Tips has duplicated almost exactly what I wanted to say. I was told of this thread this morning and was completely stunned.

I also regard John as one of the closest of my online / poker mates. I met him online on the old VC chat room  (remember those days!) and last saw him just before Xmas. He has been very supportive to me in the past when I have needed help and to hear about what has happened has left me without any adequate words.

My thoughts are wholly with you and Olivia - we have now spoken and I'll see you soon - If you need anything at all just ask!

Jaggers

I explained previously why there would be a delay. Unfortunately it is the nature of threads on forums that earlier messages can get lost so I will explain again.

I have gathered over this week a host of information, some of it contradictory but all of assistance.

You all know what I am doing as you have had my assurances on this matter. I have met some blondites but by no means all and I hope my word is good enough on this.

I am meeting with Tony K later this week and will be meeting/speaking/corresponding with Maureen as soon as she returns.

One thing that I have always done I hope is that when I am dealing with someone on a personal or private matter I do not discuss it with others, even less post it on a public forum, without that persons express permission. I have always thought that correct, some might not agree with me, but I will continue in this way.

The most important person in all of this is Maureen (and family). This affair came to my attention a week ago. If Maureen had been here I would have spoken with her then. I will do on her return. Following that I will let all of her friends and supporters here know about it - depending on her permission.

I have friends here, including Maureen. I hope to god that I still do after all of this. I have promised that I will sort this out and I will.

Andy.

There have been a lot of posts since I last logged in.

I have already given as much assurance as I can that all of the events surrounding this matter will be investigated and action taken.

I have spoken to one of the other trustees and can confirm that we are taking steps as soon as is practical to put this in order as far as is possible. This will not happen overnight but WILL happen as fast as it can.

There are other people to speak to and information to gather. As soon as we can report further we will but in the meantime I have to ask that you give us the time to deal with this in a correct manner.

I have spoken to Tikay (as he has said) and to other people involved the event and believe me action will be taken to rectify this.

Andy

and to answer your amended post.......

Ive made it clear what the response was. There is a specific person who deals with this and they are not available but will call us back.

To repeat this is the SAME response that Davey has had both in the past and in the last few days when he has called also. I am NOT in a position simply to send a cheque addressed to the hospital. If we still have no response when I speak to Maureen then I will ask HER what she wants us to do.

Andy if you say this money is still available to Maureen and Stacey,why still have they not received it, dont you think its been a long time to sorted?
OK if the hospital wont take it (strange) but if you've personally spoke to the hospital and they wont except it, then thats their prerogative.

Yes to the first point. I do and if we have delayed this, unwittingly I emphasis, then I can only apologise.

Where I think we have fallen down as it were is in not contacting Maureen to keep her informed as to the efforts being made to distribute the money and take her wishes. Again I would block any distribution to anyone of this money in any way without her express agreement as that is what we intended in relation to the event in the first place.

The hospital have NOT said that they don't want the money, however they have there own rules about accepting grants which we need to adhere to and we are waiting for the specific person who deals with this type of matter to come back to us (and have been for some time.

VLC will play DVD's

VLC would probably play a banjo if you asked it to!

lol   great little program tho...search for VLC in google to get a free download

OK then folks......here are some facts and figures as far as I am able which I hope will clear up the concerns expressed on this forum.

The total amount raised through the poker event after the giving of prizes was £2,437.50.

In addition personal donations and miscellaneous monies (including the raffle) increased this to a final total raised for the event as a whole of £3,165.50.

Other than money paid to Reece for a specific purpose agreed with Maureen and Stacey, this money is still available.

Some is for the awarding of a grant to Booth Hall Hospital and some still to go to Reece. As to how this is or should be split I want to speak to Maureen about this.
It has been suggested here that the split was understood to be 50/50. If that is Maureen's wishes then I am happy with this but this was not my understanding at the time and of paramount importance to me is that the money is granted in the way that Maureen and her family want.

To clarify the situation with the hospital I personally called them yesterday and received EXACTLY the same responses that Davey has in the past. I am therefore waiting for THEM to call me back. If and when they do I will confirm this to you.

I also want to put on record that I am personally distraught not at the questions raised here nor at the suggestions of how we might have avoided this situation, but at the way they have been voiced. I am going to devote time to a separate thread or post to comment on this fully shortly.

I have previously explained how money we raise is distributed by grant rather than by donation and I do not intend to repeat myself.

To reiterate however how the money has and is to be distributed is and always has been something that we wish to do in accordance with Maureen's wishes. As you know she is away at a poker event at the moment and I will hopefully speak to her when she gets back and discuss this with her (and congratulate her on a wonderful final table performance in St Maarten  (I cant find a fingers crossed smilie but insert it here!))

Other questions that are sensibly put and understandable I will of course try to answer.

Andy.

I am trying to help....it is still less than 24 hours since I knew of a problem. If anyone is dissapointed then that is unfortuanate....but I will do what I can!

No I cant James.

Individual items are not listed in accounts.

In addition can I confirm that I am atrustee doing this on a voluntary basis. I run a business (or try to). While I was writing the above post 5 clients called me. As I am meant to be working I will have to deal with them!

Andy - thanks for the response - I for one would like an even clearer reply. From the money collected on the night what has been already donated and to where? What is remaining and what are the charity's intentions with this?

I understand what you are saying about ensuring that money donated to the hospital goes to the right place - how much is this please?

My intention with these questions is not to accuse, merely to clear up outstanding questions and remove any doubt about the charity from any blonde members minds. I think that answers to these questions would probably achieve that and help future relationships with the charity. Look forward to your reply,
Tracey.

Yes Tracey I know....but that will take longer.   Bare with me.

[My loyalty lies with P4C, always has, always will.]

I can't believe the direction this thread has taken.

Things are being hinted at here that are bang out of order.

My loyalty lies with P4C, always has, always will.

I don't have the answers you are all looking for.

And I can't smooth any ruffled feathers.

Nothing is as it seems folks.

Emotions are running high on all sides, this all could of been handled so differently, but the damage has now been done.

Not much else I can say really, so maybe I just won't.

I'm sure you are right - I hope you are Trace - like you I always want to assume the best about people, but it does seem strange that this charity is late in filing it's company return as well......come on gameforlife just reply with answers and this will all dissappear in a flash - not answering makes it all look more suspicious than it is - hopefully.

errrrr   they wouldn't have been if some muppet   (me!) hadn't forgotten a signature and they were returned. They are there now.

Sorry I haven't post again when clearly a lot has been said here - I'm meant to be at the office!!!

There is clearly some misunderstanding here to say the least which I am going to try to clear up. There are also some comments on here (some have been removed) which are more accusatory and I am taking these personally. If that is not the correct thing to do then so be it  but I have personal and emotional reasons for being involved with P4C and Game For Life which I will not air here.

There has been a difference in interpretation or understanding as to what we set out to do in this event. 8.53pm last night was the first I knew of this as a problem however and I have spoken to Maureen by PM and assured her that I will am looking into the event to see if any errors have been made either by us or due to unforeseen circumstance that we can both rectify and learn from.

To the matter at hand.

When Davey confirmed the details of the event I was delighted that we would be in a position to help fellow poker player. I had met Maureen before and liked and respected her which of course helped!

To find out at this late stage that rather than helping at all but to quote Tikay causing distress is very upsetting to me personally.

Now that I am aware of it I can try to do something about it - but as far as I know no-one at P4C knew of the problem until last night.

Turning to the hospital money - matters are I think clear but not as Tikay has outlined them.

I tried to confirm the difference between a donation and a grant in my earlier post. It was a conscious decision to only award grants so that we knew what the money we gave was being spent on as far as possible.

So the money we give is by way of grants for specific projects. Where possible we like to buy what is needed and pass that over - if this is not practical, for example, the purchase of specialised medical equipment, then we will give money but only a distinct and defined purpose. I whole heartedly believe that this is the correct approach.

In the case of Booth Hall we have been asked, more than once, to go via the hospital trust by the people on the Ward who Maureen asked us to speak to. This includes a call this morning that I asked Davey to make to confirm that we had not got it wrong.

This is a matter of fact. This may (I am unsure) be due to the awarding of a grant to the hospital but that is the Charity's rules and I cannot change them. We must also adhere to the hospital's rules.

I do not want a cheque to be sent to the main mailing address at the hospital with no knowledge of where it is going. I want to know precisely what it is being spent on and if possible that it is going to the Ward that Maureen asked us to earmark.

CONCLUSION - I will try my utmost to sort this out and am sorry that I wasn't aware of it sooner. This is important. Tikay seems to have had the time to speak to everyone concerned other than anyone at P4C.

If I had known about this earlier I would have done something earlier and some of the embarrassment and distress could have been avoided.

(Tony- I have PM'd my number - please call me - there are matters in your earlier post I want to discuss with you personally.)

Thanks all for listening. I will post on this subject again when I have positive news.

Andy   (Chairman - Game For Life)

Yes Jane you are correct in that more than £940 was indeed raised although it was not as much as £7,000 and don't forget that half of the money raised in the tourney itself was returned as prize pool. Although some did give a proportion of their winnings back including one person who returned ALL of his winnings!

We are arranging a grant to Booth Hall.

Just to explain we do not give donations as such but grants. Whilst it is easier to give a donation by simply writing a cheque there is then no knowledge of where that money goes and so it was decided at the outset to only give grants for specific named and agreed projects which we have to agree with the recipient. This by its nature does make the process longer. We are in the process of doing this with the hospital concerned but they do need chasing and I have asked for this to happen next week.

I have sent a PM to Maureen to explain where we are with this which I hope will ease her concerns.

The specific grant will be given by Game For Life as the registered charity and will be in the names of Game For Life and Reece. When this is finalised it will be published on our website and as the matter has been raised here I will post confirmation on Blonde also.

I hope that this clarifies the situation as far as possible at the moment.

Andy. (Chairman - Game For Life)

Great to hear from you Maureen - some good news in there and fingers continue to be xed for the future.

Hope things go well in St Marteens - have a blast!

 

I agree with Flushy on this but you might find that it is the same people.

I play a better game on the tinternet than I do live! I can say that, I know it is true although the difference is a lot less than it used to be.

Im very used to playing on the net, I do it with other distractions like the telly and Im so used to it that it is sometimes boring.

The amount I play live however is a lot less, it is more of a novelty and it is sometimes an occasion for me. If I didnt have a day job I would play a lot more live as I enjoy it more than the net. But as it is I only get to play once or twice a fortnight - playing twice in a week is a real rarity for me.

The result - I do things that I wouldnt do online, and as I think I have a better performance on line, those variations, in the long run, are the wrong thing to do.

I think there are a lot of poker players the same as me, as the number of live card rooms expand and games become more accesible this will change, but an online game, especially cash or an stt will always be the easiest way to play for people like me who dont play for a living.