Woman that owned Fisherman's Friend cough sweets who died in March has made a donation of £41,000,000.00 to Fleetwood.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-59003006
Good job That I am not a cynic.
Last edited by: Duncan on Fri 22 Oct 21 at 22:04
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What is there to be cynical about, perhaps I'm missing something?
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>> What is there to be cynical about, perhaps I'm missing something?
Wot Sooty said.
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One could question her fondness for Fleetwood, and possibly sympathise with any family she may have had.
But it was her money, she has ensured her memory in relative perpetuity where most of us will be forgotten in a few decades - otherwise I am not sure what she would gain.
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Wiki suggests Doreen had a son, did he inherit the business? And a more extensive estate?
The Lofthouse family seems to have had a history of donations and charitable foundations to the town of Fleetwood. It's not the most prosperous of places and tbh the whole of the Fylde coast is in dire need of investment.
What am I missing?
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>> Wiki suggests Doreen had a son, did he inherit the business?
The son, Duncan is trustee of the foundation that had 31 million in 2019, and now I guess has 70 odd million.
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Its gone to the Lofthouse foundation
What the charity does:
Economic/community Development/employment
Who the charity helps:
The General Public/mankind
How the charity helps:
Makes Grants To Organisations
Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
Where the charity operates:
Lancashire
2019 accounts indicate it had 31million in investments, took in 109k in donations, spent 114k on the ymca, and ended the year 31million minus 5 grand.
Two members of the three trustee board are the lofthouse family.
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The Lofthouse family have spaffed a lot of money in/around Fleetwood - I suspect they have a fair bit of cash and this £41m is something they've been aware of.
Doesn't look like one of the "my family are all %&^$ and they're getting nowt stories.
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Which certainly means that the Lofthouse family can continue to make Lofthouse the sort of place they’d like it to be. But is that the sort of place the residents of Lofthouse want I wonder….and if their goals are aligned now, will they be in 20 years time? Not necessarily terribly democratic. Possible better to just pay the tax and not donate to a ‘charity’ and let democracy decide where the money gets spent…
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>> Possible better to just pay the tax and
>> not donate to a ‘charity’ and let democracy decide where the money gets spent…
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Paying the tax means that it goes to the central govt coffers to be spent all over the country and disproportionally more in some areas rather than others.
At least this way it's kept in Lofthouse.
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>> At least this way it's kept in Lofthouse.
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The only Lofthouse I know is in Nidderdale, a small village a few miles NW up the valley from Pateley Bridge.
You pass through whilst on the 50 mile incredibly scenic Nidderdale Way, a fine circular walk which I enjoyed earlier this year.
Fleetwood on the other hand....
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>> .... But is that the sort of place the residents of Lofthouse want I wonder….and if their goals are aligned now, will
>> they be in 20 years time?
...it's £41M not to be sneezed at, though......
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>> Which certainly means that the Lofthouse family can continue to make Lofthouse the sort of place they’d like it to be. But is that the sort of place the residents of Lofthouse want I wonder….and if their goals are aligned now, will they be in 20 years time? >>
Lofthouse is the family's surname, the town in question is Fleetwood. Do keep up.
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>> >> What is there to be cynical about, perhaps I'm missing something?
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>> Wot Sooty said.
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Perhaps that it’s not terribly democratic? And avoids a whole heap of tax. It does rather sound like we’d rather not pay the tax now, but we would like to pretend we’re avoiding a tax for a good reason. A little bit patronising in a lefty ‘we know what the best use of the money for your benefit is’ kind of way
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Well it doesn't seem to be for their direct benefit, if they were setting up some trust based in Panama so they could go live in a luxury yacht that'd be a different matter. Nor do they seem to be buying influence in political circles. I can't say I know of them though, I'd never heard of the family or the town before reading that article.
Still none the wiser as to what there is to be cynical about, perhaps it'll remain one of life's little mysteries.
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precious little of the 31 million in 2019 seemed to go anywhere. Not seen the 2020 accounts, I was quite surprised at how little information was included to satisfy the charity commission (and I guess HM R&C)
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 23 Oct 21 at 09:00
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Were the charity set up as a tax avoidance scam I would expect HMRC to take an active interest.
Looking at the accounts, most of their asset base came from a £30m legacy in 2018. Given that Covid has intervened it may be unsurprising that they have not formalised plans and started work on new projects since.
I think it is "wait and see".
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Not unreasonable for them to preserve capital and spend growth/income either.
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Guess we'll have to suck it and see !
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You're sailing close to the wind there.
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>> You're sailing close to the wind there.
Who is? And why? I don´t understand.
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>>Who is? And why? I don´t understand.
The previous two comments refer to cough lozenges and fishing vessels respectively.
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>> >> I don´t get it
>> >>
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>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisherman%27s_Friend
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>> 8o)
Well at least someone isn't being shellfish, and has tried to shoal Mark whats going on.
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All of you lot taking a jibe at Mark need a stern talking to. I think you should change tack or he might end up beating you.
Boom, boom!
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>> All of you lot taking a jibe at Mark need a stern talking to. I
>> think you should change tack or he might end up beating you.
Well he is a bit of a sheet.
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>Well he is a bit of a sheet.
3 sheets to the wind as soon as the sun is over the yardarm probably.
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>> >> You're sailing close to the wind there.
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>> Who is? And why? I don´t understand.
Well I was about to suggest RP needed to collect his coat for the suck it remark......
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We're drifting off the topic here, trawling for puns I think.
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If it wasn't for netting a few puns, we'd all be at a loz enge on this site and floundering.
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...I'm in two minds as to whether these puns are brill, or carp.....
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>> ...I'm in two minds as to whether these puns are brill, or carp.....
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They're just a red herring.
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Looks like they've got (another) strop on. They do have form for having a meltdown.
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I largely think that the British fishing industry and the French authorities rather deserve each other.
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French gov is terrified of their own fishing industry. UK fishing industry is not active in waters near France, ours is deep water based in Northern Waters, so seizing brit boats down south just affects the shellfish and crab industry, not big by brit standards.
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The Fisherman's Friend 600,000 sq ft factory is on one of the main routes into Fleetwood, Maritime Street, and close to the town centre. Been past it many times over the years.
Last year the company bought a 19.5 acre plot of land next to the factory to enable further expansion of the business, which has almost 400 employees.
Fleetwood, which is out on a limb geographically and which has had some difficult times over the years, has always been well served by the company and its international trade and reputation.
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Fisherman's Friend? - sooty123
