RAISING a cocktail in the Barbados sunshine, Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore had every reason to unwind after enduring a torrid 18 months.
As well as losing her beloved father after he contracted Covid, the mum-of-two had weathered the strain of her business facing ruin under lockdown.
And yet she had used her considerable marketing and PR talents to harness the outpouring of global goodwill towards Captain Tom by helping to set up an organisation in his name.
Yet last week it emerged that the charity she had established — the Captain Tom Foundation — was under investigation by watchdogs.
The probe by the Charity Commission will scrutinise the foundation’s accounts to ensure there has been regulatory compliance.
The charity had paid £54,000 to two companies run by Hannah and her husband Colin. And the accounts showed the foundation — which sells Captain Tom gin, roses and T-shirts on its website — donated £160,000 to good causes while spending £240,000 on management and fundraising.
Last night it emerged that the foundation had tried to appoint Hannah as its CEO on a £150,000 salary before the Charity Commission blocked the move.
She was instead appointed interim CEO for nine months in August 2021.
Hannah last night insisted claims the commission had blocked her appointment were, “100 per cent lies”.
Dark days of lockdown
Stephen Jones, chair of the foundation’s board of trustees, added that the foundation was “required in law” to seek the commission’s consent to appoint Hannah as CEO — but during discussions with the watchdog she decided the role “was not something she wished to pursue”.
A charity commission spokesman said its “engagement” with the charity’s trustees “on its set-up and governance arrangements continues”.
To understand the chain of events that led to the Charity Commission’s inquiry, it is necessary to hark back to the dark days of 2020’s first lockdown.
Captain Tom Moore, a 99-year-old Army veteran, was rehabilitating at the Bedfordshire home he shared with the Ingram-Moores after breaking his hip.
The Grade II-listed, seven- bed property — set in three-acre grounds which include a moat — was an ideal place for the charity walk he later undertook.
For 13 years, Captain Tom had lived at the property in the village of Marston Moretaine — which the Ingram-Moores had bought for £1.18million in 2007.
Hannah, 51, his younger daughter born to second wife Pamela, had invited her dad to stay after he was widowed. She married divorcee businessman Colin, 64, in 2005. They have two children — Benji, 17, and Georgia, 13.
On her website, Hannah describes herself as “a successful businesswoman, a mother and a leader in every field”.
Hannah and Colin — described as an “experienced CEO” on LinkedIn — founded a consultancy firm called Maytrix Group Limited together.
As lockdown hit, Hannah said she and Colin thought, “How on earth will we survive?”
She added: “The entire pipeline for our business over the next 18 months had been wiped clean overnight.” It was then — April 6, 2020 — that Captain Tom began his rehabilitation walk that gave hope to a Covid-blighted world.
Attempting 100 lengths of his garden before he turned 100 at the end of the month, Colin suggested giving him £1 for every lap he completed.
Then Hannah hit on the brainwave of setting a target of £1,000 and donating the money to charity.
She sent out a Press release to local media, igniting interest in her father’s selfless mission which became a global phenomenon.
He would raise £38.9million — which went to NHS Charities Together — hit No1 in the pop charts and received a knighthood.
Hannah explained earlier this month: “During the three-and-a-half weeks my father was fundraising we paid some of our employees to help us manage the millions of emails and hundreds of interview requests he received.”
On April 24 — six days before Captain Tom’s walk ended on his 100th birthday — the Ingram-Moores registered a company called Club Nook Limited as sole directors.
The following month the firm would begin registering trademarks — including Captain Tom and Sir Tom Moore — for potential use on branded products.
Then, on May 5, 2020, the Captain Tom Foundation was incorporated with a mission to “start a revolution that will allow our growing-older generation to feel seen, heard and, most importantly, valued by society.”
When asked what the “best financial year of her life” was, Hannah would later say it was 2020. “Raising that money was life-changing,” she said.
Accounts reveal Maytrix — of which the Ingram-Moores are directors — was paid £37,942 between May 2020 and May 2021, including £27,205 on third-party consultancy. Other payments included £5,030 on website fees, £4,500 on office rental, £656 on telephone charges and £550 on photography costs.
The trustees’ report said: “These costs were initially funded by Maytrix Group Limited on behalf of the charitable company, and reimbursed when sufficient funds were available.”
During the period, “expense payments of £1,686” were made to Hannah. The Ingram-Moore’s Club Nook received £16,097 from the foundation for “accommodation, security and transport” relating to Captain Tom “travelling around the UK to promote the charitable company”.
Hannah was appointed a trustee of the foundation on February 1, 2021 but resigned on March 15. Husband Colin, who became a trustee on the same date, remains in place.
The Charity Commission says it is OK for someone to be paid for services to a charity where they serve as a trustee.
But those receiving the payment must be in a minority of the charity’s trustees.
Accounts reveal that for over a month she and Colin made up half of the total trustees.
A charity commission spokesman said they had been “in ongoing contact” with the foundation’s trustees regard- ing “its set-up and governance arrangements”. It will also “assess” the charity’s accounts.
The watchdog added that no wrongdoing has been found.
Hannah told Trending In The News she had “never been authorised to make any payments on behalf of the charity” and had not made any to her company.
Trending In The News can also reveal the Ingram-Moores were granted planning permission last year for a new property in the grounds of their home.
The 15×6 metre building will include a toilet, kitchen and outside patio area.
‘Totally transparent’
Planning documents lodged with Central Bedfordshire Council say it will “be used in part for private use but mostly in connection with The Captain Tom Foundation”.
The application was made in the name of the Maytrix Group, which already has offices in a detached building at the property.
Hannah told Trending In The News that the new building “is funded entirely by family money”. The foundation sells branded merchandise on its website.
There is a £15 Captain Tom 100 T-shirt — 15 per cent of the price goes to the charity — and a Captain Tom rose at £27.99, with £2.50 of every one sold donated to the foundation.
Also on sale are 70cl bottles of Captain Sir Tom’s London Dry Gin, costing £35.95. It was only when Trending In The News contacted the foundation on Wednesday that it hastily added on its website that £1 per bottle goes to charity.
A spokesman for the charity said of the gin sales: “Just under £9,000 has been donated to the foundation through this initiative so far.”
On his Instagram account, Colin had posted pictures of the gin bottle on the beach in Barbados in December 2020 as Captain Tom visited one of his “bucket list” destinations.
The foundation made donations of £40,000 each to the Royal British Legion, MIND, Willen Hospice and children’s hospice Helen and Douglas House in its first year.
Captain Tom died on February 2 last year, age 100, after contracting Covid following a bout of pneumonia.
In the following October, Hannah and her family were back in Barbados. Colin wrote on Instagram: “Another fantastic holiday on the wonderful island.”
This week Hannah told Trending In The News: “We haven’t done anything wrong. We’ve been totally open and transparent.”
She said her “foremost ambition” is to “ensure my father’s legacy will support positive social change”.
The old soldier who changed the world deserves nothing less.
- Additional reporting: Stephen Moyes
