the Club Nook money was from the books.
Image source, PA Media
Hannah Ingram-Moore, Capt Sir Tom’s daughter, said her father wanted the family to have the book profits
Ms Ingram-Moore said: “These were my father’s books, and it was honestly such a joy for him to write them, but they were his books.
“He had an agent and the agent and he worked on that deal.
“They were Captain Tom’s books and his wishes were that that money would sit in Club Nook.”
Morgan asked, “For you to keep?” and she replied “Yes – specifically”.
The books were “never anything to do with the charity”, she said.
Her father “decided what to do with the income from them – it was his wishes, not ours – he made the decisions about the things that he did – we didn’t act for him”, she said.
Image source, Getty Images
Capt Sir Tom won the nation’s hearts with his fundraising walk, which took in 100 laps of his garden
Capt Sir Tom’s extraordinary fundraising efforts for National Health Service charities are part of Covid-19 pandemic history.
By walking laps around his Bedfordshire garden, he raised £38m for NHS Charities Together, which works with a network of more than 230 NHS Charities across the UK to support the organisation.
However, the charity set up by his family in his honour is no longer taking donations.
The Captain Tom Foundation is currently the subject of a statutory inquiry.
Just over a year ago, the Charity Commission launched an inquiry into its finances.
It also emerged Ms Ingram-Moore was paid thousands of pounds via her family company for appearances in connection with her late father’s charity.
‘Paid £18,000 for awards’
She appeared at an awards ceremony – the Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards – which included the name of the charity and the charity’s logo on its awards plaques.
At that time she was the charity’s interim chief executive on an annual salary of £85,000.
However, her appearance fee was paid not to the Captain Tom Foundation but to Maytrix Group, a company owned by her and her husband.
She told TalkTV she was paid £18,000 and gave £2,000 of it to the foundation.
This summer, the foundation stopped taking money from donors after planning officials at Central Bedfordshire Council ordered that an unauthorised spa pool block at Ms Ingram-Moore’s home should be demolished.
The building on the site of the family home – originally approved for the use of the occupiers and the Captain Tom Foundation – was granted planning permission in August 2021 and had been partly constructed when revised plans, which included a spa pool, toilets and a kitchen “for private use”, were submitted in February 2022.
The revised plans for what was called the Captain Tom Building were turned down by the council in November 2022.
A demolition order for the now-unauthorised building was issued, the authority said.
That order was appealed and a hearing is due later this month.
The BBC has contacted Ms Ingram-Moore for comment.
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