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Dominic Prince: The <i>IoS</i> diary

Sunday 20 July 2008 00:00 BST
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Glorious Goodwood is about to be upon us, and perhaps, while en route to the horse racing, some of you will want to visit the Cass Foundation, a sculpture park (and registered charity) in the grounds of the Goodwood estate in Sussex. It's run by an old boy called Wilf Cass, and here's the rub. The Charities Commission (the charities watchdog) recently reported the following about Cass: "In 2002 it had an income of £666,955. The commission became concerned because the charity had failed to submit its accounts and annual returns. Reminders were sent but no response was received." An inquiry was launched by the CC, which found that "goods were purchased from a company in which a trustee had a substantial interest, and the purchase of goods was unauthorised". The commission also said that there had been a failure to keep written records; that the foundation produced only one financial statement per year; that a bank mandate contained only one signatory; and that there was the potential for conflicts of interest, as the majority of the trustees were related. Don't say you haven't been warned. What an old rascal Wilf is!

Tonbridge School in Kent (£21,000 pa, non-boarding) has appointed the Rev David Peters as assistant chaplain. Fr Peters, formerly vicar of the Most Holy Trinity and St Mark's in Reading, is indeed the same David Peters who was forced to apologise after he published, in his parish magazine, a glowing review of the singing voice and fashion sense of a priest taking a service at Westminster Abbey and claimed it was him. The deception came to light only when parishioners wrote in to complain that the review was "too positive". The priest had reproduced a review from the Mystery Worshipper section of the Christian satirical website ShipofFools.com. But after parishioners complained, investigations showed that Fr Peters, although scheduled to take the service that day, had not done so after all. Armed with these qualities of honesty and modesty, Mr Peters will be part of the team guiding the 760 boys' moral and spiritual development. "Chapel services are an important part of school life," reassures the Tonbridge website.

More on charities. Spoilsports have blocked a donation of thousands of pounds because the funds came from an art exhibition, including a drawing in blood by drug aficionado Pete Doherty. Various postcard-sized drawings were submitted, mainly from schoolchildren, for the Get in the Gallery exhibition at the Morgan Boyce Gallery in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Doherty, who rents a house in the nearby Savernake Forest, and a couple of members of his band Babyshambles also wanted to support the exhibition. Visitors were invited to buy the drawings for £5, except for Doherty's drawing in blood of his band, which was exhibited in the window and was to be raffled, with tickets costing £5. Sales were brisk and all money raised was due to go to the children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent. But then a spokesman for the charity, Peter Davison, said it could not allow its name to be used to promote a picture drawn in blood. "We couldn't link ourselves to such a disturbing picture, and so we had to turn down the much-needed donation," What a twerp.

Somebody called Dean Dunham wants publicity – in fact, he's positively desperate for it. He has a PR person who contacts people like me telling them how brilliant he is. So, here goes. Apparently Dean, 32, is the most amazing businessman and has a string of businesses, including an airline, a legal practice, a media operation, a hotel, a garden centre and a nursery. Dean also has a fledgling television career and is a regular on something called the 'Tess show'. According to Dean's website (which, by the way, is worth a look at deandunham.com), he is a "serial entrepreneur who has achieved an astonishing amount in his 31 years (sic). Dean has a group of companies which has a combined turnover of £50m".

Wealth expert Dr Philip Beresford, author of the 'Sunday Times Rich List', comments: "Dean Dunham has seven directorships. Dunham Ltd is a hair and beauty salon which lost £380 on a turnover of £6,820 and had £438 of net assets. Q Nurseries has £14,401 of net assets and no filed profit-and-loss accounts. That is all I can see, but what I want to know is how come I have missed this celebrity superstar and dynamic entrepreneur. I feel ashamed. Please put him in touch with me."

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