Captain Tom Day ‘postponed’ following revelations about charity’s finances

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A statement on the charity’s website says: “In 2022, we are excited to announce our first Captain Tom Day – a day for us to celebrate our older generation and raise funds for organisations who support them.” Ms Ingram-Moore has separately said the day was intended to replicate Children in Need or Comic Relief, but focused on older people. But after details emerged about the Captain Tom Foundation’s finances earlier this month, Dame Esther – a celebrated campaigner who founded Childline and The Silver Line – said she had spoken to Ms Ingram-Moore. open image in gallery Esther Rantzen has been partnering with the Captain Tom Foundation to arrange the event In the event of findings against the charity, Dame Esther said: “The ideal outcome for me would be that the Charity Commission would say mistakes were probably made, but they were made in good faith and… the charity has learnt from it and that we could go and we can actually make a public statement explaining what went wrong, how it went wrong and how we’re going to protect ourselves from anything going wrong in the future, and then to carry on. She continued: “She had been trying to set up some permanent memorial to what her father did and she got in touch with me and said, ‘How about creating Captain Tom Day?’ And I was thrilled with the idea because it seemed to me that her father broke through all the stereotypes… he appealed to people of every age, he appealed to donors around the world, his courage, fortitude, sense of humour, wisdom, was just so impressive that the world fell in love with him.” Dame Esther said the foundation had written to all contacts to notify them of the postponement.